Seltz

I haven't seen one either. I generally check DIME and bt.etree, but also checked Hunger City - nothin' out there. From my experience though, shows from the Tower are generally distant sounding audience recordings. Despite great sound at the Tower (oarticularly in the Loge), people generally set their mics up in front or around the SBD, but because the floor at the Tower is so large and deep, the SBD is in the back of the second section on the floor, resulting in the clarity and intensity of the audience recordings being weak.

As far as quality, I think the FM broadcast from the Riv will be the best quality you'll find.

Jack's is closed on Sundays. Anyone have a back-up BBQ joint in town?

Jack's is closed on Sundays. Anyone have a back-up BBQ joint in town?

Jack's is closed on Sundays. Anyone have a back-up BBQ joint in town?

Seems like this shitty crowd got treated to a pretty damn good setlist.

Totally agree - Van The Man would tear this up for sure.

Man, I thought Someday Soon would have sounded so good in Nashville. Kamera?

Campbell was also in Bob Dylan's band for six or seven years. In my opinion, the combination of Campbell and Charlie Sexton on guitars marked Bob's best line up of the Never Ending Tour.

Agreed - there has been a serious drop off since LC left Dylan's "cowboy" band. I'm sorry I passed on the Levon show, but I was kind of saving up for Wilco (Philly and Nashville)...not to mention MMW is playing at Penn tomorrow night for $15 if anyone's interested.

You have to think that this momentous and ambitious Residency will have a momentous and ambitious opening track. What's your prediction?

The sound at the Tower is well above average and probably closer to "great" than "above average". Neil Young recently played the Tower and brought Jonathan Demme along to video the two show run. The local paper indicated that this was the only venue Demme was filming due to the exceptional sound and the intimacy of the Tower. Neil plays the Tower everytime he does a solo acoustic tour. Definitely a sit-down show, which I personally find disappointing and constricting. I prefer a combination of both. Everyone knows when you want to get up a move a bit - those should be standing songs and others can be sit down and watch tunes.

As for the area around the venue - it's dreadful. The Tower is just outside the city limits of Philly and borders West Philadelphia - not an area you want to walk around at night. The area directly around the venue is safe, but there isn't much happening in terms of bars and restaurants. My recommendation would be to either cruise down to Penn's campus (around 36th and Chestnut) and hit a bar/restaurant. Or, you can hit up this dive bar right acroos the street from the Tower in a tiny alley (diagonally across from where the tour buses park). The dive bar is pretty crappy, but is great in terms of location. I don't know the name of it, despite having been there dozens of times - but, my buddies and I call it the "Fried Bar" because everything there is generally fried - including the bartender.

Thanks for the suggestions. Is the Broadway area kind of touristy and cheezy, whereas the West End area is a bit more hip, etc.? Are they close enough to walk to each other and to the Ryman? We'd like to avoid the main tourist part of town, but still be kind of in the thick of the city? Thanks again.

Thanks for the recommendation. I've heard a bit about The District, but can't really discern whether it's the same thing as "downtown". Is there a famous guitar shop down there, or one that anyone knows of that sells nice used and new guitars? Thanks again for anyone that can chime in here and provide some suggestions.

I'm headed to Nashville to see Wilco at the Ryman (from Philly). I've never been to Nashville and was looking for some good advice on where to stay and where to drink/hang out (the info I've found online is rather unhelpful). We're heading down for the weekend, so proximity to the Ryman is not essential, as we'd prefer to stay in the area of the city where we'll be hanging out at night (which may be the area of the Ryman - I just can't tell). Also, if you're willing, I'd love some bar recommendations. Thanks in advance and my apologies for the borderline "Just a Fan" topic post.

Like most things in Philly, the Tower is a crooked venue. I've never had success in any pre-sales for the Tower. Best venue in Philly (Neil Young rocked the place over the weekend, while Jonathan Demme was filming something), but the people that run the Tower are thieves - they pull tickets out and sell them to brokers, who kick back a percentage of the grossed-up sale price. We'll all get tix in the public sale.

Are you surprised? I've never been able to get tickets through the Wilco ticketing service. Even if you get in immediately, there are no tickets available. It's kind of a BS system that allows the band to say that they offer their fans tickets prior to the public sale. I love these guys, but the system is broken. All that being said, I've never not gotten tickets to a show, so we'll just score them in the public sale.

- Cynical Philly Fan

Looks like Tin Cup Prophette will open for Jeff in Knoxville and Charlottesville. There was very little info on the web about the band - has anyone heard or seen them?

In Philly, you can hear Wilco fairly regularly on WXP (88.5). If you're not familiar, you can listen online at www.xpn.org. It's consistently voted the best commercial-free, independent radio station in the country and is the home of the World Cafe with David Dye (syndicated on many stations around the country).

Jeff usually pops in the studio whenever they are in Philly and therefore, the station has some great rare tracks (an acoustic solo performance of She's a Jar comes to mind).

Check out the station online.

Would have loved to see OCMS open for Wilco. OCMS introduced themselves in Philly as John Kruk, Lenny Dykstra, Mike Schmidt, Ron Jaworski and Walt Whitman. Pretty classic.

Just capped of a little run of four shows in three weeks - thought I'd check in. All in Philly and all were great. The M. Ward show was pretty well reviewed in these forums, but I just can't say enough about how good that M. Ward show was - get in your car and go see him.

The Old Crow Medicine Show is another must see. They do two sets of energized, passionate and sympathetic bluegrass. However, after seeing these guys a couple times now, I can see that they are not just a bluegrass nostalgia act - they are really good songwriters and, for a bunch of young kids, really skilled. It's a great time - check 'em out.

Next up - Neil Young at Farm Aid. The Philly version of Farm Aid was nothing like the Chicago version last year. Our lineup was pretty weak - so a bunch of us just got wasted and went in to see Neil. A bit disappointing - as he played only five songs, but just seeing Neil is such a treat. He played Human Highway, Harvest Moon, Field of Opportunity, a new tune and Four Strong Winds (so, three songs from Comes a Time). Neil sounds great and had a lot of energy - just an abrupt ending (maybe a curfew issue). Not much else to report there, but not such a good Farm Aid showing in Philly - place was packed, but the lineup was pretty lame.

Finally, I saw Clapton last night. I grew up on Derek and the Dominos and EC's early solo stuff (as well as Cream, of course), but I wasn't about to pay $75 to see him at a big arena. However, never before seeing him and really just looking to check it off the list - I was able to score some tix from work. I had the same feeling that I did when I went to see the Stones a couple months back, basically "check the box" and see some legends. However, I got a big surprise.

The show was spectacular. The song selection was really perfect. He played the songs he had to play (Layla, Cocaine, After Midnight, I Shot the Sheriff and Crossroads), but he played about 8 deep tracks that were just amazing (Anyday, Got to Get Better in a Little While, Motherless Children, I am Yours, Running on Faith, Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out and Further on Up the Road). Clapton's voice sounded perfect - eyes shut and you're in 1973. And the guitar playing...

Man, he assembled a band that included Doyle Bramhall II and Derek Trucks on guitar - and these guys shredded. As they passed the solos around (and really jammed quite a bit), it was just unbelievable how each time you couldn't help but notice how good Bramhall and Trucks were - but, then right after each of their blistering solos - Clapton would come in and just blow them away. He's so clean and he has such tone. He navigates the fretboard like nobody I've ever seen. Every note means something. Just a real treat. He also did a four song acoustic set with Derek Trucks on slide guitar that was just icing on the cake.

All in all - a great little run. The best part being that the great city of Philadelphia has another little run coming up - Beck, Mojave 3, Bob Dylan and My Morning Jacket.

Saw M. Ward in Philly on Saturday night. Forget the short show - he played for just under two hours. After about an hour of electric material, he played 3-4 songs solo acoustic, then brought the band back for another 3-4 tunes. Crowd was great - nobody yelling songs and no idiots.

After seeing him two years ago, the difference is compelling. He has a catalog of music that, like Tweedy's, includes very, very few throw-away tracks. Due to the length of the set, we basically hear three quarters of each of the last three albums.

What impressed me the most was how Matt re-arranged his own material (particularly Undertaker and Let's Dance). This is something that a lot of artists resist, but something that I look for in an artist, as I believe it shows their willingness to keep creating and move on. Dylan is the quintessential re-arranger (of course, Bobby is no re-arranging his own re-arrangements). This shows me that Matt is moving on - like Tweedy - I think Matt's sound is going to change drastically, very similar to Wilco path (Summerteeth to YHF).

Anyway, M. Ward has a sweet voice and writes decent lyrics, but the underrated part of his game is his guitar work. His tone and style are really unique and his acoustic guitar playing on the instrumental tracks really rivals anything I've ever seen.

I get the feeling that this is "that" tour where M. Ward really evolves before our eyes into a great live act (See Wilco's YHF tour). This is a must see show.

Not a bad looking setlist for a "tour" opener - but, I have to agree that the setlists seem a bit stale. To play the same 15 songs per night when you have such a dynamic catalog of music seems a bit, well - shitty. Jeff's greatness is in his songwriting and I would love to hear him exemplify that with some of the deeper cuts. So, I guess I'm not looking for new songs as much as I am for some older, more rare tunes. Maybe, they can morph some of the older tunes into the new routine with a new flare. Just looking for a little variety.

You can try www.youtube.com - this site has some video footage.

Does anyone have the basic chords for Not for the Seasons (Laminated Cat). Thanks in advance.

I just play it in standard with capo 4th. And then the chords are G>D>Em>C>A7>C :. Not sure if you were aware of that or not.

I also play it with a capo on the 4th - just makes life a bit easier so you can focus on sounding like Jeff.