lloydois

Just now, lloydois said:

Good review. It was a great show and a great audience I thought. It's not normal for the choir seats to be used for rock concerts and I thought it added a dimension to the show tbh. It's also not normal for an opera house audience to stand for any duration at a show such as Wilco. That would be really tiresome as you're not on a dancefloor and confined to your seat.  If that's they type of venue and audience you're looking you would have been better off seeing them the next night at The Enmore which is more of a traditional rock venue with full dancefloor downstairs and seating upstairs for the old folk and the vertically challenged. Having said that the opera house also hosts full on dance bands like Underworld and New Order where the place does turn into a gigantic dance party regardless 

 

And Bernard Zuel's review here an excellent summary of the Opera House show https://www.bernardzuel.net/post/wilco-live-review

17 hours ago, theashtraysays said:

Well let me just go ahead and break the seal on the word “iconic” and say that my first visit to this iconic venue was everything I could hope for. There, that’s done. On to the recap. 
The venue is amazing. It’s unique, artsy, and yes, iconic. There are seats 360 degrees around the totally open, flat stage. The side sections are small-ish, interlocked blocks of seats. Behind the unobstructed stage are more seats. The stage has no “sides” to cloak the crew or road cases. With that in mind, there were no “fringe curtains” for projections anywhere. 
The front row was really close to the rather low stage, and the band was placed pretty far forward on the stage. We were in the second row in front of Pat and it felt like I could’ve helped him tune his strat a couple times.  The main stack of PA speakers were actually at about row 5, but there were at least a dozen lip speakers on the stage that gave us great sound down front. 
The crowd was really good, with minimal camera use (there were signs indicating no photography - oh and there were no photogs for the first few songs at all as there isn’t any space between row one and the stage).
Speaking of the crowd… it was a sitter. No attempt to stand other than half-hearted standing ovations for a couple of the “hits” till we got to the end. 
Wilco came in at a very un-Wilco like 9:06 (no opener this night) with a sitter-friendly Hell is Chrome. 

Banter corner was very much alive and well, in spite of Jeff saying (again) that they weren’t gonna talk much since they had a lot of music to play. 
Just before IATTBYH, he looked at the front row and said “I bet you didn’t think you’d be this close did you?  You feel scared don’t you? It’s awkward for us too.”  Then, turning to the audience behind the stage, he said “they feel safer up there”

And during that song, we FINALLY got some localization when Jeff added “G’day” and “how are you going” after the “hello”. 
After Hummingbird, unencumbered by a guitar, he did do a little waving to the folks all around the stage, which did seem to appease the folks in the rear. He then gave his apologies for not playing Sydney in so long “we’ve put out ten records since last time…” and said how good it was to be back once again. He seemed to be as awe-inspired as the rest of us about the venue itself, saying “it’s like playing inside someone’s sculpture”.

Acknowledging the 360 seating, he said “I’m definitely cut out for playing with my back to people”, and “I love all of you, but these (folks behind me) are my people”. 
Going into Box Full of Letters, he said “this is the oldest song we’re gonna play tonight. Were any of you around then?” (Applause). “I don’t believe you.” and, turning to the folks in the back “I know YOU were”.

He then quipped, “ok that’s enough. I’ve fulfilled my obligations for the people back there - I’m not going to pay any more attention to you. Just kidding” and “I feel like a dog in a scientific experiment where you put it in the middle of its two owners to see which one he’ll run to. I’ll just stay here chasing my tail”, after which they finally got to play Box… 

Pat’s solo for Box got another (milder) “Pat Pat Pat” chant which he waved off / waved on as he headed back to his keys. 
Before Jesus etc, Jeff said to “sing along if you know it”, which we did, and after that hit song there was a solid applause, prompting Jeff to say “don’t do that you’ll make the other songs jealous” 

As the main set came to a close he once again said how great it was to be back and thanked everyone. During HMD, he gave a sweeping hand gesture back to Glenn for the obligatory stick twirl. There was still (almost) no standing for that or for Shot. After that closer, Jeff blew kisses 360 to everyone. 
Band comes back after a short encore break with Via Chicago, and everyone is STILL SITTING which continues through Cali Stars. No guest singers for that. 
Before starting Falling Apart, Jeff noticed that the lighting seemed to be set wrong for that particular song. “I think maybe we’re in a different song. That lighting is pretty moody for this song”. Then explained “we’re gonna play a country song, then a couple rock songs, and that’s it. We’re not gonna leave and come back so now would be a good time to give it up” (which we did).

Once they hit the opening chords for I Got You, some of us couldn’t take it any more and proceeded to stand (and bring the crowd with us) for the last two songs. 
The band left the stage at 11:06. 
Spriders was on the printed setlist after Falling Apart but was replaced with I Got You and Outtasite. 
One more show this run… it’s been a blast. 
 

Cheers!

Vince 

 

Good review. It was a great show and a great audience I thought. It's not normal for the choir seats to be used for rock concerts and I thought it added a dimension to the show tbh. It's also not normal for an opera house audience to stand for any duration at a show such as Wilco. That would be really tiresome as you're not on a dancefloor and confined to your seat.  If that's they type of venue and audience you're looking you would have been better off seeing them the next night at The Enmore which is more of a traditional rock venue with full dancefloor downstairs and seating upstairs for the old folk and the vertically challenged. Having said that the opera house also hosts full on dance bands like Underworld and New Order where the place does turn into a gigantic dance party regardless