bulletproof

I think Paul is just a huge Nick Lowe fan and possibly not much of a Wilco fan.

I was at the show last night and I thought Nick Lowe was outstanding . . . borderline stole the show, both with his opening set, and brought some much needed variety to Wilco's encore. 36 inches and Love My Label were really, really good.

 

Wilco was pretty good -- not quite as entertaining as the last time I saw them at the Pagaent. They need to shorten up the long periods of distortion that it seems like they go through with almost every song. Audience seemed mostly bored during those frequent and prolonged periods. Nels can flat out play the guitar, okay, I get it, no argument there. The whole band is really talented, and plays well together -- no doubt about it. But at a certain point, its just noise on top of noise, there is no nuance, no subtlety, next song please! They have a lot to learn from Nick in that department. Maybe I'm closer to Nicks age than I am to Wilco's!

 

If anything, I felt slightly ripped off with the overly long feed-back distortion moments. They could've trimmed that by a good 20-30 minutes and got in some more songs that we wanted to hear. Or gave Nick more time for his set! Also, the lights were at times annoyingly bright, but I liked the ghosts, and the visual impact for the most part.

 

Highlights of Wilco's set for me was Jesus, New Madrid (was half expecting/hoping Jay Farrar would pop in for that one - like something out of Spinal Tap!), and the opener Sunday Morning was outstanding, and of course via Chicago.

 

As you can tell, I am a huge Nick Lowe fan. But also love Wilco, if they could just learn to self-edit their extended jams and feedback habits ; ) !!!

You are overestimating the amount of "feedback". I would estimate it was about 5 minutes total, but those moments are quite enjoyable and give the set variety and nice transitions. Nick Lowe wasn't even close to stealing the show. His appearance in the encore was fine, but I would bet most people would have preferred a few more Wilco songs.

I believe that Tweedy once said a few years ago in STL that they would play New Madrid every time they came to town.

How is it that I have seen Wilco six times now and never seen them perform Ashes of American Flags? This is so unfair.

It was a great show. Via Chicago is worth the price of admission alone.

I have one ticket that is more than likely available. My buddy bailed on me at the last minute. It's row B, left center orchestra, on the aisle. Pretty darn good. Just asking the face value and fees of course. Let me know if you can use it.

Edit: The ticket has been claimed.