dmait

nyctaper has a recording of the NYC show here: http://www.nyctaper.com/?p=1666

>Also, if you all remember this all started with the Eagles Reunion Tour when they were the first to really charge more for the premium seats.

That tour was one of the first (if not the first) over $100 ticket. That's a lot now and would have been a lot in 1993 or 94.

I just paid TM $102 for two $38 Pavement tickets - a 34% markup.

>From Good Homes

I caught 3 or 4 of their shows back in the day. Those were great shows and a couple of decent records.

Here's a review of the Irving show from Popmatters. Says Chris Masterston is the guitarist.

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/111754-son-volt-17-september-2009-fillmore-at-irving-plaza-new-yor/

It was a surprisingly great show last night. I was about 10 feet back in front of the guitarist, James Walbourne. Contrary to other reviews, I thought he was the absolute highlight of the show. He filled in with tasty licks and some searing solos. For the first half of the show, the songs were really getting going during the outros, but Jay would stop them after just a minute or two. Those endings could have gone on for another few minutes and really gone places. But Jay kept stopping them abruptly. A few fans around me were yelling to Jay to keep the jams going and "Let them play." It was as if he wanted to keep the focus on himself and the lyrics, not so much the nstrumentation.

During the last 10 songs or so, he slowly let the band loose with some great jamming. Song by song, the jams got a little bit longer and more intense. Jay has dozens of incredible songs. He should let the band fly without restraints and take these songs to other levels. Let them explore.

This review of the Philly show (http://blogs.delawareonline.com/pulpculture/?p=5123) has it right about Walbourne:

>Even though there were plenty of gentle moments wrapped around the steel guitar throughout the night, the biggest surprise came when the band turned up the volume led by Walbourne, who reminded me of a dog on a too-short leash. His manic guitar took Farrar into some explosive territory — especially on “Afterglow 61″ — territory Farrar hasn’t been in since the implosion of Uncle Tupelo, the band he shared with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy.

Walbourne is a rising star, and I bet SV is just a stop along the way up. Jay has a comet by its tail.

I just pulled two tickets for the Wednesday show. Nice. Two $38 tickets becomes $102 total. Thanks, TM.

No luck with tix. Will have to wait for next weeks general sale.

I think Warren Haynes is on the cover of the new one. Pretty impressive mag.

Sounds like Bono gave Wilco a shout out on Sunday at Soldier Field.

http://www.glidemagazine.com/hiddentrack/review-u2-shine-at-soldier-field/

>Bono gave props to local heroes Wilco by singing the line “kiss and ride on the cta” from Far Far Away before launching into Beautiful Day. It was a subtle shout out, but none the less Bono recognized that even though U2 can sell out Soldier Field, Chicago is still Wilco’s town.

It would be interesting to see Wilco's noisy outros segue into another song, rather than just come to an end. It would also be interesting to hear a little improv in a song like Impossible Germany, rather than playing it nearly note-for-note each night. Just very minor quibbles in a GD-Wilco thread.

I'm seeing SV at Irving Plaza in NYC on Thursday. It will be my first SV show since they closed Tramps with an underwhelming show in 1999, after which I basically left the SV bandwagon. I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised, but not holding my breath.

> i need to go back & listen to his live shows from 97-2002 or so. he was just on fire then.

I completely agree with that. And that San Jose show is outrageous.

Ponch and wojo have just about nailed my thoughts completely. I've been thinking of the last two records in terms of Dylan's career. I started my serious Dylan exploration in the mid- to late- 80s and was able to cherry pick certain albums. I liked BOTT and Desire as much as Bringing It All Back Home. With so many great records to experience, it was easy to overlook the ones that didn't do anything for me without giving it much thought. Looking at it from my Wilco experience, where I've been on board nearly from the beginning, I am seeing what Dylan fans have gone through, for example, when he went electric or began his religious phase. Old fans jumped ship while new fans jumped on board. Similarly I'd think some early Red Hot Chili Peppers fans want nothing to do with the current incarnation.

I wonder if the Dylan fans who jumped ship with Gotta Serve returned with Jokerman - or did they find new bands to like and never return, like I did with Son Volt. I have returned to Ryan Adams after completely blowing him off after Rock and Roll. I haven't jumped ship with Wilco, nor will I, but I feel like I'm living through a Dylan-type transition, which is an oddly new phenomena for me. That's a testament for how much Wilco has meant to me.

To use a horrible stock chart analogy, Wilco had been in a nice long uptrend through AGIB and has been consolidating and in a narrow range ever since. Now we wait and see if it breaks up or down. I know, terrible.

>definitely closer to Dream Police than it was to The Flame.

That's a big step in the right direction.

I missed out on this one. No more $5 tickets available for Son Volt. Snooze and lose.

I have a new appreciation for the song after seeing it in Keyspan. As good as it was, though, I thought she missed a chance at the end to make it really special. At the end during the outro, Jeff gave her room to really belt out and go beyond the record, but she instead stopped singing altogether, looking somewhat uncomfortable. It was a (minor) missed opportunity that would have really catapulted an otherwise fine version to extraordinary. Too bad.

From mainetoday.com: http://www.mainetoday.com/enternews/041086.html

Wilco Guitarist Scheduled for CD Signing Meet and Greet at Portland Bull Moose, July 17

In town for Wilco's sold-out concert on the Maine State Pier on Friday, July 17, Wilco guitarist Nels Cline will make an appearance at the Portland Bull Moose (151 Middle Street) the same afternoon, July 17, at 12:30 p.m. He will be available to meet and speak with fans, and sign copies of a variety of CDs both as the featured artist as well as his releases with Wilco.

Lead guitarist of the alternative rock band Wilco for the past five years, Cline was recently described by the New York Times as "one of the best guitarists in any genre."

As his fans well know, Cline has long had many other irons in the fire aside from his most recent high profile role with Wilco. He has recorded numerous CDs as both a sideman and as the leader of a handful of bands over the years. The guitarist is known for the diversity of his musical projects including collaborations with other punk, jazz, alt rock and improvisational musicians.

The Bull Moose meet and greet with Nels Cline, is this Friday, July 17th from 12:30-1:30 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

>I can understand being a little underwhelmed by the variety, but if you look at the shows from the Summerteeth tour or the YHF tour there was not only less variety in the song selection, but they were playing almost the exact same order every night as well. So they've actually gotten a lot better with this.

It's pretty funny. This entire thread mirrors the criticisms on Springsteen's boards. The hardcore fans complain that they hear the same 12-15 songs every night with only a few variables, none of which appease them enough. "Why can't he rest Born to Run just one night and break out Seaside Bar Song or Frankie." Then the next poster says, "If you don't like it then stay home and give the rest of us who can't go to many shows a chance." Then the next poster says to look at the pre-internet tours like Darkness and Born To Run when he played the exact same set every single night for months on end and that instant access has ruined any spontaneity.

>There are more casual fans at these shows than hardcore fans

I think that's becoming more apparent of late, and that's positive for the band. I've noticed more people on this board saying things like they loved hearing Spiders live for the first time. I also noticed a big high school and college contingent in the lot and at the show at Keyspan. It's as if the Dave Matthews crowd has taken notice, much like the Phish crowd did with AGIB. And that's a positive sign for the band that the fanbase is growing and expanding.

Unfortunately for me, that means seeing the band in larger and larger venues. My last four shows were Sayreville (tiny), Red Bank (small theater), McCarren Pool (huge), and Keyspan (mammoth) (aside from opening for Neil Young at MSG). I miss the intimacy and the feeling of being close and getting enveloped in the music. On the other hand, it's great to celebrate the band with big crowds who genuinely care about great music.

From New York magazine: http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/07/wilco.html

Although we're not quite as into Wilco's new record as seemingly everyone at the New York Times is, we made sure to make our way out to Coney Island last night to take in the band's fitter, happier, more productive sound. We caught Jeff Tweedy and company's tremendous set in the hinterlands of Tennessee at Bonnaroo last month, and as soon as we found out that they would be performing their only local date on this tour at a nontraditional outdoor venue — Keyspan Park, a baseball field that's normally home to the Class-A Brooklyn Cyclones — we immediately secured ourselves tickets to the show. With the intoxicating smells of Coney dogs and salt water wafting in the breeze, the dad rockers clearly drew inspiration from the unique surroundings; at one point, the formerly surly Tweedy even led the crowd in a gleeful and spontaneous "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" sing-along.

As evidenced by the band's recent decision to take a decidedly less serious (and, at times, even bordering on humorous) approach to musicmaking, Tweedy used the opportunity to try to score some laughs from the largely gray-haired crowd with some localized banter. "Do people even live in Coney Island?" he wondered aloud at one point. "Circus geeks?" While one might infer that their newly breezy onstage demeanor and their less experimental approach in the recording studio has made Wilco, um, soft, the fact of the matter is that the band has never sounded richer and more expressive in a live setting than they have on this tour.

In particular, Tweedy has made the wise decision to give new(ish) guitarist Nels Cline as much room to breathe as possible, which paid amazing dividends on extended jams like "Impossible Germany" and a newly arranged "Handshake Drugs." But, lest you think the band has drifted too closely to jam-band territory — something the crowd was clearly eating up, by the way — they proved they still have the power to deliver the rock during their encore, which began with "Heavy Metal Drummer" and wrapped up with a barn- ballpark-burning set-closer, "Spiders (Kidsmoke)." As the entire audience outstretched their arms and ecstatically clapped along to Glenn Kotche's propulsive drumbeat, Tweedy quipped to the crowd, "You look like a Quiet Riot audience." And based on some of the temporary headbanging the mention elicited, we're guessing most everyone in the crowd was old enough to catch the reference.

I may be hitting Chicago in August for a bachelor party, so this thread will come in handy. That "Hard Country Happy Hour" sounds perfect.

That's an early start. From the Wilmington thread, the opener was 7:30-8:30 with Wilco on at 9 pm.

I'm in and may have an extra. I'll update that later. Any good local bars for a pregame? Thoughts on times for the bands taking the stage?

The Denver Post interviews Jay: http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_12764297

>Since a new Wilco album is not even out yet and people are basically already done with it, there is very little to talk about.

Pretty amazing isn't it? And I haven't even heard it, having avoided the stream for some reason.

"No one's noticed, but the band's all packed and gone.

Was it ever here at all?"

>That said, i love Nels. However, I'll be standing on John and Pat's side at the next concert.

Interesting. My last show was McCarren Pool, and I'm looking forward to planting myself (and a Wilco newbie friend) in front of Nels for the Keyspan park show in July.

>Maybe it'd be easier if there was an all encompasing Nels thread (and same for Pat, Mikael, Glen, etc.), for posting Nels news, interviews, concert dates, etc

Good idea, like the thread for reviews of the new album.