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Am I being kinda lazy by writing about both Fillmore shows in one recap? Yeah, I guess so. But I really do think, in this case, it would be difficult to talk about one show without the other in a lot of ways.

 

As Jeff himself observed on Night 2 when he pointed out that he and his band would be playing a little longer set than the previous night and joked that the Night 2 audience members shouldn't tell anyone they knew who had been at Night 1, there was a natural tendency to compare the two shows, particularly after an opening night of the tour that perhaps was a bit rowdier than anyone might have expected. These California shows, of course, were the rescheduled dates from the ones that were initially supposed to happen in the last week of 2021 and the first week of 2022 but had to be pushed back slightly because of the Omicron surge. As a result, the San Francisco dates wound up happening first (instead of Los Angeles first and then SF, as originally scheduled) and the first one fell on a Monday night at the tail end of a chilly President's Day weekend.

 

For whatever reason, the energy in the crowd and maybe even within the band seemed a bit off at the start. The tone of the audience on Night 1 seemed to be set by a gentleman at stage left who, not long into the set, "caused a ruckus" by making it known that he was a relation of the Tweedy family — "Cousin Barry." Jeff looked over at both of his sons, Spencer and Sammy, who were on stage with him and asked them if they knew of the existence of a cousin Barry. Then he decided to do his self-described Dick Tracy imitation and call his wife Susie on his Apple Watch right then and there and ask her to verify that there indeed was a cousin Barry. She did, for the entire crowd to hear — because Jeff held his watch up to the microphone — and added, "That's so sweet (that he's at the show). He's in his 80s." After hanging up, Jeff shared that he might be in some trouble because he hadn't let Susie know that she was on speakerphone, which she apparently hates. Jeff acknowledged as much on Night 2, admitting that he had gotten caught up in the moment and that when we all saw Susie, we should tell her that Jeff was sorry and that he loves her.

 

While the cousin Barry affair was a pretty funny moment of crowd interaction, less funny was bassist Liam Kazar having to contend with a loud talker somewhere in the neighborhood of cousin Barry at stage left near the end of the show. I didn't hear the person myself, but I saw Liam go over to the edge of the stage at one point, crouch down and put a finger to his lips. When that apparently didn't work, he came back over after the song and yelled at the talker — loudly enough for at least the first few rows to hear — that they "need to shut the fuck up." And not long after that, the show was over — a bit earlier than planned, judging by the printed setlist.

 

There were certainly musical highlights, on Night 1, such as the not-played-often-enough Then You Cut It In Half and the return of Sukierae-era staple World Away after a long absence (with lead guitarist James Elkington joined by backing vocalist and guitarist Sima Cunningham on about 30 seconds of glorious shredding). And of course, Sammy Tweedy taking the lead vocal on Neil Young's Helpless to start the encore, a crowd-pleasing cover the band debuted at the second of two shows in Chicago in December and is a perfect fit for Sammy.

 

Night 2 featured repeat performances of World Away and Helpless, but also a fuller setlist that also contained, among other songs, the heart-wrenching Warmer leadoff track Orphan, the band's great cover of the late Diane Izzo's Love Like A Wire and a surprise show-closing Give Back The Key To My Heart to punctuate the evening. To me, it just seemed like the band was in a better overall mood on Night 2 with sweet little gestures like Jeff going over during Helpless and putting his head on Sammy's shoulder or admiring looks from Sima over at Jim when he would rip off one of his many great electric guitar fills. Hell, Jeff even took a little acoustic guitar solo during California Stars, which I rarely ever remember him doing.

 

On Night 2, Jeff had some great banter in general. A woman yelling out early on, "I love you, Tweedy," turned into Jeff poking a little fun at himself by repeating the line that he has used at more than a few shows about how he looks like a person who needs encouragement. "That's kind of my brand," Jeff quipped. "A person that might not be able to pull it off." Later on, as he was introducing the band, he said he had been there when Sammy was born — "It was bloody," Jeff said — and then when it came time to introduce Spencer, Jeff sent even his own band into fits of laughter when he deadpanned, "This is Spencer, and I think this is the two-year anniversary of an anal fissure he had." Just a classic dad-embarrassing-son moment, though Spencer took it in stride and Jeff said Spencer had given him permission to make that joke. And of course, the second night couldn't go by without at least another mention of Cousin Barry. When someone brought him up again, Jeff said, "Barry was a lot, but we love him because he's family. We didn't even know he was family until last night, but once the DNA checked out (it was all good)."

 

Not that there wasn't at least a little bit of crowd awkwardness on Night 2 as well, which I won't dwell on too long here. But when Jeff mentioned that the second night's set would be a little longer than the first, there was a little kerfuffle when someone to Jeff's right shouted something about the first night's crowd sucking (which Jeff initially seemed to misunderstand). Anyway, I guess the slightly aggressive tone gave Jeff a little pause because, in what might have been a callback to that infamous solo show at the Fillmore in 2018 when Jeff had it out with a fan who yelled in support of Brett Kavanaugh during the Supreme Court justice's contentious confirmation hearings, I thought I heard Jeff ask this shouter, "What's your favorite jurist?" But pretty quickly, Jeff moved on by looking over in the shouter's direction with mock(?) suspicion and joking that "I'm keeping my eyes on you."

 

So never a dull moment in Tweedy band land, but overall, I guess this two-night stand turned into a classic case of the second night's better than the first. Not that there weren't fun moments each night, but comparing the shows overall, I'd say it took the band one night to fully get its figurative legs back as a unit. As Jeff said, ultimately it's about playing these songs with this band that doesn't get to happen all that often in the grand scheme of things — although it seems to have a little more frequently of late. I, for one, will take what I can get.

 

Here was the complete setlist, as played, for Night 1 (Let's Go Rain was on the printed setlist as the final song of the show, but wasn't played):

 

Bad Day Lately

Love Is The King

A Robin Or A Wren

Opaline

Bombs Above>

Some Birds

Having Been Is No Way To Be

Gwendolyn

And Then You Cut It In Half

Low Key

Save It For Me

Evergreen

Don't Forget

Half-Asleep

Even I Can See

I Know What It's Like

World Away

Guess Again

Family Ghost

The Red Brick>

Warm (When The Sun Has Died)

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

Helpless [Neil Young] (Sammy Tweedy on lead vocals)

California Stars

 

And here was the complete setlist, as played, for Night 2 at The Fillmore (didn't get a look at a printed list, so can't say what omissions/additions/changes there might have been):

 

Love Is The King

A Robin Or A Wren

Opaline

Flowering

Some Birds

Orphan

Having Been Is No Way To Be

Gwendolyn

Love Like A Wire [Diane Izzo]

Low Key

Save It For Me

Evergreen

Don't Forget

Half-Asleep

Even I Can See

I Know What It's Like

World Away

Natural Disaster

Let's Go Rain

Guess Again

Family Ghost

The Red Brick>

Warm (When The Sun Has Died)

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

Helpless [Neil Young] (Sammy Tweedy on lead vocals)

You Are Not Alone

California Stars>

Give Back The Key To My Heart [Doug Sahm]

23 hours ago, Albert Tatlock said:

I don't know how to break this to you, but it appears you're not on the VIP events memo list any more?

#IfEver #JustAGuy #TheyDontTellMeAnything 

Of interest to no one, I finally finished up my recap from the final Wilco set of Sky Blue Sky in the original post. Basically added a few paragraphs, more or less rewriting the ones that somehow vanished from my post late that night/early that morning. And, as promised in that writeup, I'm also finally getting around to a brief comment/recap about the Autumn Defense set from earlier in the day. Not sure where else to put it, among the various threads, so I guess I'll just stick it here.

 

For the general laid-back vibe of SBS, I don't know that anything captures it better than watching the Autumn Defense play their particular brand of softish rock in the late afternoon while nursing a cocktail from a float in the lagoon that faces the Heaven Beach stage. With the duo of Pat Sansone and John Stirratt fleshed out with the addition of regular rhythm section James "Haggs" Haggerty on bass and Greg "G Whiz" Wieczorek on drums, the full-band Autumn D played a really enjoyable 75 minute-set that was almost equally split between their tunes and some of their favorite covers. Pat said they had intended to make it an all-covers set, to change things up a bit, but hadn't been able to get together enough to rehearse everything they wanted to play.

 

I wish more people who maybe don't take this project as seriously or give it the respect it deserves could see them like this, because I think it would win the band plenty more fans. But maybe they're just destined to be one of those under-the-radar acts that gets appreciated by future generations, much like a lot of the bands to which they seem to gravitate. With one notable exception, of course, in the form of the Fab Four.

 

Pat, especially, being a well-known Beatles fanatic, must have had the band on the brain in the wake of the recently released Get Back documentary. The Autumn D opened their set with relative deep cut I'll Be Back, which I almost didn't recognize at first. And poignantly, they also played The Long And Winding Road — a highlight of the set, for sure. Of course, in my book, any set of theirs that closes with Big Star's You Can't Have Me — and Pat's Tele work on that song, in particular — is a winner.

 

Here was the complete Autumn Defense setlist at Sky Blue Sky 2022, as played, :

 

I'll Be Back [The Beatles]

This Thing That I've Found

The Sun In California

Misty Roses [Tim Hardin]

Day Comes [G. Wayne Thomas]

Paradise [Miracle Legion]

I Knew I'd Want You [The Byrds (Gene Clark)]

The Long And Winding Road [The Beatles]

Feel You Now

Huntington Fair

Everyday

We Would Never Die

A House Is Not A Motel [Love]

Sentimental Lady [Fleetwood Mac (Bob Welch)]

The Swallows Of London Town

You Can't Have Me [Big Star]

On 1/25/2022 at 5:03 PM, tinnitus photography said:

review and photos are up:

 

http://bigtakeover.com/concerts/WilcosSkyBlueSkyFestivalHardRockMayaRivieraCancunMexicoJanuary17202022

 

Nice work, Tim. Finally had a chance to read, and I thought you did a good job capturing the general atmosphere of the event. As expected, some excellent photos all around. That one of Mavis and Jeff from the Beach stage is great! And thanks for the new nickname for Mr. Bull Black Nova; hope you don't mind if I use that moving forward.

 

Just one note: Cut Your Hair was played at the all-request/all-covers set at Solid Sound in 2013, not 2015.

 

On 1/26/2022 at 9:22 AM, Albert Tatlock said:

Ta

That mariachi band looks the business. I love a mariachi band. Probably would have enjoyed that more than Wilco these days.

 

Blasphemy, surely! Funny enough, I was wondering where the mariachi were this year. I didn't see them at all. They weren't on stage for the opening toast as they were at the first SBS, I don't believe. Were they just roaming around randomly? Or perhaps playing at one of the heritage shows the day before or after the festival?

8 hours ago, Sean Runyon said:

I would greatly appreciate any help in locating the sole missing tour poster to round out my collection.  I'm looking for the poster from William & Mary College at William & Mary Hall on 04/22/06. Thanks!

 

They didn't always have a poster for every show back then, and I'm not counting semi-generic local poster(s) created by the promoter or venue. Are you sure there was one?

On 1/21/2022 at 9:58 AM, tinnitus photography said:

great recap Paul. Wilco, the bands, the staff - everyone delivered an incredible four days (at least for me; i had a great time. my only slight annoyance was discovering that there is seemingly a sizeable portion of cig smokers in the Wilco fan base). 

 

On 1/21/2022 at 7:11 AM, worldrecordplayer said:

Thanks Paul for all your continued reporting here. 

Thanks for reading. And good to see you down there, Tim. Sorry we didn’t get a chance to chat longer. I’m sure you got some great shots, though. Looking forward to your recap.

On 1/20/2022 at 12:21 AM, tinnitus photography said:

Laminated Cat was pure energy, the highlight of the set for sure. Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd took hold of human hosts (even if they aren't dead). 

Since it’s technically not a Wilco song, I don’t know if I can rank it in my top five Wilco songs. But I would if I could. And it’s been a highlight of the set since they started playing it more regularly the past couple of years.

On 1/21/2022 at 9:51 AM, LittleDrummerBoy said:

If I'm not mistaken, is this the first time Sunloathe was performed live?

 

Yes, first time by the “full” band. Jeff mentioned it afterward. I had it in my original post, but that was in the part that disappeared. I will add that and a few more paragraphs in tonight.

When you consider all of the challenges of putting on an international gathering during a global pandemic and all of the back-and-forth in recent weeks over whether people would come or should come, if refunds should be offered, if the event should be cancelled or postponed, how many people would test positive and be forced to quarantine, what acts would drop out and everything else, I suppose you could say that it was a minor miracle that the second edition of Wilco's Sky Blue Sky festival happened at all, much less happened and left people wanting more.

 

And yet I think that is what most of the attendees of this year's SBS would tell you, particularly in the aftermath of a packed fourth and final day that offered the most bang for your Wilco buck. (Dare I say that, pun intended, it was dynamite? Yeah, I guess so.) There was Nels Cline offering wisdom and inspiration during an afternoon workshop/Q&A session at the Stairway To Heaven stage before returning later for a solo — mostly — improv set. On the Heaven Beach stage, the Autumn Defense quartet delivered a perfect late afternoon set of original tunes and some of their favorite covers that I'll try to discuss/recap later in another post in this thread. And of course there was the main event in the form of the third and final headlining Wilco set of the week, which definitely put an exclamation point on what must be viewed as a successful week on the Riviera Maya.

 

Once again, Wilco's 100-minute set with (most) of the band (at least temporarily) dressed in pajamas in keeping with the theme night turned into a round of Wilco and friends — much to the delight of the band and, I think, a significant portion of the pajama-clad audience. Taking center stage once again among those friends was the living legend Mavis Staples, who once again emerged for a two-song encore that closed out the set. First, she was joined by young British saxophonist Nubya Garcia (and siblings Sima Cunningham and Liam Kazar on backing vocals) for the Staples Singers classic I'll Take You There, on which Mavis went around to several Wilco members urging them on for their solo turns. I particularly enjoyed when she called Nels "daddy" and also went and stood next to John for a while as he laid down his bass groove.

 

Then came The Weight, which is obviously a very popular choice — some might say too popular — whenever a big ensemble finishing number is called for. But it's hard to argue with it when Mavis is at the helm. It wasn't just her chipping in her vocal talents, however. Aside from being part of the four-person backing vocal choir that also included Kurt Vile and Spencer Tweedy, both Sima and Liam got to take a verse on their own, sandwiched around a verse sung by John.

 

Prior to that were guest vocal appearances by SBS performers Stephen Malkmus (on Pavement's Cut Your Hair, which Wilco had performed sans Malkmus as part of its all-covers set at the 2013 Solid Sound Festival), Britt Daniel (on Kamera, which Jeff joked that Daniel "wanted to sing ... We didn't make him do it.") and Neal Francis (on Theologians, which Jeff said Francis had been supposed to just play keyboard on but "he came to practice with us and sang the shit out of it, so he's gonna sing this one, too.") In general — and I've always appreciated this about Wilco — I thought it was cool that the band made room for so many collaborations over the course of their sets. With so many talented musicians floating around, it would almost be a shame to waste the opportunity. It might not necessarily be what some folks want to see, but for those of us who have been fortunate to see a lot of shows, it can be the difference between a good show and a great one.

 

And though they were technically part of Wilco for the duration of the festival, you could also include Sima and Liam on the list of collaborators. Both are accomplished performers in their own right, as is their "Young Jorgenstein" colleague Macie Stewart (who was absent from this final Wilco set because she had to fly back to Chicago early to play her own headlining show the following evening). Sima, in particular, seemed to be having the best time of anybody whenever she was on stage. She provided one of my favorite moments of the final Wilco set on Can't Stand It when Jeff turned over the screaming part of the song to her and she enthusiastically ran with it. She also "sparred" with Pat on an entertaining keyboard/xylophone back-and-forth during Bull Black Nova, and had a big smile on her face during Cut Your Hair (on which she added more distinctive backing vocals).

 

It's a testament to how much there was to report from this show that I haven't even mentioned the full-band live debut of Sunloathe until now. But three songs into the set, there it was — inspired, Jeff said with tongue in cheek, by the abundant Yucatan sunshine. I'd have to listen to it again to really be able to describe it with any level of detail, but it was a treat to finally get to hear it live. I also thought it was cool that Liam was on stage for the debut since he had been courageous enough to cover it on the Wilcovered compilation a couple of years ago, well before the band had actually gotten around to playing it live.

 

Sunloathe and a few other moderate deep cuts notwithstanding, the third and final Wilco set of the festival was probably a bit more predictable than the first two (A Shot In The Arm/Random Name Generator opening two-fer, "hits" such as Misunderstood, Heavy Metal Drummer, I'm The Man Who Loves You). As I've reiterated over the years, that's sort of what you get when you know there aren't going to be repeats in the setlist. But even a staple like I'm The Man..., for instance, had the added drama of whether or not Glenn would revisit his tradition of standing on his drum stool with arms extended beforehand — spoiler alert: he did — so the set still felt pleasantly surprising in many ways.

 

On a personal level, it was once again a mostly enjoyable time down here. The concern about a positive test and being forced to quarantine for an indefinite period was always in the back of my mind and I basically kept my mask on any time I was indoors except while eating/drinking and if unable to socially distance outdoors. I don't think most people were that vigilant, so that added another layer to everything for me. It wasn't as "free" as the first SBS, but these are the times we live in. I still had fun and have no regrets going, though I certainly empathize with those who felt like they couldn't take the risk. Yet if things weren't exactly relaxed with the specter of Omicron hanging over everything, well at least I think Wilco (and, yes, Cloud 9) did their level best to try and make it a special experience for those who were able to make the trip. Here's to the next one...

 

Here was the complete setlist, as played, for the third and final Wilco set of the second Sky Blue Sky festival (there were no changes from the printed setlist):

 

A Shot In The Arm (L)

Random Name Generator (L)

Sunloathe (L, S)

Handshake Drugs (L)

Can't Stand It (L, SV)

In A Future Age (L)

Misunderstood (S)

Far, Far Away (S)

Bull Black Nova (S)

Forget The Flowers (L)

Kamera (L) (with Britt Daniel of Spoon on lead vocals)

Theologians (with Neal Francis on lead vocals and keyboard )

Born Alone (L)

Jesus, etc. (S)

Hate It Here (S)

Heavy Metal Drummer (S)

I'm The Man Who Loves You (S)

Candyfloss (L)

Casino Queen (S)

Outtasite (Outta Mind) (L)

Cut Your Hair [Pavement] (L, SV) (with Stephen Malkmus on lead vocals)

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

I'll Take You There [The Staples Singers] (SV, LV) (with Mavis Staples on lead vocals and Nubya Garcia on tenor saxophone)

The Weight [The Band] (SV, LV) (with Mavis Staples on lead vocals and Kurt Vile and Spencer Tweedy on backing vocals)

 

S — denotes Sima Cunningham on keyboard

SV — denotes Sima Cunningham on backing vocals

L — denotes Liam Kazar on keyboard

LV — denotes Liam Kazar on backing vocals

1 hour ago, Albert Tatlock said:

 

Jackpot!

 

Just for you, Herr Tatlock!

1 hour ago, Albert Tatlock said:

You and I have memories, longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

 

Oh so many memories, oh so many roads...

2 minutes ago, Albert Tatlock said:

A plethora of pinatas?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8HXEN11wS8

 

But it's just the two of us amigos talking to each other — and into the larger abyss — here, isn't it?

(Parking this thread temporarily whilst I try to overcome festival fatigue...)

 

I'll admit, it's personally been a slightly stressful few weeks leading up to Sky Blue Sky 2022 in terms of trying to figure out whether the festival was still going to take place, whether or not to make the trip, taking precautions to avoid a positive test and so forth. When the event's status was cloudy and then some previously announced acts began to drop off the bill, I thought surely that 82-year-old Mavis Staples wouldn't trek down to Mexico this time. Why take the risk? But as the proceedings got under way this week, there were the pictures of Mavis arriving at the Hard Rock Hotel on social media, then there she was in the flesh watching Ohmme's set and later making a triumphant appearance to close out Wilco's set.

 

While it wasn't necessarily certain that Mavis would perform with Wilco, if she indeed made it to Sky Blue Sky, the one virtual lock for a Mavis guest appearance figured to be Jeff's "solo" set on the third day of the festival. Since Jeff's solo band has now grown to include both of his sons — Mavis' declared "grandchildren" — you knew that she wouldn't miss a chance to sing with all of the Tweedys (minus Susie, who was busy with cinnamontoastography) if at all possible. So the only question became what song(s) they might do together.

 

More than a few people correctly predicted it would be the Pops Staples tune Friendship, from the Don't Lose This album that Jeff helped to complete using some old recordings made before the Staples family patriarch passed away in 2000. It took nearly 90 minutes and all of the band's set, but finally at the end of a lovely afternoon on the Heaven Beach stage (which is situated on a small beach and lagoon), Mavis emerged and began to sing. The beauty of Friendship — the song and the thing in general, I guess — is that there is room for multiple voices to be heard in their individual glory but also as part of a greater whole. So it was that backing singers Sima Cunningham and Sammy Tweedy each took a verse of the song, in a very Weight-ian fashion, before Mavis returned to help bring it home.

 

It wasn't the only time in the set that Sammy got a spotlight moment, having taken the lead vocal on Neil Young's Helpless a few songs earlier. He has sung it a few times on the Tweedy Show and as recently as a few weeks ago at one of the Tweedy band's shows at Metro in Chicago, but this one was no doubt special in its own way, given the setting and occasion and the people looking on.

 

As for the rest of the show, the setlist was very similar to the band's aforementioned recent peformances at Metro — although it was a fair bit different from the Tweedy band set at the first SBS on account of the Love Is The King record that Jeff has put out during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. All but one of the LITK songs were played today, giving probably a lot of folks their first chance to hear them live. With more of Jeff's own material to play now, what this SBS audience got was a little less of this time around were the twangy covers that often concluded their pre-pandemic sets.

 

Of course that hardly seemed to bother the people watching from the beach cabanas or with their lower halves in the water or while floating on inner tubes in the lagoon. If we're being honest, it was a pretty ridiculous setting for some of Jeff's more serious songs about love or death or addiction. For instance, prior to the delicate Even I Can See (which was played by just Jeff and James Elkington), Jeff couldn't help but mention it. "I love the absurdity of playing this song looking out at you in your inner tubes," he said. "If someone strolled up onto a beach and sang what I'm about to sing and you didn't know who they were, you would call someone to come help them."

 

And of course I would be remiss if I didn't mention by far the most awkward/amazing crowd interaction of this particular show, which happened after Helpless when Jeff noticed a woman near the front of the stage and asked seemingly out of the blue, "Did I use to drive you to school?" He knew her name immediately and announced it to the bemused audience, joking that "it's nice to know I still have a few brain cells that are still kicking, putting up a fight," before agreeing to a midshow photo with her (though it was just her turning around with her back to the stage and him crouching down a bit from where he was standing) and briefly recounting the circumstances of how he came to give her rides back in his hometown of Belleville, Ill.

 

At any rate, between that encounter and a small flock of geese (I think?) that executed a couple of attention-getting flyovers during the show, I suppose you can sort of guess how the show went. Seriously, though, it just seemed like Jeff and the — no pun intended — gaggle of friends and sons and colleagues he has assembled to present this music is so enjoying every opportunity they get to perform together. It's very sweet. And when you add a living legend like Mavis into the mix, well, then things probably get even more fun, whether you're on stage or floating in the ocean.

 

Here was the complete setlist, as played (Tweedy band members James Elkington, Liam Kazar, Spencer Tweedy, Sima Cunningham, Macie Stewart and Sammy Tweedy played on all songs, unless noted; the only change from the printed setlist was Family Ghost and Guess Again being flip-flopped):

 

Bad Day Lately (no Sammy)

Love Is The King (no Sammy)

A Robin Or A Wren

Opaline

High As Hello

Having Been Is No Way To Be (no Sammy)

Gwendolyn (no Sammy)

Evergreen

Half-Asleep

Don't Forget

Even I Can See (Jeff and James Elkington only)

Save It For Me

I Know What It's Like

Low Key

Some Birds

The Red Brick>

Warm (When The Sun Has Died)

Helpless [Neil Young] (with Sammy Tweedy on lead vocals)

Family Ghost

Guess Again

Let's Go Rain

Friendship [Pops Staples] (with Mavis Staples on lead vocals)

I was going to circle back and combine the two Metro shows into one post, since I sort of slacked off on writing about those shows (and Susie live streamed the whole thing). But it's fine.

41 minutes ago, Albert Tatlock said:

 

Yeah, I think you've finally hit on a catchphrase.

Ta.

Only for you, Tatlock.

Da.

6 minutes ago, u2roolz said:

Thanks! It was more about not really being able to see who was behind Jeff in Mikael’s place. 

 

Yeah, I have that info as well but just haven't notated it yet. I'm sure about 10 people other than you and me care, haha.

25 minutes ago, u2roolz said:

The Tweedy Show Tuesday January 18 Episode 211 Sky Blue Sky Night 2 w/Special Guests 

 

Wow! That was amazing! Susie filmed about the last hour of tonight’s show. You can most likely find it on her IG page right now. Thanks again!
 

I’ll let Paul post his recap first & then I’ll update this info. Those special guests though!  

 

Well, Mavis was wearing a Tweedy Show T-shirt so I should have guessed that the live stream was on. Go ahead and post what you want. I already posted the complete setlist. It'll take me a few hours later to actually write something coherent.

I feel like I should really title tonight's recap "Wilco and friends," but whatever you want to call it, it will be pretty hard to top this second of three Wilco sets at the second edition of the Sky Blue Sky festival. Not only were there no repeated songs from the previous night's set, as well as a number of middle-tier rarities, but of course the presence of guest vocalists Mavis Staples, Kurt Vile and Sophie Allison and a couple of other cameos elevated this show to another level.

 

The appearance of the 82-year-old Staples for the two-song encore of You Are Not Alone and Freedom Highway certainly punctuated what had already been a memorable evening. Obviously it's always a treat any time you get to hear Mavis sing live, but especially so when backed by Wilco (which once again was missing keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen, but got more-than-capable fill-in performances by the so-called "Young Jorgenstein" trio of Sima Cunningham, Macie Stewart and Liam Kazar). That meant a lovely guitar solo turned in by Nels on You Are Not Alone, while the show-closing and inspirational Freedom Highway — which is, no pun intended, a staple of Mavis' own live performances — got a boost from one of the best rhythm sections around in Glenn and John.

 

For his part, Jeff looked just about as happy as he could be in a Hawaiian-style short-sleeved shirt (which I believe was the same one he wore on the first night of the first SBS a couple of years ago). Then again, I'm sure it's pretty fun for him to be able to just sit back and play guitar and have someone else take over the vocal duties every once in a while. Jeff basically said as much following a solid performance by Allison — whose band Soccer Mommy had been the de facto opening act for Wilco the previous night — on Pot Kettle Black. "All I've ever wanted is for other people to sing my songs," Jeff said. (And for the record, I believe he introduced Allison as "Sophia," which is apparently her given name though she goes by Sophie, so I can see how it might be a little confusing.)

 

A little bit later in the show, Jeff invited Vile on stage to sing Passenger Side (which Vile had covered on the Wilcovered compilation from a couple of years ago). His laid-back slacker vibe fits the A.M. tune perfectly and, afterward, Jeff quipped, "Now I know how that song is supposed to go." He added that he hoped "everybody is having a good time. This is a blast for us."

 

After a spirited run through Airline To Heaven, the band closed out the main set with another couple of guests on the crowd-pleasing California Stars. At stage right on electric guitar was the versatile James Elkington, while at stage left, Chris Funk — who is probably best known for his work with the Decemberists but was at SBS as a member of Stephen Malkmus' Traditional Techniques band that was the de facto opener tonight — manned the banjitar that Pat usually handles on the song. As they have done for a while now at Tweedy band shows, the trio of Cunningham, Stewart and Kazar took the lead on the second verse. With 10 people on stage, it gave this California Stars the feel of a big show-closing ensemble number (though it was nothing compared with the number of folks on stage for the song at the recent Austin CIty Limits Hall Of Fame induction show).

 

With Jeff and Co. probably scrambling a bit to figure out how to make three unique sets work after learning that Mike wouldn't be able to perform this week, the guest singers and players helped to make the 1-hour, 43-minute set a memorable one. But equally important were the contributions of "Young Jorgenstein" (amusingly, Jeff botched the moniker that he had coined the night before while introducing the trio for the first time tonight) to help not only pull off a standard setlist without a hitch, but to go pretty deep into the catalog as well for songs that even the full band doesn't often play anymore, whether oldies like Say You Miss Me or the more recent Star Wars two-fer of Cold Slope>King Of You (none of which had been performed live since the last SBS two years ago).

 

About the only thing I've noticed go wrong over the course of two shows was a weird sound that came out of a keyboard at the start of Hummingbird that caused Jeff to briefly glance over in Stewart's direction with an amused look on his face. For the most part, though, it's been neat to see Cunningham, Stewart and Kazar tag-team in and out on keyboard duty these past two nights. They all look like they are having a lot of fun up there, and I was trying to imagine what must be going through Stewart's mind, say, when she's watching Nels do his thing on Impossible Germany right in front of her. Or Cunningham's mind when Nels is wielding that huge white double-neck Jerry Jones guitar — which, incidentally, made its usual appearance for Dawned On Me after being suspiciously absent the night before.

 

The thing about a no-repeat series of shows is that by the final night, by process of elimination if nothing else, you sort of can predict a decent amount of what's coming. So you would expect to hear A Shot In The Arm — Can they play it if Mike isn't there to "play the pillow?" Stay tuned! — as well as Jesus, etc., I'm The Man Who Loves You, Random Name Generator and Sky Blue Sky, at a minimum, during the third and final Wilco set at this year's SBS.

 

Then again, these SBS shows (both last time and so far this time) have been delightfully unpredictable for the most part, so maybe I'll be wrong. I would be happy to be wrong, actually. With as much fun as the band members seem to be having down here, and as relaxed as they appear, I suppose you're never totally sure what might transpire.

 

Here was the complete setlist, as played, for Night 2 at SBS 2022 (there were no changes/omissions from the printed setlist):

 

Red-Eyed and Blue (L)>

I Got You (At The End Of The Century) (L)

Wishful Thinking (L, MV)

Say You Miss Me (L)

At Least That's What You Said

If I Ever Was A Child (S)

I Must Be High (S)

Cold Slope (L)>

King Of You (L)

Country Disappeared (M)

Too Far Apart (L)

Pot Kettle Black (S) (with Sophie Allison of Soccer Mommy on lead vocals)

Hummingbird (M)

How To Fight Loneliness (M)

Impossible Germany (M)

Kingpin (M)

Passenger Side (L) (with Kurt Vile on lead vocals)

Dawned On Me (S)

Airline To Heaven (L)

California Stars (with James Elkington on electric guitar, Chris Funk on banjitar, Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart on vocals and Liam Kazar on keyboard and vocals)

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

You Are Not Alone (with Mavis Staples on lead vocals and Sima Cunningham, Macie Stewart and Liam Kazar on backing vocals)

Freedom Highway [The Staples Singers] (with Mavis Staples on lead vocals, Sima Cunningham on backing vocals and tambourine and Macie Stewart and Liam Kazar on backing vocals)

 

S — denotes Sima Cunningham on keyboard

SV — denotes Sima Cunningham on backing vocals

L — denotes Liam Kazar on keyboard

M — denotes Macie Stewart on keyboard

MV — denotes Macie Stewart on violin

1 hour ago, Albert Tatlock said:

 

Man, you're on fire!

Ta.

 

Haha, lucky turn of phrase!

Da.

Well, Covid is certainly no laughing matter and leading into this week's second edition of the Sky Blue Sky Festival, I'm sure Wilco was desperately hoping not to have to come up with a punchline to the joke-like query of how many people does it take to replace a band member who tested positive and could not perform. But when keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen unfortunately did just that a few days ago, that's exactly what the headlining act had to figure out — and, no pun intended, pronto.

 

The answer, as it turned out was up to three people, namely the trio of Liam Kazar, his sister Sima Cunningham and her Ohmme bandmate Macie Stewart, who were dubbed "Young Jorgenstein" by Jeff during tonight's Wilco set when they alternated replacing Mikael behind his stage-right keyboard station. Mostly they tag-teamed in, with one replacing another after a few songs, but by the penultimate song of the main set, Spiders (Kidsmoke), all three of them were on stage together with the siblings each handling some keyboard duties while Stewart added violin. (Off the top of my head I don't recall, with this longstanding Wilco lineup, any band members having being absent for a show since Glenn missed a gig back in 2008 when the band was opening for Neil Young and Glenn had a previously scheduled commitment with the Kronos Quartet.)

 

Where would Wilco and/or Jeff be without the presence of this trio of extremely talented young musicians over the past few weeks? Sima already had to step into her brother Liam's shoes on extremely short notice as the bassist for the Tweedy solo band at Metro a few weeks ago when the latter had to quarantine and then Ohmme got added to the SBS lineup at the last minute when a few of the originally scheduled acts had to drop off the bill because of the Omicron surge. And now here were the three young musicians stepping in again to cover another Covid quandary, learning all of the songs on the setlist in an afternoon, according to Jeff.

 

"They're unbelievable," Jeff said of the trio early in Wilco's 1-hour, 48-minute set. "We'll introduce them later. Let's see how they play the rest of the show."

 

Of course, Wilco and its replacement keyboardists/synth mavens could have taken a much easier road in terms of what to play and no one would have blamed them. But instead they decided — as at the first SBS — to shake up their more conventional setlist with a healthy dose of rarities, rewarding those who were able to make the trek down to Mexico. (Presumably they will once again stick to their no-repeats policy over the three sets they play this week at the Hard Rock Hotel, though Jeff didn't promise as much.) At any rate, the fact the setlist was as wide-ranging as it was is a testament both to Wilco's unwillingness to phone it in and to the talent of "Young Jorgenstein." [Side note to Wilco management, who I'm sure do not read these recaps: T-shirts, please.]

 

From the outset, when the band took the stage and launched into Monday (on a Monday...no less!) with Sima on keys, you knew this was going to be a pretty interesting Wilco set at the very least. Jeff almost immediately suffered his first — and, as it turned out, perhaps his only — lyric flub of the evening when he missed the "he's waiting for a postcard" line. I'm not sure exactly how he botched it, but anyway, it was kind of funny. Next up was the rarely played (anymore) You Never Know, which the band apparently soundchecked during a short run-through earlier in the afternoon. Nels must not have had his white double-neck Jerry Jones guitar available, which is usually a giveaway on that song but it sounded great nevertheless, even without the true George Harrison treatment/tribute. And to close out a surprising opening trio of songs came the A.M. deep cut Shouldn't Be Ashamed, which I guess gets thrown into sets more than some other songs from that record but still isn't extremely common.

 

One song I was a little surprised to hear with Mike's absence was Laminated Cat (Not For The Season) because he adds a lot of synth textures to the current arrangement that can be hard to replace. Tonight, Macie stuck to her violin and didn't play keys on that song at all but it still sounded pretty excellent to these ears. You And I was also a song that I didn't necessarily expect to hear, but came out nicely with Sima adding backing vocals — not really singing it as a duet with Jeff, a la Feist, but still adding that female vocal — and Liam handling the keys. Spiders (Kidsmoke) and The Lonely 1 to close out the main set, of course, is always a welcome point-counterpoint.

 

I guess the other big question was just generally what the vibe would be like for the festival in general, and the Wilco shows in particular. For the Wilco set, I would say that it seemed pretty uncrowded in general, similar to last time. I guess all of the no-shows and cancellations really took a toll. People didn't seem to be wearing masks for the most part at the outdoor stage, though some were and the staff all were. From what I observed around me, people were generally into it, though the crowd seemed a bit older and surprisingly not as eager to let loose as I might have expected. (Although Jeff had to chide someone toward the front for being "an idiot" after there was apparently some kind of skirmish in the crowd, so maybe some folks were a little too eager to let loose.)

 

Generally, though, I think that's kind of the audience I've come to expect here. There are definitely more than a few hardcore fans, but also probably an equal (or maybe even greater) amount of folks who maybe are equally drawn to the opportunity to take an all-inclusive vacation in a nice resort and get out of the cold weather — or just get away — for a few days. It's hard to tell exactly who comes here and why, but it's a different crowd in some (many?) ways than, say, at the Solid Sound Festival. As far as the pandemic, I suppose we'll find out relatively soon how much or how little omicron will affect everyone here this week, but for one night at least, both the band and its assembled audience seemed to manage it more or less as well as each of them could.

 

Here was the complete setlist, as played, for Night 1 of Sky Blue Sky 2022 (looks like there were no omissions/changes from the printed setlist):

 

Monday (S)

You Never Know (S)

Shouldn't Be Ashamed (S)

Side With The Seeds (L)

She's A Jar (S)

Either Way (S, MV)

Company In My Back (M)

Cry All Day (M)

Via Chicago (M)

Laminated Cat (aka Not For The Season) (MV)

One And A Half Stars (M)

Whole Love (L)

Box Full Of Letters (L)

At My Window Sad And Lonely (L)

Someone To Lose (L)

You And I (SV, L)

Love Is Everywhere (Beware) (S)

War On War (S)

Everyone Hides (S)

Spiders (Kidsmoke) (S, L, MV)

The Lonely 1 (L, MV)

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

The Late Greats (L)

I'm A Wheel

 

S — denotes Sima Cunningham on keyboard

SV — denotes Sima Cunningham on backing vocals

L — denotes Liam Kazar on keyboard

M — denotes Macie Stewart on keyboard

MV — denotes Macie Stewart on violin

2 hours ago, Yoshi said:

What time did he take the stage 

8:30

I forgot how to do this, haha, but I'm parking this thread for now whilst some eyes are shut for a few hours...

 

Just a few words for now, though. What to say about this sold-out show that happened despite an eerie feeling of Covid déja vu as more than a few people who had tickets decided not to attend out of an abundance of caution amid this recent Omicron variant surge and a number of venues in town decided to close through the end of the year and postpone scheduled events on their calendars? It was certainly an interesting one, as always, coming on Sammy Tweedy's 22nd birthday — which was celebrated pre-show with a brief impromptu Tweedy Show episode from backstage — and with a slightly reconfigured band lineup due to the absence of regular bass player Liam Kazar.

 

As Jeff explained when he introduced the band, Liam's sister Sima Cunningham (who was already scheduled to be part of the band as a backing vocalist) had to fill in on bass with 48 hours' notice. No further explanation for Liam's absence was given, so I won't speculate here, but that cannot have been super easy for Sima to just step in like that. It's a testament to her talent as a musician that she pulled it off without seemingly breaking much of a sweat, and without a major adjustment to the setlist.

 

Even without Liam — whose presence was definitely missed, though the remaining band members were able to cover for him — it's a rare treat to get to hear Jeff's solo catalog with a full band and in a club setting (as opposed to a drive-in concert or even in the Tweedys' living room). Part of that is because of the impact of Jim Elkington's work on electric guitar, which really adds a dynamic sonic element to many of the songs that doesn't necessarily come across as strongly on the recorded versions. Add to that Macie Stewart's violin playing throughout, and the added instrumentation helps flesh out the arrangement of many of the songs.

 

More to come but, for now, here was the complete setlist as played (all songs with full band, including Sammy Tweedy, except where noted):

 

Bad Day Lately*

Love Is The King*

A Robin Or A Wren

Opaline

High As Hello

Having Been Is No Way To Be*

Gwendolyn*

Evergreen

Half-Asleep

Don't Forget

I Know What It's Like

Save It For Me

New Moon

Low Key

Some Birds

The Red Brick>

Warm (When The Sun Has Died)

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

Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You [Bob Dylan]

Guess Again

Family Ghost

Even I Can See**

You Are Not Alone

Let's Go Rain

California Stars

 

* — denotes no Sammy Tweedy on backing vocals

** — denotes Jeff Tweedy, Jim Elkington and Sima Cunningham only

On 11/12/2021 at 12:21 PM, Mystik Spiral said:

 

Paul! 🥰 I have a very specific memory of you from that time... It was a Sunday and you wanted to get some beer. I informed you that in CO, liquor stores were closed on Sunday and the grocery store only sold 3.2%. And you had no idea what 3.2% beer was, lucky you. 🤣🤣🤣

 

I don't think CO has blue laws anymore, but I live in OR now. 😄

 

Haha, that sounds like me. Once a lightweight, always a lightweight...

17 hours ago, Mystik Spiral said:

I have so many fond memories of this forum, of meeting my fellow Wilco fans, creating the adopt a newbie program for show trading… remember CDs? Ha! The Wilco/REM show at Red Rocks in… September ‘03(?) was a particular highlight of my concert-going life.

 

Bridget! Long time...great to see you back here, if only for a second.

 

And yeah, I can't believe how many of us were at those R.E.M. shows at Red Rocks. What a time. Back when Red Rocks was still the old Red Rocks (people lining up all day), right?

On 11/9/2021 at 5:12 PM, j4lackey said:

Also, I think the high point of all of this stuff wasn't Jeff hugging my kids, or seeing shows in somebody's cool basement, but seeing Paul pop up out of Jeff''s bathtub. That made my year. I couldn't have written that. Superb.

For that I can take no credit. That was all srmt…remember when she used to post on here? And I know Jeff lurked on here back in the day…