Loneliness Fighter

The copy I got from bt.etree had both Poor Places and Reservations on it...

Thanks for the info. I will look again.

I have the nyctaper recording now, so my musical weekend is complete..

Are some songs, the Poor Places and Reservations combo, missing from the Friday night taping? I just tested out what I thought was the last track and encounter Pot Kettle Black...

Sorry to sound negative and worried.

It sounds fantastic.  

Got the email....

Yes early bird

Has it been two years already? Oh, yes. It has.

No early bird or early worm or early soil tickets?!

Everyone in my family now knows one of their Christmas presents....

Ok, this is my problem. I should state right off, that it is the sort of "problem" that will cause no tears to be shed by those reading.

My wife, my dog and I are doing the Canadian snowbird thing this winter. Driving down by car and spending months in Arizona and California. We plan to leave Ontario driving south on Dec. 29th. We have various airbnb's set up for January and February, so we have flexibility for March and April.

We were planning to be back home for the middle of April.

Then yesterday Wilco announced two nights performing at Massey Hall Toronto in the middle of March.   They are trying to break my heart. I have seen them multiple times at Massey Hall - fantastic every time.

Should we plan to abandon sunny California and head back to Toronto for the middle of cold snowy March to see Wilco?

Should we plan instead to head to Knoxville Tenn. Big Ears Festival to see Wilco in March and still be in southern climes? 

If we end up elsewhere in March, we have never missed a Solid Sound and will be enjoying Wilco in June...  guide us, wise Wilco folks, guide us....

Regrets, I have a few, but then again....(missed them at The Horseshoe Tavern department) - first time I saw Wilco was opening for R.E.M. at Ontario Place in 1999.

But back to thinking about Saturday evening at TURF - Fort York Toronto....

I thought that Jeff had a smile on his face most of the time. Suspect that we provided the humour - a wet, muddy, soggy sight we must have been.

The show was one treat after another..- Star Wars continues to be wonderful to listen to...( it has been my soundtrack to the summer, forgiving them for providing NO sneak preview at Solid Sound - will teach me to not be from Chicago_

Some concert quibbles though, Pat's guitar seemed lost in "Satellite" and I love that orbiting lick AND Nels' guitar seemed lost in "King of You" and I think that intense screaming guitar sound makes the song on the recording. 

I thought the setlist was perfect for a festival. Wilco tore the cover off the ball and blew the roof off of the place (mixed metaphor #32). My wife overheard somebody walking away from the stage afterwards saying " that was my first Wilco show and they were incredible!" I wish I had heard that - I would have responded I have lost track of how many Wilco shows I have seen, maybe 13*, but they keep delivering the incredible, so first timer, welcome aboard...

Did the math - subtract the Tweedy and the Jeff Tweedy and the Jeff and friends Sundays at SS - Wilco at TURF was my 15th time....not that I was in need of rejuvenating - but they are inspiring and providing fresh energy and wonder... I enjoyed Sunday at TURF (Ron Sexsmith, Lord Huron, Neko Case and The Pixies) but caught myself a few times wondering where Wilco was and how close to show time in Ottawa it was from time to time..

Wilco played Saturday night at TURF (Toronto Urban Roots Festival). They came out onto the East Main Stage at around 6:40. Although it had been a windy and rainy afternoon, Wilco started their set in sunset sunshine and were perfectly timed to finish their set in darkness. I will write another post with more details and thoughts....

Nels and the Nels Cline Singers just spent the weekend at Hillside Festival north of Guelph, 22 minutes from my home. Saturday was a mainstage jam with Daniel Lanois....unforgettable....pics

My download never gets to the full size, but then tries to pretend it is complete and then the unzip fails....thanks for the youtube link....it sounds gritty great...

Reading this made me whimper just a little. I had mulled over driving down from Ontario all week.....tonight I sit with my memories...three Wilco concerts in a year must be acceptable? Solid Sound both nights and AmericanaramA in Toronto this past Monday.....hope someone took up your offer...

I thought it was a solid summer night and a worthwhile show. My wife was noting the crowd shift from Solid Sound to Americanarama. She said at North Adams you could tell all eyes, ears and hearts were on Wilco. In Toronto, some Wilco fans, some Dylan, some MMJ and Richard Thompson - but also some of the crowd were there just to chill, or drink or chat or meet people....a picnic party.

I thought that Jeff Tweedy was the official host of the night, bringing on Leslie Feist, making CanadianaramA jokes, throwing in some Cohen and then closing with a strong, all hands on deck with My Morning Jacket, Cinnamon Girl to close off the set and get the crowd roaring....

I think that I would have been less happy if I  had missed Solid Sound and had last night's show instead.  

Very tempted to hop in the car on Thursday morning - Darien Lake is just two + hours away.

 Tickets available???

A week later and I am still smiling about the Friday night all-request mostly covers first night of Solid Sound 3. 

Some combo of our family has attended every Solid Sound. We even visited Mass Moca the summer of 2012 to see the Oh Canada show.

We live 90 minutes northwest of Toronto (almost Guelph) and it always takes some planning to make the weekend work. This time we camped in Vermont and wish we had more time to explore. Next time.

We think that Solid Sound is getting better and better. We are learning how to balance the music with the art. We all enjoyed the Friday night show, I could play Dad and identify the Stones and Beatles and Blue Oyster Cult and Cheap Trick. My son id the Pavement song. We all loved dancing to Get Lucky

I think it is funny that some American bands don't cross the Canadian border as freely as others. Growing up in Toronto there is national pride in Canadian bands, a long standing interest in English bands and this works against some Americans over the years. The Replacements come to mind,(also Sonic Youth)...so some highlights for some are head scratchers for others. Part of the fun.

The media buzz following Solid Sound has me worried about popularity of the next one being a problem. Whether 2014 or 2015, Colour me ready.... 

Courtyard D needs a sliding roof like the new Miami Marlins stadium has, LOL.

Or maybe a lawn sprinkler area...

Throwing my opinions into the ring....

The idea of a standing only area up front sounds good to me. Some of us like to have chairs and blanket to set up a base camp in Joe's Field for the day, but when the sun sets it should all be put aside.

I thought that Neko Case was perfect. Perhaps not a gripping performance, but her voice just seems so suited to the space. I was watching the sky and scanning the hills and she belonged.

The Blisters were great.

Foxygen were fantastic, some true laugh out loud moments and sweet time travel music

I think that Courtyard D is a prisoner of the heat. Yo La Tengo were trying to bring energy to a crowd that felt that they were melting. 2 hours later, with the shadows longer,  Low were just what the Solid Sound doctor ordered.

Have we gone too far?

This will be our 4th time to North Adams, Mass. We have camped at Clarksburg and Savoy Mtn and also stayed at Bascomb Lodge. This time we bought our early worm tickets early, of course, but messed up and dawdled on accommodations...

So we have a camping site in Vermont - as close to the Mass border as we could get. Woodford State Park.

Google Maps says 20.5 miles and 32 minutes.

Anyone camped there for a previous Solid Sound?

Is this going to work or have we gone too far?

The winter 2010 that followed their playing in Vancouver for the winter Olympics, I think they had an Olympic intro..at least they did the night they played in Hamilton Ontario...

A fantastic interview, the writer has his finger on the Wilco pulse and the quality of his questions reveals it. Interesting that Jeff does not trust the critical shorthand imposed by some on recent recordings, yet trusts his audience as collaborators...makes me think that when some here are too dismissive of certain recordings..the other side needs more space. Fact is I would rather listen to Wilco's "weakest" recording than so many others.

The point about generation gap vanishing is my family described- teens and parents alike have the Wilco gene. Jeff Tweedy as Roger Miller? Now there is a concept album worth recording...

Cross border hurdles makes me think that a pre-release date surprise here in Ontario is a slim and slender hope. I know it was a different shipping company, but my Nick Lowe pre-order arrived a week after release date...

Go go Buffalo!!! If the relentless campaign to brink Wilco back to Western New York succeeds, we in Ontario benefit!

I wanted to report that One Sunday Morning was played Saturday night in Toronto at Massey Hall as the concert opener. So I am sure that it was there that Viabuffalo heard it live. Sorry, I was not up on the discussion to add anything on lyric confusion.

Every lyric chosen has merit. The one that sticks with me was the first that struck long ago....

I live my life like I wasnt invited

Something in Candly Floss, beyond the roller coaster Beach Boy throw away sound, something in that line said that Tweedy's struggles with life and love, at least as reflected in song, was connecting to the way I think and feel. Or is it the other way around?

I feel the "not in Canada" sadness, I tried and failed too.

And I realize that they did perform IATTBYH both nights, but to my mind it was less discordant and edgy Saturday than Friday.

Oh, a sentence did not contain a full thought above. I am talking about the calendar year 2011- when I calculate my 4 Wilco performances and one Jeff Tweedy show...

I enjoyed Saturday night's show, it was more on the entertaining, free wheeling, relaxed side of Wilco. No doubt that starting with One Sunday Morning (and leaving out IATTBYH, Via Chicago, Poor Places, Reservations, BBNova) meant there was less tension and frenzy to the start of the show (compared to Friday)

I am not sure that my post this morning will make sense if you have not read my post about the Friday show (here you go). Kamera and Company in my Back are great songs, yet represent a move towards the lyrical and lovely, rather than the snarl songs of Friday. Later in the set both Hummingbird and then California Stars were played, so in my mind it was a concert that reflected the smile at the sky/stare at the rain Wilco rather than the journey to the darkness that is the soul of man Wilco.

My wife is forced to read all my posts and therefore she must carry the burden of knowing my WIlco theories. I forget which song Jeff started talking to the audience, but when he did she whispered to me "No Bull Black Nova tonight"

I think I saw Friday's balcony dancer out on Shuter St. post concert having a tailgate party with friends and his vehicle had Airline to Heaven playing. I should have gone over and introduced myself as his Via Chicago admirer...but sometimes great thoughts don't fight their way out of shyness until the next morning.

When the band launched into How to Fight Loneliness, I whispered to my wife "do you think they read Via Chicago? the entire concert has gone for a different vibe from last night and now the song my forum name is a nod to? Sure, this is the gateway to madness. I feel that I have a strong personal connection to this band. Their music has been so woven into the last 12 years of my life, but they are not considering me, a fan who posts some rambles in a forum, when they are honing their artistic vision. When I share with my wife some observation or fact I have read here, I always describe Via Chicago as the home of fellow Wilco obsessives... I wonder if their is a prescription drug for my state of mind?

Also Massey Hall can give such differing vistas. Friday night we were 2nd balcony right side, standing the whole concert, staring down at the stage and seeing the pretty patterns the lights made on the stage floor. We could see the band (except we had to lean over to see Pat) and see the reaction of the crowd in balconies and floor. Saturday night we were main floor, back of the hall- eye level with the band, but under the balcony roof so we were less aware of the hall as a whole.

So I must know hand over the baton of thinking about Wilco concerts to someone else. I am not quitting my job and following the tour (although if I win the lottery next weekend, it is the first thing I will consider). Combine the Toronto concerts with my Solid Sound trip and I have now seen Jeff solo once (and it was a hell of a March snowstorm that stopped me from seeing him both nights) and Wilco perform four times. That should be enough for a while. At least that is what my rational side says. I am counting the sleeps until a week from Tuesday when The Whole Love is released. May it inspire a new round of Via Chicago posts.