bböp

Glad you guys were able to see Gary, Tamala and Joyce! I don't think I've ever managed to see him solo, though I saw the Jayhawks a bunch of times. Excited to hear about some upcoming Jayhawks dates!

new song (yet another one I'd never heard before)

Again, it's tough to give a decent report on the debut of this new song having heard it just once and in a stripped-down arrangement. My first impressions were that it's a mid-tempo number with some pretty evocative lyrics, though definitely not as immediately catchy as the song that was debuted on the first day of Bridge School. Rereading some of the lyrics I managed to scrawl down, the tone seems to be a fairly bleak one: "There's nothing left here/The country has disappeared" and "Hold out your hands/So much you don't understand/Stick as close as you can" and something about "best laid plans."

Moving on, there's a line about "white clouds hanging above you" and something about helicopters. And then the apparent chorus starts off something like, "Every evening we watch from above/Crush the cities..."

The other fragment I jotted down was something about "this is love to some."

Not a very coherent report, I'm afraid. I will say that this was the first of the new songs I've heard that I didn't get into right away, but again, it's hard to say if what we heard is still evolving or close to a finished product. It's been nice to get a couple sneak peeks the past couple of days, in any case.

I thought today's set was, overall, probably a little better than the first day. Even though Jeff stumbled a little bit during "What Light" (nice recovery!), I thought the band as a whole seemed more comfortable than yesterday. And "I Shall Be Released" with Neil and Pegi was a neat moment. Jeff had a big smile on his face throughout. Hopefully we'll get to see this collaboration at least a couple times on the December tour.

Okebo's setlist was almost right, just switched Jesus and Cali Stars.

The correct order was:

Hummingbird

new song-I'll Fight For You (?)

Forget the Flowers

Jesus, etc.

California Stars

The Late Greats

War on War

The new one wasn't the one Jeff played at his solo shows in Spain last month, based on the YouTube clips I watched. I hesitate to describe a new song after hearing it once -- and in an all-acoustic performance, no less -- but it's definitely got a catchy chorus that starts off the song. (Can that even be properly described as a chorus? I'm not sure.) Anyway, it goes something like "I'll go, I'll go/I'll fight for you/I'll kill, I'll kill for you/I will, I will." I wouldn't say it's a poppy arrangement like "Sunny Feeling" by any means, but that refrain definitely worked for me as a hook. On first listen, it seemed to me to be another work in progress, and who knows how the final version will turn out? This much is certain -- it's got some lyrical depth to go along with the aforementioned "chorus" that needs some more listens to fully sort out. One jarring line toward the end of the song went something like "I'll die alone like Jesus on the cross." Hopefully we'll get to hear it again tomorrow...later today, actually.

For those interested in Neil's set(s), he started the entire show off with a couple of songs played solo:

I Am A Child

Sugar Mountain

Then to close out the show, he came out with his touring band and did:

new song-Just Singing A Song Won't Change The World

Oh, Lonesome Me

Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)

The Needle and the Damage Done

Unknown Legend

Heart of Gold

Old Man

Get Back to the Country

A Day in the Life [The Beatles]

Comes A Time [w/ensemble]

*Neil also came out and played and sang with Cat Power during her set-closing rendition of "Fortunate Son."

Oh, and more random Canadiana: Neil was wearing a Louis Riel t-shirt.

Qui est-ce? (Actually I Googled it, but just wanted to type something en francais so maybe you'd think I was from Quebec or something. )

Glad you and Doug had fun, Judy!

PS What'd you think of Everest and/or Death Cab?

Have a happy happy day, Senor Frog! Hope the weather Down Under is mighty fine (is it ever not?).

Seriously? Has it come to this?

[quote name='pn

psst: nick lowe could actually equal: nick lowe + paul bryan + jay bellerose.

 

just saying.

 

also: am going to be in la seeing swell season. unless i book this hotwire ticket to detroit to see mmj on saturday.

aaahhh, crazy rock tourism. i love it!

p.s. jay is the drummer in robert plant and alison krauss' band (at least when i saw them at ACL last weekend), so if they have a full band there, i imagine he will be there.

I bet this show will be filmed and/or recorded and sold as a dvd/cd.

That is what the Pitchfork article said.

Pronto is great...Go check 'em out!

(P.S. To any NYC peeps, is it just me or do you always get confused by Union Pool and Union Hall?)

You sure there isn't any Ratatat merch?

Seriously, it was really fun slinging all those T-shirts. Even though I don't live in Chicago, I guess I've been there enough over the years to get to know some of the people in the Chicago music community; to me, there's so much more of a community feel there as opposed to New York. And that's really epitomized by Tim and Katie and the Hideout. So it was great to get to hang and drink for free and see a lot of familiar faces all weekend. Sign me up for next year...

Total crazy mofos...

Monotonix fits that description pretty well, too.

Just in case anyone was curious (I didn't feel like starting a whole new thread in After The Show), the setlist for the reunion show last night was:

Narcolepsy

Don't Change Your Plans (w/four-piece horn section)

Mess

Magic

Hospital Song

Army (w/horns)

Your Redneck Past

Your Most Valuable Possession (Dean Folds on spoken word )

Regrets

Jane

Lullabye (w/horns)

[in other words, The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner in its entirety]

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

Jackson Cannery

Eddie Walker

Selfless, Cold and Composed

Battle of Who Could Care Less

Where's Summer B.?

Julianne

Song For The Dumped

The guys sounded great, even from the balcony; it was like old times. Only disappointment was they didn't come out for a second encore after a rousing ovation. I think they probably were out of songs they had time to relearn. Ah, well.

Uh oh. Does this mean no Wilco for Toronto night 2? (OK, clearly it does. Shit.)

Replacement drummer! All-acoustic set! Who knows?

Unfortunately, I don't think Wilco's playing with Neil at Allstate on Dec. 9 so I guess take that into consideration in relation to ticket prices...

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes!

Another year older, but not too much wiser I'm afraid...

Did Jeff play a solo set early in the day? This is from the rollingstone.com article about the show

Unless Jeff somehow slipped in a couple covert songs before the Animal Liberation Orchestra rocked the house ( ), that Rolling Stone account of the show probably should have read Sunday closer or something--although technically that wouldn't have been right either.

Anyway, no, Jeff didn't play a solo set.

In the end, it was a fairly typical festival set...albeit one played with a lot of intensity. The highlight for me, and probably a lot of others, was Nels' searing solo on Impossible Germany (which the band had to start three different times). To paraphrase one of my festival cohorts, Nels was seemingly on another planet during that song. Afterward he dedicated it to the late, great Bay Area guitarist John Cipollina. Jeff, in an attempt at a lighthearted aside, had pointed out that Nels had played that great solo while having his pants zipper held together by a safety pin, which Nels briefly showed the crowd. Imagine having to play, Jeff said, while worrying about whether "your schlong was going to fall out." Then Jeff spotted a little girl down in the photo pit and realized he probably hadn't chosen the best banter topic there.

For me, one small surprise was that no special guests joined the band on stage. I know people usually make way too much of collaboration between artists and sometimes it just isn't feasible for one reason or another, but it's too bad because there were plenty of potential candidates. Andrew Bird played a fun set on the same stage two time slots before Wilco, so he was probably around (although they didn't get a soundcheck to run through anything, which I think they usually like to do). I thought I also spotted Justin from Bon Iver watching from the back part of the stage after having played on another stage earlier in the day. Again, there probably wouldn't have been time to work anything out, but in light of the recent performances with Fleet Foxes, something like I Shall Be Released would have been fun to see.

And last, but not least, was Spiral Stairs (a/k/a Scott Kannberg) of Pavement, who joined Broken Social Scene for their closing number. Of course, Scott has a connection with Wilco as well; his post-Pavement band, Preston School of Industry, opened some Wilco shows back in 2002. So there was some thought that he might possibly join in on something like California Stars. But ultimately, no dice...

Nonetheless, it was a fun day overall. The weather cooperated -- the sun finally came out -- and we got the chance to see several great performers precede Wilco on the Twin Peaks stage. And then Wilco's own performance, of course. So it's hard to complain too much.

man i really want to hear i shall be released with fleet foxes, is a version up anywhere?

They only did the song together three times, so I don't know if anyone's posted a recording yet. But last night's version was a really nice one, with both Robin and Josh of the Fleet Foxes (the singer and drummer, respectively) each taking a brief turn on lead vocals before deferring back to Jeff for the "falsetto" part. They hadn't done that at either the Boise or Spokane shows. When it was over, the stage turned into a big lovefest, with all of the Wilcos and Fleet Foxes exchanging numerous hugs.

Oh, and prior to I Shall Be Released, the FFs finally delivered some presents to the Wilcos in the form of a football (which they had become known for throwing around all tour), sunglasses for all six Wilcos and a straw hat for their tour manager Jason. The running joke had been that the FFs were Wilco's second favorite band to work with because Bon Iver had given them presents. But I think the FFs had definitely moved up in the pecking order by the end of the evening.

Overall, it was a very fun show. Took the band a little while to get going. Jeff forgot a verse to IATTBYH and War on War was, shall we say, not exactly a masterpiece. But it was all very very fun to watch. A totally different vibe from Spokane.

Do any of you think that Jeff cut the show short? He was talking about the "Longcore" earlier in the show, but we never got it.

You don't even want to know. Maybe someone who got a printed setlist will chime in, but let's just say the show didn't quite go as originally planned.

I hear in Boise, they're Basque fries!

I had some potatoes in a Bechamel sauce at a Basque restaurant, does that count?

As to the show, I honestly think this one will go down as one of my favorites of the year. I'm not necessarily one for outdoor shows, by and large, but as Jeff pointed out, this one had the feel of Wilco playing in someone's back yard. I mean, they essentially played in a gazebo--how great is that? There was a patio-like semi-circle area in front of the stage where people could stand if they wanted; otherwise, they were welcome to set up low-backed chairs and/or blankets fanning out in an arc from where the "patio" area ended. i'm not sure how many people ended up standing, but this was the best of both worlds--those who wanted to stand could stand, those who wanted to sit could sit.

Everyone was very nice, from the winery staff to security. Sodas and water were $1, beer was like $4 and good-looking food (although I only tried a little bit) was $3-$7. It was all very civilized.

And the show was a really fun one as well. When John's amp started to click and crackle before Handshake Drugs, that wasn't a good sign. They brought out another identical amp ("Wilco has two of everything," Jeff joked) but eventually the problem seemed to be solved by not using the black bass that John normally uses on Handshake, I'm The Man Who Loves You and a handful of other songs. Jeff had some priceless banter throughout the night, including calling out a guy with a Rollie Fingers-style mustache before I'm The Man: "Sir, if you're going to come to a show with a mustache that awesome, you need to warn us because it's been distracting me all night." There was also a funny bit after California Stars about having done "their signature move" (a riff ending) like three songs in a row. Maybe someone else can elaborate on that one...

Not sure how the sound was further away from the stage, but up close, Nels was a little loud in the mix, which I like. Everything just sounded very crisp and right on from where I was.

It certainly wasn't the best setlist I've seen overall, but it was one of those shows where what they played was less important than how they played it...which was very energetically and viscerally. Of course, getting I Shall Be Released as a show closer was perfect. It had been a while since we'd heard that one, but when we heard them soundchecking it earlier with Fleet Foxes (who looked so happy to be out there for the finale), we were hopeful. What a great song to end the night on!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29662327@N04/

Thanks for posting those photos. Can't remember the last time Jeff performed in a T-shirt and without a jacket of some sort.

As for Brian Wilson, it was actually quite sad. He had his keyboard in front of him, but he didn't touch it the whole set, and he didn't sing more than 40% of the time. It was definitely a Beach Boys Review, but the crowd had a lot of fun and there was a lot of dancing by people of all ages. I didn't realize Mertens played sax with Wilson--I'm not sure if that's a regular gig or not. When the festival line-up was first announced, I was hoping for Love & Mercy, but once I saw Wilson on stage I knew it wasn't going to happen. The 8 or 9 musicians around him were definitely the only things keeping him up there, and he often looked bewildered.

Yeah, it sounds a lot like the show I saw last month. I remember him actually singing more, but his keyboard was definitely there for appearance sake because he hardly touched it. Same with a bass guitar that someone put on him for one song. You almost have to see him on stage to really understand the state he seems to be in right now, don't you think Tamala? Bewildered is a good word.

I don't think the show I saw had horns, though, so at least you guys got a bonus there with Mertens, et al. Glad you guys were able to make it out there...

"it's jim! he's got the flying-v! and puppets!"

Here are my photos from the show on Flickr. A couple pretty decent ones toward the end of the set if I do say so myself.

I have some good pictures that I just uploaded to my computer. Will try to post a couple here, or at least link to my Flickr when I get to where I'm going tonight. Damn, that was a fun show. Nice review, Evonne! All I can say is PUPPETS!

Wish I could have gotten to the aftershow at the Mangy Moose but we had our kids with us (their first show!) and we had to get back to the campsite.

Haha, I love the names of these places when Wilco plays out-of-the-way towns...Moose's Tooth, Mangy Moose. Maybe there could be a moose-themed tour!