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I figure there's enough Bird interest here that it's worth posting the setlist from tonight's show (which maybe was the formal kickoff for the Noble Beast tour?):

Hot Math [Andrew solo]

Fitz and the Dizzyspells

Masterswarm

Effigy

Nomenclature

Not a Robot, But a Ghost

Lull

Tenuousness

Natural Disaster

Oh No

Fake Palindromes

Anonanimal

Souverian

Tables and Chairs

-------------------

Glass Figurine [Andrew solo]

The Privateers

As is obvious from the setlist, Andrew played a ton of new stuff including almost all of Noble Beast. He was joined by his regular touring band of Martin Dosh on drums, Jeremy Ylvisaker on guitar and Mike Lewis on bass, clarinet and saxophone. (I can't remember which song it was just now, but Andrew said it was "a big moment because I said I'd never have saxophone in my band.") It's always nice to see Andrew in a more intimate setting, but certainly I think the band was using this as a warmup gig for Wednesday's big show at Carnegie Hall.

I think some people might have been expecting him to play more of a mix of older favorites and new material and that might have taken the energy of the crowd down a little bit. Plus, it was a Monday night. Andrew even asked at one point, "Are we playing too many new songs?" But despite many shouted-out requests, the band pretty much stuck to its setlist. For me it was interesting to hear the new stuff with a full band behind it. I had heard a couple of the songs on Noble Beast at a fairly recent solo performance, but it was interesting to hear the full band play them. Since I hadn't had a chance to listen to the record before the show, I'll be curious to hear how it sounds compared with the live versions.

Anyway, that's about all my brain can muster at this hour, so I'll leave it at that...

I bet the acoustics are awesome.

Well, I meant I covered a game at Beacon High. I guess they must have a separate auditorium. But yeah, I'm sure it will sound amazing...

Beacon High Auditorium.

 

 

that is just awesome.

Seriously, that could not be more weird. I covered a basketball game there once, I think.

For Valentine's Day, can we request a "set within a set" of all Jeff's love songs (like he did in LA a few years ago)?

Martin Rivas Big Band!

I can't endorse this more highly, if you're in the area or otherwise. Get down to the Bitter End on Monday!

Sure, I can't remember how big the file is but might be able to send you a zip.

Thanks a lot for the offer, but actually a kind someone just sent me the full file for 49:00. Now, of course, I have to ask if anyone could send me 5:05. Thanks very much in advance. I will try to keep more on top of this Internet music thing in '09, at least as it relates to Westerberg.

So...anyone got the full mp3 of 49:00 (or would it technically be 43:55 and 5:05?) that they want to send me? I sort of missed the boat on this one. Downloaded some files, but turned out to be just 4+ minutes worth of stuff.

Thanks in advance.

he he, it is a pretty awesome cover

 

looks like it's drawn on a brown paper towel almost

I saw that he's opening some shows for A.C. Newman coming up. I want to say out West, but I'm too lazy to look right now.

what the what?

dunno, but i want to go to there.

Nice linkage, B! I forgot that the show happened while we were asleep (is that right?). God bless the person who kept track of all that shuffling of personnel, lead singers and so forth.

Also I wonder if anyone will be able to shed more light on the comment about those "two last unplanned Wilco songs at Neils insistence... Not up on my Wilco so others will have to fill in the blanks."

I remember hearing that the film crew was at the 9:30 Club shows in late February, too. And Tipitina's. Maybe the did all of the shows from DC through Cain's. (Which, looking at setlists, still wouldn't include Ashes.) Looking through those shows on Wilcobase did remind me that the setlists in the wake of the residency were just ridiculous, though. That was such a fun time.

From my (admittedly possibly faulty) recollection, the filming took place at one of the nights in Washington at 9:30; at the Ryman in Nashville; in Mobile, Ala,. (at the Mobile Arena); one of the nights at Tipitina's in New Orleans; and at Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa.

I know they did some fan interviews on line in various places and took extra footage (other than just concert footage), so my guess is it'll probably incorporate some of that stuff. I would think that the Sunken Treasure DVD of Jeff's solo tour would be a good guideline of what the upcoming release might be like.

Figure that most people on here get the Wilcoworld e-mails already, but in case you're not subscribed, this latest missive (which just landed in my inbox a few hours short of Christmas Eve) should answer a lot of questions about various projects, etc. Merry Christmas!

from Wilco HQ:

Greetings friends,

As we hope you've noticed, we've been lying low on the emails, trying to avoid being part of the last-minute discount, order-now-before-the-holiday-crush deluge of spam that is presently blowing up your inbox.

That said, we do want to thank all of you out there for making this, yet again, a great year for Wilco. Thanks to you guys for supporting the band & the entire Wilco org. by continuing to turn up in droves at shows and frankly, for buying stuff. Your support makes everything possible.

We've got a lot to look forward to in to '09 -- many cool things on the horizon. First, we (w/ Nonesuch) will be releasing Wilco's first concert film/DVD, and despite the obvious negative connotations associated with that category, we think you'll really like this one. It's called "Ashes of American Flags" and was put together by our friends Brendan Canty and Christoph Green at Trixie Films (Sunken Treasure, Burn to Shine, etc.) Filming took place on the band's February '08 tour and includes material from Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa, The Ryman in Nashville, and more. "Ashes of American Flags" should hit store shelves and the internet in February/March '09. Look for clips and other information at Wilcoworld.net beginning in January.

Post-holidays, the band will head back to the loft to resume work on their next studio album which we suspect will see the light of day in Spring '09. Again more details, streams, photos etc. coming to the site soon. So hang in there.

Re: touring: Well, there's not much until Spring. Jeff Tweedy has a handful of solo shows in late January (Kalamazoo, MI; Champaign, IL; Ann Arbor, MI). Ticket information here. Nels Cline also has a run of shows in January, info here. And there'll undoubtedly be other solo-ish events popping up here and there. But Wilco have no shows planned between now and April as they'll be pretty much hunkered down in the studio. We are in the final phases of working out a handful of gigs in southern US (April) and an extensive tour of Spain (May) followed by, most likely, the usual summer hijinks with a new record and gigs everywhere imaginable.

So, without further adieu, happy sledding through the holidays and into the New Year. And remember, when it comes to gift giving, it truly is the thought that counts (spoken like a true last minute shopper....). On that note, we'd be remiss if we didn't add that there's a sale on in the Wilco store and we've extended it through January 15. So feel free to, you know, order something and put a note in the card, saying "coming soon....", or whatever.

thanks again for everything. Here's to you guys. Happy Holidays... with love.

the HQ staff.

What was Catherine Popper doing there?

 

Oh wait, is she playing with Norah Jones nowadays?

Yeah, apparently she is. They played together at Bridge School along with Sasha Dobson in a group that is apparently called Dixie Fried. They've played a few gigs in small places around New York.

Who was the young girl singing w/ Wilco?

Do you mean Norah Jones?

And thanks, Judy! I was a little afraid to snap away at first, but when everybody started coming out on stage, I couldn't resist.

Gotta say, it was pretty awesome hearing that crowd sing along to "Don't Look Back In Anger."

I've posted my photos from the show on my flickr. You can find them here.

Were you GA for the show?

Yeah, I managed to sneak in there among the Neil fanatics.

Though there wasn't a great deal of variety in songs played, tonight was nonetheless a fun way to close out the tour with special guests aplenty and collaborations across the three bands. In the end, the collaborations might not have exactly been the types people were expecting or hoping for, but everyone looked like they were having a blast and that translated to the performances.

Wilco's set was as follows:

You Are My Face

IATTBYH

Handshake Drugs

A Shot in the Arm

Impossible Germany

Jesus, etc. (w/Norah Jones, Catherine Popper and Sasha Dobson on background vocals)

Everest invited the Watson Twins out to sing with them on a couple of songs. Apparently one of the Everests is married to one of the Twins. Not sure what this really has to do with anything, but anyway.

Also, did anyone spot the Donald at the show? He was sitting with a couple of younger guys in the first tier at stage left and flanked by at least of couple of bodyguards/goons. (Thanks for pointing him out, Doug, and good to meet you!) Wonder if Mr. Trump hung around for Neil's entire set? I'm guessing not.

It's sad to see so many independent record stores shutting their doors these days. I had never been to Atomic, but I ducked in last week when I was passing through Milwaukee and it seemed like a cool place. I think currently there's a 20 percent off everything sale through the end of the month and I saw that they're going to haul a bunch of other stuff out in January before they close for good.

It sucks that for a lot of the stores that I've seen close in the last couple of years, they get way more business after they announce they're closing than they ever did while they were open.

Seems like it's almost impossible to survive as a mom and pop shop anymore. You either have to be a "mega-indie" like Amoeba or have a real niche.

Hummingbird was before Jesus

Actually, I don't think it was. Pretty sure Wendy had the right order since I was writing it down as we went. No biggie, but if we're being accurate...

unfortunately, the weather is so bad i am not going to make the 4 hour drive today. i am bummed, but i can't afford the possibility of getting into an accident or being stuck in the mountains all night. i have been following the tour on line and i don't expect any unusual surprises in philly tonight. still, i would like to know what i miss. if someone could please post the set list i would appreciate it.

sorry you had to miss the show.

here was the setlist for wilco from philly (i assume that's the setlist you wanted since neil has pretty much been playing the same setlist for the whole tour):

Via Chicago

Impossible Germany

You Are My Face>

Spiders (Kidsmoke)

Hummingbird

Jesus, etc.

Hate It Here

Walken

I'm The Man Who Loves You

nothing too revolutionary, although i'm glad they put spiders in there. i couldn't really tell from where i was, but i sort of wondered about the reaction to that one from most of the crowd.

nels kind of had a rough night. he broke a string twice, including during his solo on impossible germany. if you happened to be listening to a recording or something without knowing what had happened, it would sound like they reworked the ending. but basically, after the broken string, nels couldn't really play the notes cleanly at the end of the solo and he couldn't switch guitars mid-solo either, so he just had to sort of finish up with a noisy, fast strum. after the song ended, a couple of us could hear him yell out in frustration. he shook it off pretty quickly, though, and sounded great for the rest of the set.

happy to report that jeff didn't have to go off stage at all to puke or anything, so hopefully he's feeling better from his stomach bug. his only hiccup was a slight lyric flub, on via chicago ("the cups are cracked and hooked...i think"), but i don't think too many people noticed.

I've got a spare ticket for the show in Baltimore this Sunday, Dec. 14. The seat is in the Orchestra section, Row L, Seat 125. I'm just looking to get back what I paid (or close to what I paid), which was $52.85.

Send me a PM or e-mail me at paulsuwan@gmail.com if you're interested and we can work out the details. Thanks!

Hey all.. the one taper i talked to mention b-tree as the future home of the show...

You probably mean bt.etree.org, right?

And to answer the earlier question, shows usually end up on one of the typical torrent sites like bt.etree or Dime. Often, a taper will post a link in the appropriate "After The Show" thread here on VC.