Brian F.

I ran into Jeff on the street before a show in August 1999 in Vermont and I asked him if they were going to play "Pieholden Suite." He said they couldn't play it without the trumpet. Liar. Kudos to James W., whose shouted request for "Lou Reed Was My Babysitter" might have been accepted faster than any shouted request in history. It was like, James: "PLAY LOU REED IS MY BABYSIT.." Jeff: "O.K., I'll give it a try."

I was amused that the printed set list said "Tonight (Dylan)" as if, but for the parenthetical note, the band might have broken out into, say, "Tonight" from West Side Story. "Ultra Orange Room" was sound-checked, but not played.

Excellent writeup, Paul. I'll just note, for the sake of completeness, that I was the person who inquired as to the traditional gift for a two-year anal fissure anniversary, and the full inquiry was, "What's the traditional gift for that anniversary, paper or wood?"

Roy could give you more specifics about this couple's behavior. But, yes, you kind of hope that it was some kind of babysitting emergency or something-- not that I wish for a child to be in harm's way, just that it would explain this otherwise unfathomable choice. I was a little surprised Jeff didn't comment on it, especially when he brought up the guy who left in an apparent huff the night before, but I think he was probably focused on the 99 percent of the crowd that was into it.

What a night. By halfway through the main set, there was no need for face coverings for those of us sitting on Nels' side because our faces had been completely melted between "Art of Almost" and "Impossible Germany." And it was really nice of Jeff to clarify that it's N-E-L-S, not N-I-L-S. Here I've been thinking that was Nils Lofgren all this time... I tried to get a P-A-T chant going for Mr. Sansone after "Box Full of Letters," I think, but I think the crowd preferred to go for a two-point conversion. I have had the privilege of seeing Wilco from the front row more

I should clarify that when I say "sing along," it is meant to imply "on key, in sync and at an appropriate volume" although that is a lot to assume/expect. I should also mention that the couple were quite possibly oblivious to the volume of their chat due to alcohol consumption. On the other hand, the two ladies in Row F who chatted loudly throughout Faye Webster's set did not appear to have any such excuse. (We moved up to Row A for Faye's set because the first ten rows were mostly empty when she and her band went on and we wanted them to have some engaged faces to look out at.

No problem. I figured 26.5 years after my first Wilco show was enough time to finally register here. Maybe for the 50th anniversary, I'll join Facebook. Another thought on sitting/standing: I like to imagine some of the more recalcitrant sitters at Shea Stadium in 1964, yelling at all the Beatles fans to "Please sit down!"

On the topic of sitting-vs.-standing, I knew we were in for a challenge when they opened with "Bright Leaves," which put a lot of asses in seats, but not in the way that phrase usually suggests. We just held our ground, with support from the Phish fans in Row M to whom a shout-out is owed, secure in the knowledge that people would end up standing and be glad that they did-- and also secure in the knowledge that Jeff would weigh in, albeit obliquely. He asked if people "remember[ed] how to do this" (implying that some clearly didn't), said we've waited a year-and-a-half for this, encouraged p

Waiting in line for the Palladium show on Saturday, Pat came by and told us, "Some bands have the power to get them to shut down the bowling, and we're one of those bands," which I thought was hilarious coming from him. He also exaggeratedly mimed bowling which, again, just slayed us. We told him they should have let people bowl and just integrate the noise into some of the more cacophonous tracks in the set.

The printed set list had "Poor Places" and "Reservations" at the end of the main set. Jeff audibled to the band before "I'm The Man Who Loves You" that they would end the main set with that song.