jojamapa

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I'm a little bit surprised there haven't been more reactions like this, to be honest. Let's face it...these new songs that we've now heard all of once are going to take some time to sink in, to get into our consciousness. They're growers, like a lot of Jeff's songs are. For some people, they may never take root — and that's OK. Because from what I heard last night, a lot of these new songs seem to be pretty personal in one way or another. It's a type of songwriting that's not going to appeal to everyone.

 

Anyway, I'm not out to get into a proverbial war of words or anything but I will just say that if you have seen Jeff and Wilco many, many times, as you say, then it just seems a little incongruous to me that you wouldn't be excited to hear Jeff play some new material rather than the songs you've presumably heard him sing many, many times.

 

The solo portion of last nights show was, IMHO, the *least* superb part of the show in the sense that Jeff was struggling a fair bit with lyrics and chords, etc. That just didn't seem to be where his focus was at, and understandably so. It's a bit odd to me, then, to hear someone who's a big fan say that they thought that was the best part of Jeff's performance. Unless it's because that was when he played the songs that you like and/or are familiar with...

 

As for criticism of the band, I think that's a bit unfair after one show. I mean, I guess it depends on what you were expecting. But these are all pretty accomplished players, even if a couple of them are young. Given the choice of any number of musicians to form his band, I'm sure Jeff wouldn't have chosen this group if he felt like they couldn't serve the songs. If Spencer couldn't fulfill Jeff's vision for these songs, I'm sure he would have found someone better suited. Why give the trolls (and I'm not saying you are one) extra fodder by putting your kid in the band if he wasn't up to par?

 

You mentioned a lack of "youthful energy, " but I think that's not really going to happen with this music in the sense that it's not garage rock or thrash metal or whatever. So you're not going to see the band jumping around wildly on stage; again, the music just isn't really suited to that. If that's what you were expecting (or some variant), then you were probably bound to be disappointed. I'm curious as to what specifically you found "mediocre" about the band's playing...

 

I'm not saying last night's debut show was perfect by any means. And I doubt Jeff would expect anyone to be blown away by it. But I, for one, was glad to hear what Jeff's been up to and am excited to hear how this band evolves as they get more and more experience playing together.

 

I realize some people, will never be able to get past the whole Springsteen "fake E Street Band" thing. I've seen it happen before; it's just hard for some folks to accept when the leader of a well-established band starts playing with a different group. The quality of the music is almost irrelevant. But just remember, this isn't Wilco and it was never meant to be.

Not interested in a war of words, just a conversation.  Look, this isn't my first rodeo.  I have been "with" Wilco and Jeff since the beginning and am still a great fan through several iterations and stylistic shifts.  I have been a fan of many artists and bands who have changed lineups and styles - and some I have stayed with and others I haven't - as I am sure is the experience of any music fan.  Any artist with longevity has hits and misses.  I am not saying this band or these songs constitute a miss - how could I at this point? - but for 2 hours last night it certainly wasn't a home run or even an extra base hit - for me.  Sorry, but you can't dismiss the idea that this show might not have worked so well by just saying that the person proposing this heresy is somehow limited in their ability to understand or appreciate "the new stuff" and only looking to hear "Monday" played twice.  That's "unfair".

I was very excited when I found out he would be playing new songs with a new band - more excited than I was when I thought it was just a Jeff solo show.  Any time a favorite makes a change or takes a shift there is a period of adjustment, I get it.  And you may be be right - perhaps the problem was with me, perhaps for whatever reason I was distracted or couldn't get my head around what I was hearing.  It happens.  I'm not dumping on them (or trying not to, perhaps ineffectively) and will agree that it's a bit unfair at this point but understand I'm not drawing a conclusion, I'm not burying them, if they came back to Detroit next month I would go again, but LAST NIGHT I was unimpressed.  As a rule I don't come on band message boards (as you can see from my count) because it's usually just so much of a rah-rah circle jerk.  I was really curious to see what the reaction was and thought I would offer an (apparently) minority opinion.

As far as the "youthful energy" comment I guess what I was attempting to say was that younger bands rounding into form, learning on the stage, often overcome their lack of experience and technical chops with pure energy.  I completely agree that would not have served these songs, but I don't think those songs served the band either.  They are very 'mature' songs that require a depth and a precision I don't think they could quite muster.  They sounded a little out of their depth.  I'm not a musician, I can't tell you they played a D when they should have played an A, but I have ears and I've heard a lot of music of the years, good bad and in between.  I didn't expect them to be Wilco in terms of ability and agree that Jeff's not going to take Spencer or the rest of them out on the road if their not competent but you're being disingenuous if you try and peddle the idea that, at this point, they are much more than competent.  And yes,  I do believe there is an element of Jeff using his "weight" to give a young group an opportunity and some experience in a setting and with some songs that it takes most years of hard work to get to.   

Well, the more I ramble the worse I feel about it and pretty soon I'll start disagreeing with myself.  I don't find your opinion in any way invalid, I just came away with a different impression.  You are making me think more critically about that opinion, however, so thanks for that.

I was curious to see the reaction to this show.  I am not surprised at the hosannas, I guess, given the forum.  I must preface my comments with the obligatory "It goes without saying I love Tweedy and almost everything he has done, huge fan, have seen Wilco and him solo many, many times etc. etc."  I am not here to dump or to troll.  I have to say, however, that the band portion of the show was exceedingly underwhelming.  The new songs themselves were nice and oftentimes they shone through the mediocre playing.  Candidly, it was like Jeff went out on tour with the School of Rock kids.  That's OK in and of itself and you would expect some sloppiness but you would also expect some youthful energy too and that was sorely lacking.  They tried to play like a low-fi Wilco and just didn't have the chops to pull it off.  They are young, it's their first show, it's new material - I understand all that and there is every possibility the last show on the tour will be worlds apart from the first.  But, I just can't come on here and say the show was incredible, amazing or any of the other like adjectives being thrown around because it just wasn't those things.  Of course this is my opinion and if somebody else truly thought it was fantastic then I am happy for them.  I wish I felt differently but I think it needs to be said, and from post-show conversations with several fellow fans I know I am not alone in my sentiments. 

On the other hand, Misunderstood, Acuff-Rose....were particularly superb as was all the solo set. 

OK, fire away.

Ditty - per the website the FastLane program is only available for "select shows" and I couldn't find any evidence that it was available for Wilco and I didn't see any evidence of it when I purchased tickets or when I've looked since. Do you know for a fact that FastLane was sold for this show?

Bump

Feel free to PM me!

Thanks in advance...hopefully.

I had the same question after making my purchase. What I have been able to determine is this: the Fillmore has GA on the main floor (standing room only) and in the balcony (seats - and it's pretty large). There is a Mezzanine and a Loge section that has assigned seats that will be up for sale on Friday, presumably. I can confirm this - I sat in the Loge for the Avett Brothers. From the scraps of information that I could find it is possible that the configuration of the GA changes from show to show -- so I would say that the floor is certainly GA and the balcony is probably GA, but not certainly. There is also some evidence (comments from past concert goers) that there are separate tickets for the balcony and the main floor (GA, but you can only be in the area you have a ticket for). Looking at another show coming up there in October they are selling in 4 areas: mainfloor GA, mezzanine reserved, loge reserved and balcony GA -- which would support that.

So that leaves the big question for those of us who bought the presale GA - are they main floor or balcony? I swear I remember when I was purchasing them I saw mainfloor somewhere on one of the screens - but I may have been projecting. Obviously the receipt just says "presale GA". If they turn out to be balcony or if I have to get in line early to get the mainfloor or something goofy like that I am not going to be happy.

i logged in at 10am eastern for detroit. this was the only show with an eastern time sale start time, so the pre sale didnt start until 11am for me. THEN was bumped into the waiting room then tried for 2 -- couldn't get any. i guess i'll try friday. i have a feeling i'll have better luck waiting for a cleveland show.

I had the same issues but I kept refreshing and after about 15 minutes I got through for two.

The only option was GA and I don't recall that the "location" was stated and it's not on my receipt. I understand after doing some checking that the Fillmore Detroit has Balcony GA and Mainfloor GA (and some other silly seating arrangements I didn't really understand). The only time I was there I had a seat in the loge (and the place smelled like old hot dog water, but that's another story).

Does anybody know if the Detroit presale was mainfloor GA or balcony GA?

If I got balcony GA I'm going to be pissed; I'd have waited until Friday.