anysongworthsinging

yeah it was a good show. wilco shows dont quite excite me like they used to, but i was pretty damn happy when they came out and started with misunderstood. this was my 5th wilco show, and i think there ended up being 7/8 songs they played that i hadn't seen them do before, so moments like "oh my god, candy floss!" made the whole show worth it. setlist overall was very good for a semi new album promo tour. wolf trap brings out a lot of casual fans (not an insult by any means. wolf trap crowds have always been great in my opinion) so i imagine that played into the setlist a bit. all in all, fun show.

 

that being said i couldnt help but silently hope that the band sees a significant change or two in the near future. this lineup can certainly rip it up live, but it'd be very interesting to see the lineup evolve somehow. maybe not kick anyone out of the band, but have nels or someone else sit out a few songs each night. some of those am/bt rockers and ballads just don't need three guitars or two keyboardists to play 'em. treat the band lineup as more of a collective i guess, where theres no pressure for all 6 wilco dudes to play on every song. won't happen, but i can dream.

 

id also really like to see them do a whole tour of stuff like the acoustic spiders arrangement. i know not everyone likes it, but i really dig it and i think it'd be awesome to reinvent the back catalogue a bit with a stripped down tour. i know tweedy does it in his (fucking incredible) solo shows, but full band acoustic is different. they did mini acoustic sets during the evening with wilco tour, and it was a nice change of pace.

i feel ya on this. not sure if different lineup or "collective" is the answer, but maybe guests sitting in, and maybe they could play a few covers (none played these two shows). My friend who only came to night two said the setlist was kind of "wilco's greatest hits" and i thought the same about night 1. They are a terrific band, never disappoint, but they may be at a bit of a plateau (or maybe i am after seeing 8 shows in three yrs). That said, the thought of not seeing them for more than a year (supposedly they will record and not play live much next year) is a bummer. Also, they really could ditch I'm the Man who loves you, Walken, Hate it Here, HMD, HSD once in awhile (Neither HMD not HSD played last night, encroyable! a good start! They were both played night one of course).

I believe my quick count last night was 8 songs repeated from night 1, about 1/3 of the show, mostly songs from the Whole Love.

Again no songs from Wilco the album, not complainin', just sayin. Some great highlights were Kamera, Candyfloss, I Must be High, Christ for Prez, Art of Almost, Laminated Cat, Dreamer. Overall I think I like the first night better, maybe I liked the setlist more or the overall energy, plus I had better seats night 1, but glad I saw both shows, and some great and relatively rarely played songs each night.

Another very muggy, but very fun evening! As promised, the band played mostly songs they hadn't done the previous night so that those who attended both shows got a pretty good sampling of the current state of the band over the two gigs.

 

I'm sure someone will break it down by album or by figure out the stats on how many different songs were played over the two nights or whatever people do, but suffice it to say that if you're anything more than a casual fan — and chances are if you're reading this, you probably are — and are able to, it's always worth it to get to both nights.

 

Personally, for the most part, I preferred Night 2's selection of songs. I mean, Laminated Cat, Candyfloss and Dreamer alone made it a stellar show, and then add in songs like Kamera (which actually doesn't get played too often these days) and Can't Stand It and you've got the makings of a fine evening. I heard that Red-Eyed>I Got You>Outtasite was on the printed setlist again, but got cut again for time reasons. That would have made for a pretty sweaty conclusion. But as Jeff said, "We can't play all night. The park rangers would arrest us." Once again, the band finished up right at curfew at 10:55 p.m. with a rollicking Dreamer.

 

At least we got Airline To Heaven — of note...Nels didn't play lap steel on the song for the first time I can remember, instead using a bottleneck on one of his regular electrics — and Christ For President tonight. A friend pointed out that they always seem to play Christ in the Washington area, obviously as a nod to "that capitol town" and the political scene therein. (I suppose Capitol City would also fit into that scenario, but that wasn't on the docket this time around.) After the mini-Guthrie start to the encore, in one of the few comments he made all evening, Jeff said, "Thanks, Woody, for writing songs that mean as much now as when you wrote them."

 

Other than that, Jeff didn't say too much of note. Relatively early on, he asked if he should call the crowd "Virginians." There was, predictably, a mixed response. So, explaining that he didn't want to say the wrong thing, he simply offered up a "Woo...Wolf Trap!" So I'll echo that. Woo...Wolf Trap! It's kind of a weird place with some of their rules and relative strictness, but also is a pretty nice venue for a concert. About as intimate as a shed could be, I guess, and with quite good sound to boot IMHO.

 

So anyway, this was the complete setlist — as played — for Night 2 at Wolf Trap:

 

Misunderstood

Art Of Almost

I Might

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

Born Alone

Side With The Seeds

Spiders (Kidsmoke) (acoustic arrangement)

Impossible Germany

Kamera

Laminated Cat (aka Not For The Season) (electric arrangement)

Standing O

At Least That's What You Said

Jesus, etc.

I Must Be High

Whole Love

Can't Stand It

Candyfloss

Dawned On Me

A Shot in the Arm

----------------------------

Airline To Heaven

Christ For President

Walken

I'm The Man Who Loves You

Dreamer In My Dreams

I believe my quick count last nigtht was 8 songs repeated from night 1, about 1/3 of the show, mostly songs from the Whole Love.

I do not foresee Wilco playing ALL of a Mermaid Avenue record anytime soon. I mean, who's gonna sing Billy's parts?

Tweedy. Or Billy!

I thought it was an interesting, somewhat eclectic setlist, and a lot of my faves got played so no complaints, except they really COULD get away with not playing HSD, HMD, ITMWLY and Hate it Here damn near every show (i've seen them seven times now the last three years and i'm pretty sure they've played all those songs at every one, plus other shows i've listened to in various places).

 

Anyone else notice they played 0 songs from Being There and from Wilco the album? The first seven songs alternated between Whole Love and YHF, kinda cool. 2 Mermaid Ave (more tonight I hope, play the whole dang album, or both of them!), 2 A Ghost is Born, 3 Summerteeth, 2 AM, 6 Whole Love, 5 YHF, 2 Sky Blue Sky.

I think the curfew thing is a little overblown. First, curfews are common and known well in advance. The band could have set an earlier start if they wanted. Second, I went back and looked at the posts after the 09 Wilco concert at Wolftrap. The very first post includes this: "The 11:00 curfew cut this one short, as they seemed to scramble to get equipped to play Wheel. If anyone saw the setlist, what songs did they cut out?" By my rough and quick count, the number of songs at both shows seem about the same (give or take a song). I think we might be giving too much weigh to Jeff Tweedy's comments about time (which, as Bart noted above, were inconsistent) and (as also noted above) were likely influenced by the McCartney/Springsteen incident in London last week.

 

[On the other hand, 2 hours is a little shorter than most Wilco concerts. And I think it is shorter than the concert last year at MPP (http://viachicago.or...on-columbia-md/).]

 

As for the concert itself, I'll probably have a better take after I hit tonight's show but I loved Art of Almost last night and the two Woody songs in the encore. I was surprised that there were empty seats (including what looked like a big block on the upper, stage left section of the pavilion). Also, based on wholly unscientific experiences with the re-sale market for tickets for the show, I think that there was less demand for tickets (i.e., prices were lower on Craigslist, tickets were harder to re-sell, less movement here). Nonetheless, the crowd around me (row K) seemed very into the show and mostly stood the entire show.

Wolf Trap is notoriously hard-ass on its curfew, it's for real, so it is problemmatic to have an opening band there and a show that starts at 8, they either need to start earlier or do another "Evening with Wilco" (PLEASE!!! That tour sans opening acts, 3 hour shows, no break, going into and out of the acoustic songs with set changes, was unreal!). Another thing they could do is bag the encore break, just keep playing, get another song in rather than bothering to go offstage for 3 minutes and come back on. Nels was smoking on Ashes and IG, but also playing rythm on some other songs too. As usual though, he wasn't loud enough in the mix!

Phenomenal show, as always, and interesting set list. Was surprised their weren't more Mermaid Ave songs with Woody's 100th b-day, maybe more tonight. No songs from Wilco the album, and I wish they'd play more Summerteeth tunes. Art of Almost was smokin', becoming a real highlight, and Too Far Apart/Always in Love was indeed a highlight, among many. Encore was great, thought they might segue from Hoodoo Voodoo into I'm a Wheel, as they often do, and I thought, hey they have time, it's not 11:00 yet and it's a short, fast song, but maybe the curfew really was 10:55. The reason for curfew is indeed the nearby residential area. Can't wait for night two!

face value, email kmartinpa@gmail.com if interested

$55 each, I'll eat the fees

great show, got tix for three shows coming up, thanks XRT!

hoodoo voodoo!

 

maybe i'm a wheel to end? often follows hoodoo voodoo

the best songs will never get sung

the best laugh never leaves your lungs

 

very zen master tweedy!

i fucking love the late greats!

California Stars probably with Andrew Bird.

augurus you are appropriately monikered!

i like that lyric

what you once were isn't what you wanna be anymore

 

Hey, my XRT player just fell asleep haha

yeah that was annoying

I totally agree... he fucking rocks. Period.

if it's a standing show i always stand on his side. my tix in a few wks at wolf trap are on the pat side, unfortunately

Bow down before the Nels Cline!

sometimes he's too low in the mix and it drives me nuts, always wanna hear him.

 

This set will probably end with A Shot In The Arm.

good call my friend!

This set will probably end with A Shot In The Arm.

that'd be cool

love this jam, wish they jammed more

nice! best song on the "new" album

 

Man, there's a reason this forum was named after that song. What a masterwork.

word!

next three

 

outtasite

dreamer in my dreams

hoodoo voodo

or i'm a wheel

how bout some hoodoo voodoo in the encore!

via chicago!

 

probably a three or four song encore

 

casino queen would be cool

looks like it!

i was off by one song. not complaining but their late set list is very predictable the last few yrs.

 

Way to call it! We all know what Glen is doing right now...

glen is one hell of a drummer

So this is the "love" portion of the show, what's next? guessing a change up, Via Chicago

 

actually about time for ITMWLY

Any covers tonight? Guesses? My recent fave was Broken Arrow, they fucking killed that on the Evening With tour two yrs ago

 

Nora Jones covers this very nicely

Candyfloss! More Summerteeth please!

Side With The Seeds?

not surprising, this set list is very much like the lists of all six wilco shows i've seen the last three years ("new album" cuts between the last two albums excepted). not complaining, just saying. (including laminated cat acoustic during the fabulous Evening with Wilco tour when they went into and out of the acoustic set with no breaks)