maxspr1

I believe it's also in the film I Am Trying to Break Your Heart.

The venue is relatively near some recently built high-priced condos and apartment buildings, so I imagine it's probably a noise thing. My view on all these curfews near concert venues: if you don't wanna hear noise from concerts at night, don't buy a condo near an outdoor concert hall/shed!! I'm sure there are venues that were built after the condos went up, but that is definitely not the case in Columbus. The LC (or the Promowest Pavilion, as it used to be known) has been there since there was nothing around except some train tracks and some bars and restaurants.

I was about one person back from the stage in front of John and Pat, and the energy from the band and crowd seemed pretty good from there. The band looked overheated like the rest of us, but they were all smiling and clowning around, and everyone in the crowd that I could see looked like they were having a good time. There were a few jerks who barged up front for the last half hour of the show (one sweaty couple came through and annoyed almost everyone, knocking into people, spilling their drinks, slapping strangers' backs in time with the music and doing that pointing at the band on the beat thing) but I still had some amazing moments: A Shot in the Arm with everyone around me singing along gave me chills, Sunken Treasure was very cool, Glen at the beginning of I'm the Man Who Love you cracked me up, and they played the two songs that got me interested in Wilco in the first place, Kamera and I'm Always in Love, my two requests. Even better than the last two shows I attended (Indiannapolis & Detroit), I didn't have to drive three or more hours to get home afterwards! I have no complaints about the show!

I can help with some of the banter:

At the start of Hummingbird, Mikael stopped playing because a bug flew down his shirt. Jeff ribbed him for a little while, then mentioned he had a spider on his microphone a few days ago. After the song (perhaps a little later), Mikael started handing Jeff parts of the bug, which led to Jeff saying it was just a tiny moth--no reason to stop the show! Later, during Kingpin, when Jeff asked the crowd to scream, he said "scream like you just had a moth fly down your shirt; scream like a girlyman!" It looks more mean-spirited typed than it seemed on stage--it was pretty harmless...everyone was laughing and Mikael hammed it up.

Jeff also took plenty of opportunities to make fun of the clunky name of the venue (The Lifestyle Communities Pavilion): "Rolls right off the tongue, doesn't it?" The other band members cracked up when he crammed the name in really fast to try to rhyme it with Kingpin.

Somewhere during the set (maybe right after the moth thing--it's a bit of a blur), he told a story about finding human crap in a revolving door...

This show was filmed/recorded. While in line before the gates opened, I asked the leader of the camera crew what/who they were filming this for, but he just glared at me and didn't answer. Oh, well... My guess: Promowest (the venue owners) often film concerts in their venues and broadcast snippets locally on Saturday nights after SNL (a week or two after the concerts occur) and on the web. I'll keep my eyes peeled and post links or info if/when I have any.

Columbus, OH in August! Saw shows in Indianapolis & Detroit already, but we can't pass up the gig in our own town!

I was a latecomer to the band. I didn't know Wilco's music, but I'll watch a documentary on almost anything. I work at home, often pulling all-nighters to meet deadlines. I play a lot of documentaries via Netflix when I'm working in the wee hours. I decided to stream I Am Trying to Break Your Heart one night last year when I couldn't find anything else that interested me. I found myself thinking the title track over the credits was interesting...then I really found myself liking the version of Kamera that follows a little later. Then after that great live in-studio take of I'm Always in Love, I actually said out loud to myself: "F**k! Now I'm a Wilco fan!"

I should explain: that wasn't a bad thing--nothing against Wilco fans at all--but when I become a fan of a band, I start trying to collect all of their albums and non-lp tracks and any other rarities until i own every song they've recorded and released. I responded so quickly and strongly to just the few Wilco songs I had heard in the first half of that movie that I knew it was the beginning of a major new obsession--I'd soon be blowing lots of money and time on this band!

Both times I've seen the band this tour, I've hung around after the show and met everyone but Jeff Tweedy. They were all incredibly nice to the fans and talked, signed and posed for pics for everyone there. I wrote a little about my experience this past weekend in the Detroit thread in the After the Show section if you want more details. Not sure why Jeff wasn't around. I'd love to meet him but i'm not complaining--after all, I paid for tickets to a rock concert and i got more than my money's worth both times--Jeff and the other guys don't owe me anything else.

The only real advice I can offer based on my experience is that if you're going to wait after the show, be prepared to wait a looong time. Both times at least an hour passed before the band stepped outside. Oh, yeah--one other thing: don,t forget to bring a pen if you want something signed. Sounds obvious, but in Detroit, only two of us waiting (out of about a dozen people) had a pen on hand!

Exactly--most of the songs are interrupted by voiceovers. I'm Always In Love is not, however, so that one can be ripped. Also, I'm not entirely certain, but I'm reasonably sure that the version of Kamera in the film is not the same as the version on More Like the Moon (Camera). The vocals are less buried and the bass/drums aren't as aggressive in the move version. I don't know--just doesn't sound like the same take or mix to me. I'd really love to have that movie version, though!

Great night! The sound at the venue was excellent, at least where we were. We easily strolled up and found some empty spots up close to the stage when the doors opened (even without fast lane tickets), right in front of John & Pat. High energy all night in the crowd and the band. Jeff smiled and talked quite a bit and seemed to be having a good time. The setlist was excellent with plenty I didn't expect (Candyfloss and the A.M. songs, especially). My wife, a huge fan of Nick Lowe, almost passed out with excitement when they did Cruel to be Kind together! Only negative: the annoying couple who shoved their way towards the front as Wilco came on and then clapped out of time and complained loudly throughout One Sunday Morning (they thought the crowd was really lame for not clapping along and yelling "Woooo!" with them every 10 seconds during the song). Everyone else around us was pretty friendly and nice, though. Found myself laughing at Mikael a few times: he did a robotic Kraftwerk (is that too redundant?) impression during either A Shot in the Arm or one of the encore songs and went nuts during most of the fast encores, playing keyboards by mashing down towels and a pillow/seat cushion on the keys. As a bonus, we met some of the guys after the show. Glenn Kotche gets the award for coolest guy of the night: he saw a small group of us with posters and CDs in hand as he was leaving, dropped his stuff off on the bus, then headed over and was just absolutely nice as could be, signing for and chatting with everyone, thanking us all for waiting in the cold(!) Then, a little later, we saw him point us out to Mikael, Nels and John and they headed over one by one. Super nice guys, every one! Mikael was especially chatty and friendly and also thanked us for waiting in the cold. Went home shivering but buzzing with a smile on my face.

I requested I'm Always in Love for the Indianapolis show and they played it. Jeff even mentioned it was a website request before they started it.

What did he do? We saw something going on but it was hard to tell from where we were.

The Lifes Rich Pageant 25th anniversary was worth every penny to me for the set of demos on disc 2. The LRP demo set was the first bootleg i ever owned back in 1987 or so and I've always wanted a nice clean copy, so this was perfect! The 25th Anniversary version of fables is also very cool because of its set of demos on disc 2--it's like hearing Fables as if it were recorded during the Reckoning sessions--crisp and clean and classic jangly R.E.M.. If you'd rather not have the remastered reissued versions, the IRS Vintage series (black border across the top) are an excellent choice as they both have a few rare bonus tracks, some of which aren't available on cd elsewhere (or at least not available elsewhere very easily or cheaply). they're also not "too loud," if that's a problem for you.

For me, R.E.M. led to (among others) the Velvet Underground, Jonathan Richman, Television, the Replacements, Robyn Hitchcock, Billy Bragg, and eventually Wilco!

They were f--ing incredible live at times! When I saw them on the Fables tour, it sure seemed like they played more songs in the multiple encores than in the setlist.They pulled out half a dozen covers (including King of the Road and Behind Closed Doors) and some b-sides plus songs that we didn't know which would eventually show up on later albums (Fall on Me), all the while pretty much only lit by the stock footage of trains on the screen behind them and a couple of dim lights at the sides of the stage. Very spooky and cool and my favorite concert experience of all time. Just sayin'...

If you're still reading this thread after all the sarcastic comments, remphish1, thanks for this--I hadn't checked their site yet today. I first became a fan in 1984, seeing them on every tour since, and as it was for you, this band's music had a huge impact not only on my musical taste, but on my life in general. I met new friends, took a lot of chances I never would have before, and discovered so many new things through my interest in the band. Definitely the soundtrack to my adult life...helped me get through some rough times and always made me feel better.

I used to never try to talk to any bands after shows, but my wife changed all that. She used to regularly try to get stuff signed after concerts, and when she met me, she pushed/encouraged me to get over my shyness and go meet R.E.M. after a concert. They have been my favorite band since 1984, responsible for me really getting into music big-time. Definitely changed my life for the better--I know that sounds like hyperbole, but every once in a while music can do that. Anyway, we did meet R.E.M., and they were all super nice, posing for photos with us and signing. We've met Peter buck again, running into him at a used record store and he was again a nice and very chatty guy. Couldn't have gone better! So, in return for helping me meet my idols, I later pushed my wife to try to meet Elvis Costello after a concert. He's her music god and she was incredibly shy herself this time and almost didn't go through with it. When we did get a chance to talk to him, he was so nice and charming--he kissed my wife and wrote "happy birthday!" on my ticket (because the concert fell on my birthday). She was in tears afterwards (the good kind), and I was glad to have helped her have such a neat experience.

We've met just about everyone else we've seen in concert since--generally everyone seems up for meet and greets with fans after shows if you're patient. Every single experience has been positive. Here's my other favorite, after the ones mentioned above:

After one concert a few years ago, Paul Westerberg told fans waiting for him that he had to do some press and that he's meet us all in the parking lot of the venue when he was done. We all happily filed out to the parking lot, but one security guy came out and started shouting at evrybody and called the cops on us for loitering! Just as the cop who got the call showed up, Westerberg popped out of the stage door and told everyone to come to the bus with him, where he signed cds and chatted and was just a sweetheart. I looked back at the security guy during this and saw that he was just fuming! Nothing against guys who work security--it's just that we were all polite and well-behaved while this guy ranted and yelled like a jerk, causing way more of a public disturbance than he was afraid we'd cause.

Poster for Indianapolis was simple yet cool--it's on the Wilco facebook page and Wilcoworld's past tours/show details page for this show. No new album, but they had the I Might 45 and a good selection of side-project cds (Autumn Defense, etc.). Plus the last few Wilco cds, scarves, the dbpm yo yo, stickers, hoodies, and a few t-shirts with good art but very limited number left in several of the sizes (not sure why when this was 1st show of the tour). I'm sure there was other stuff, the above is all that I can remember. Prices ranged from $40 for the hoodies down to $11 for the yo yo's with maybe a few cheaper smaller things like stickers. Posters were $25. Hope this helps!

"Did anyone stick around after the show? Wondering if any of the band came out for autographs, etc. We had a long drive so left right afterward."

Yep to both! We went outside under the marquee where there was a stage door off to the right. At first there were about 15 or 20 people waiting, but eventually the number dwindled down to just a handful. About 45 minutes after the end of the show, John Stirrat came out and talked to a few fans and signed various items. Nels and Glenn were next, followed shortly by Pat. They were all incredibly nice and seemed very down to earth. Interestingly, they each said were nervous about playing the new stuff live for the first time, especially Art of Almost. I can only speak for myself, but the new stuff sounded great, especially Art of Almost! Nick Lowe eventually made an appearance, making my wife very happy, as she was there mostly to see him. We all kept waiting to see if anyone else was going to step out, but the security guys shooed us all away and that was that. This was my first Wilco show and the tickets were a birthday present from my wife--it was an incredible performance, I got a cool poster (signed, no less), and we met most of the band. I couldn't have been happier! Well, maybe if Jeff had come out, but I really have no complaints!