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nalafej

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Posts posted by nalafej

    Jeff Announces Starship Casual

    in Just A Fan

    Posted

    14 minutes ago, lost highway said:

     

    My take on every exclusive, collectors thing Wilco/Tweedy does is whatever you're down with, do it. I'm not into buying work of art, unprecedented packaging for hundreds of dollars, like the special edition Ode to Joy, but how could anyone be pissed at an artist for making a thing and selling it? 

     

    Agree.

     

    I mean, a track with Glenn, Spencer and Andy Shauf (today's release) deserves compensation.

     

    I'm so delighted to see that Andy and Jeff collaborated on this.

    Live! Tonight!!

    in Someone Else's Song

    Posted

    22 minutes ago, uncool2pillow said:

    So, funny story, to me at least. I didn't see an opener announced on the ticket, website, or anything. There was an opener. They said their name, but I didn't catch it. Nice enough jangly pop, none of it recognizable. Then they played "Out Of My Head" by Fastball. They then proceeded to play two more Fastball radio hits. It WAS Fastball. 

     

    That is super funny. Oh man, The Way was an ear worm for me for a solid year back when it came out.

    Wilco — 20 August 2021, Columbia, MD (Merriweather Post Pavilion)

    in After The Show

    Posted

    Great narrative from VC’s reigning content champ, bbop, as always!

     

    It was a nice night to ‘check in’ with Wilco. I thought it was a fine performance from the band. It really seemed liked they picked up where they left off in 2019 which is probably both a good thing while at the same time perplexing. My favorite moments of the night were the opening number, The End, Always in Love and the first two songs of the encore.
     

    I think Jeff has done a great curatorial job with the setlist. That said, spontaneity is a good thing and the OTJ songs really just don’t match the quality of the rest of the set and drag it down imho.  
     

    This was the 35th US state I’ve seen Wilco in and it was a nice enough venue (holy shit- The Who and Led Zep on one bill at this place?!!) aif not in the neighborhood of a Red Rocks or 930 Club. The sound wasn’t great up front in the pit.  We parked ourselves in seats for SK and it was better back there. 
     

    super glad we made this one. Might have to check in again back home in Chicago next weekend. 

    • Like 1

    Wilco — 13 August 2021, Maryland Heights, MO (Saint Louis Music Park)

    in After The Show

    Posted

    2 hours ago, bböp said:

    Would it be sacrilege to say I thought the opening sets by Nnamdi (although just 20 minutes long) and Sleater-Kinney were both excellent and the headlining set by Wilco was just pretty good? OK, I won't go there and maybe it was just the contact high hitting me harder than usual, but I can't deny that the thought didn't occur to me at least once over the course of the 90 minutes Jeff and his bandmates were on stage before they were forced to end their set somewhat abruptly because of an apparent 11 p.m. curfew.

     

    "We're running out of time," Jeff announced to the crowd at the 4,500-capacity Saint Louis Music Park before the final song of the main set, I'm Always In Love. "We'll be back. We always come back. Wilco's like a bad penny." (Note to Wilco management: Maybe that should be the next T-shirt design. Also, on a personal note, maybe don't have the band play venues where they won't let you bring in an empty poster tube to protect the poster that you wanted to give money for. So stupid. I guess it's a Live Nation venue, so you know there's gonna be plenty of inane rules, inflexible protocols and overpriced concessions.)

     

    At any rate, the SLMP is a pretty new concrete pavilion/amphitheater with several sections of floor seating and, behind that, a large bleacher-like structure with more tiered seating that is located a stone's throw from the Hollywood Casino and adjoins a large ice rink that is apparently the practice facility for the St. Louis Blues hockey team. Apparently it's so new that Jeff mentioned that he looked it up on Google Maps to see where it was situated and the picture was still of a construction site. It's also located a good distance northwest of downtown St. Louis, which sort of led to a running joke throughout the show when Jeff mentioned on several occasions that he "grew up here, or about 18 miles from here" (or some variation of that).

     

    Much of Jeff's banter over the course of the show focused on his local roots. "I grew up near here," Jeff quipped at one point. "Even if I can't remember it, I know it's true." After mentioning that he had written Box Full Of Letters in town, he asked John if he remembered practicing the song in Maplewood for the first time. And regarding the increasingly strong cannabis odor that developed as the evening went on, Jeff said he knew that the marijuana situation had changed since he was younger but "it smells like I'm at the Checkerdome. It feels like I'm at a Triumph concert." I'm sure that particular comment conjured up some distinct memories — or lack thereof — for St. Louisians of a certain age.

     

    One of the highlights of Wilco's set, for me at least, occurred when the band came back for a quick one-song encore. "We can't leave without playing my dad's favorite song," Jeff said, dedicating Casino Queen to his late father Bob. According to Wilcoworld records, three of the last four times the band has played the song live have come in St. Louis and there probably haven't been too many St. Louis shows it has ever played when it hasn't been performed.

     

    For me, the other highlight of Wilco's set was another blistering Art Of Almost. Maybe it's just because it kind of disappeared from the setlist for a while, but I feel like since it has come back during this tour that it has some extra energy, some added juice, especially during Nels' outburst toward the end of the song as it erupts into controlled chaos. Along with his usual creativity during songs such as Impossible Germany, Side With The Seeds and Either Way, it caused Jeff to remark at one point, alluding to a plaid or checkerboard Western-style shirt that Nels doesn't often wear, "Nels is on fire tonight. It's the cowboy shirt."

     

    So why would I suggest that maybe I enjoyed the opening sets a tad more than Wilco's tonight? I suppose part of it has to do with Wilco's set sort of following its usual arc for the most part. The middle-to-back half of the set, in particular, just sort of feels a bit inevitable at this point. Is that because I've seen too many Wilco shows? Probably. But you can't tell me that substituting out Box Full Of Letters, Jesus, etc., or I'm The Man Who Loves You for something else every once in a while wouldn't freshen things up a bit for everyone, band included.

     

    More than just setlist quibbles, though, I also felt like both Nnamdi and Sleater-Kinney got the crowd involved by encouraging people to come dance in the aisles and urging folks to clap and/or sing along. (S-K also keep adding different songs to their set as the tour goes on, which I didn't necessarily expect either.). By contrast, the Wilco audience — despite standing up from the get-go — didn't seem super energetic. I'm only judging by what I could see in front of me, and I was about 15 rows back in the middle, but it didn't seem like many people were bobbing their heads or moving much at all — even during Casino Queen. The guy next to me asked me what song Art Of Almost was — "you seem like a fan, bro," he told me — and seemed pretty concerned with sparking his joint, while the couple in front of me was respectful enough but seemed kind of bored and wound up leaving early.

     

    Could it have been too much weed in the air? Maybe. But when did Wilco become a total stoner band? Maybe just in good ol' St. Louis. I don't know. Am I just lame? Probably. #JustSaying #NoOffense

     

    Here was Wilco's complete setlist, as played (didn't get a look at a printed setlist, so can't say if there any changes/omissions):

     

    A Shot In The Arm

    Random Name Generator

    At Least That's What You Said

    Love Is Everywhere (Beware)

    I Am Trying To Break Your Heart>

    Art Of Almost

    If I Ever Was A Child

    Impossible Germany

    Box Full Of Letters

    Side With The Seeds

    Either Way

    Everyone Hides

    Dawned On Me

    Jesus, etc.

    Theologians

    I'm The Man Who Loves You

    Heavy Metal Drummer

    I'm Always In Love

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

    Casino Queen

     

    And Sleater-Kinney's complete setlist, as played, was as follows (for the couple of people on here who might care):

    High In The Grass

    Hurry On Home

    Price Tag

    A New Wave

    Shadow Town

    Can I Go On

    Jumpers

    Down The Line

    The Fox

    Complex Female Characters

    Bury Our Friends

    Bring Mercy

    Worry With You

    One More Hour

    Tomorrow's Grave

    Modern Girl

    One Beat>

    Entertain

     

    I can smell this review. Thanks for the great recap, as always.

     

    I was sorta hoping their limited time allotment on this tour might spark the same setlist creativity that we saw on Americanarama, but I guess as headliners they feel obligated to stick to the favorites. I'm really looking forward to catching the tour at Merriweather Post next week.

    • Like 1

    Wilco (kinda!) — 12 August 2021, Kansas City, MO (Grinders KC)

    in After The Show

    Posted

    3 minutes ago, bböp said:

     

     

    —I do wonder if we’ll actually start to see any collaborations between the two bands as the tour goes on. Clearly from the IG stream and since they covered the song on the tour split single that is being sold at shows (except KC, apparently), S-K seems most comfortable on A Shot In The Arm. But since Wilco has been opening their sets with that song, it would seem like they would have to switch their set order around to have the S-K ladies come out and join on backing vocals. Or perhaps they all still have something up their sleeves that remains to be seen. I don’t personally see S-K coming out to do backing vox on, like, California Stars, for example. So it’ll be interesting to see what happens over the next couple of weeks…12 shows left!

     

    Hope so too! Looked like they were singing along to Theologians. That could be another option.

    West Coast Shows / Cancellations / Coronavirus

    in Just A Fan

    Posted

    17 minutes ago, bböp said:


    You going to any of the shows out West? It’ll be interesting to see what happens. It doesn’t seem like they could find a suitable alternate outdoor venue in some of the smaller Pac NW cities like Eugene, Bellingham and Olympia. I would totally understand, but it would still suck if those shows had to be scrapped. Ugh.

     

    I have a ticket for Vegas at this point. Never seen them in Nevada and the venue (Brooklyn Bowl) doesn't look bad.

     

    I saw Thievery Corporation/ Gnarls Barkley at "The Beach at Mandalay Bay" a bunch of years ago. I imagine it would be pretty weird for Wilco's Ode to Joy tour (of all tours) but maybe resemble Sky Blue Sky a little?

     

    Feels like there are more suitable venues in Southern CA they could do like the Greek. Maybe even the Greek in Bay area. Hopefully they don't have to postpone again.

    • Like 1

    Shows with Trampled by Turtles ...

    in Just A Fan

    Posted

    Don't know anything definitive but on Ticketmaster, it is "Wilco and Trampled by Turtles" for Green Bay, same on Des Moines with Eventbrite, but Treasure Island on Ticketmaster is "Trampled by Turtles and Wilco" so we might be living in a world where Wilco opens for TBT...in Welch

    Wilco - the Snoozy Years

    in Just A Fan

    Posted

    15 hours ago, jff said:

    I'm pretty sure YHF was when I saw them for the first time, too.  It was Jeff, John, Glenn, and Leroy, with Michael as an auxiliary member offstage.   We traveled to Des  Moines to see them at the Val Air Ballroom.  The opening band was Carla Bozulich's Red Headed Stranger, with Nels on guitar. 

     

    That latest release front of house series is a show in Eugene about two weeks prior, September, 2003. Late enough in the YHF tour (if it really was that) that you got 3 AGiB tunes. Love that mix and some of those arrangements are a real pleasure to listen to.

    So, Who's Got Tickets for live Wilco?

    in Just A Fan

    Posted

    I have tickets for Wilco at Merriweather, Riot Fest (Sept) and Watkins Family (Chicago's Old Town School), looking at the Black Crowes tour which is schedule to kick off in late June and Phish tour which kicks off July. Waiting to see how those latter bands/promoters handle those. Anxious about it tbh

    How to Write One Song by Jeff Tweedy

    in Just A Fan

    Posted

    22 hours ago, Lukestar said:

    Haven't seen any other posts regarding this yet, so.....just listened to a good conversation between JT and Malcolm Gladwell on Gladwell's (and Rick Rubin's) podcast Broken Record. They talk about the HOW TO..... book, of course, and there's a great breakdown of OPALINE. It's really interesting to hear Gladwell become so engaged and excited. He keeps probing and it gives some insight into his own process, given how in depth his work gets.

     

    https://brokenrecordpodcast.com/#/episode-77-jeff-tweedys-songwriting-masterclass/

     

     

    This was great. Thanks for sharing.

    Summerteeth Deluxe Edition (5LP / 4CD)

    in Just A Fan

    Posted

    18 hours ago, cre618 said:

    Actually, just got mine and the album and live show are colored, the extra tracks are black.  Looking at Discogs comments it looks like lots of people got random black vinyl in the colored set.


    Really? That is so strange. Sounds very unintentional! What color are your albums?

    Summerteeth Deluxe Edition (5LP / 4CD)

    in Just A Fan

    Posted

    15 hours ago, TCP said:

    Can those with the boxset confirm that the Summerteeth album is the only records on black vinyl? I've heard conflicting reports that the live discs are on black as well. Just curious! 

     

    Confirmed - original album on two slabs are black, others are color.

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