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6 hours ago, tinnitus photography said:

just curious... for those at/near the rail, did the venue allow photographers in the security pit area last night?

 

I noticed during S-K's set that there oddly weren't any photographers and actually, now that I think of it, I don't really remember any during Wilco's set either. Why? Has that been an issue there in the past?

Hey, did you know it was Jeff's birthday at this show in Maine? From all the social media messages throughout the day to Carrie Brownstein mentioning it during Sleater-Kinney's set to the crowd trying to sing "Happy Birthday" before the first two songs of Wilco's set — forcing Jeff to stop and restart Random Name Generator — it seemed like there was some anticipation that something out of the ordinary might happen. The presentation of a lobster cake, maybe? An on-stage Moxie toast, perhaps? As it turned out, there was nothing nearly that dramatic (unless you count the drunken lady in the second row who sneaked in just before Wilco started and then kept losing her balance and falling over repeatedly during the early part of the show).

 

I was going to say that we were able to give Jeff the "gift" of letting him play whatever songs he wanted and not even complaining a little bit, but then I remembered there was apparently someone who kept requesting a rarity from A.M., to the brief annoyance of the birthday boy. "That's a deep cut," Jeff snapped about halfway through Wilco's 93- minute set. "It's my birthday and we're not gonna play it, so you can shut up." Then, in classic Jeff fashion a second later: "I'm sorry." I couldn't even hear what the request was, but a couple of songs later before playing Box Full Of Letters, Jeff tried to offer some small consolation to the requester by saying that the song they were about to play was at least from the same album as the request. "Hopefully my rude comment didn't make him leave," Jeff said.

 

That was one of several bits of birthday-related banter we got throughout the course of the evening. Before If I Ever Was A Child, Jeff said, "I want to sing this song to myself." And making his usual comment about the garishness of Nels' white double-neck, Jerry Jones guitar before Dawned On Me, Jeff quipped, "That guitar is made of my birthday cake." He also made a joke about it being "my first birthday in 18 months," recommended performing before a crowd of people as a good way to spend one's birthday ("I'm an advocate") and thanked the crowd "for spending my birthday with me...2000 of my closest friends."

 

Certainly there could have been worse places to spend a birthday, I guess. Following a successful debut with Big Thief at Thompson's Point in 2017, this was Wilco's long-awaited return to the picturesque piece of land overlooking the Fore River. The weather was generally quite lovely, though it seemingly got muggier and muggier as the night wore on. I'm not sure whether that had more to do with people packing in closer and closer as Wilco got closer to taking the stage, but certainly one of those Big Ass Fans or a giant A/C unit would have been pretty welcome by the end.

 

As for Wilco's performance, hey did you know this was Jeff's birthday? According to a cursory search, I can only find three total times in its history that the full band has played a show on Jeff's birthday and only one other time this century (at the Troxy in London in 2009, for the record). I seem to recall there being a cake brought out at that London gig, but perhaps our resident Tatlock can share his memories of that night. What a random place that was for the band to play, wasn't it? About the only think I recall is taking a shared-ride car to get back to where I was staying before ridesharing was even a thing. But I digress...

 

Twelve years, four albums and one global pandemic later, there wasn't any cake in Portland — at least not on stage — but there was a certain amount of goofiness as the set wore on toward its inevitable conclusion. Starting with Hummingbird, when Jeff did some extra, uh, stretching/posing/grimacing before he started singing and also accentuated some of the silly moves he's been known to do during that song in particular, to the The End-style spoken-word bit preceding Heavy Metal Drummer that has been a source of amusement for all of the band members during this run, it just seemed to me like everyone was a little looser than they have been — perhaps on account of Jeff's birthday or just because the tour is winding down.

 

Even at the very end of the show-closing Outtasite (Outta Mind), John and Glenn had a bit of a moment when John was trying to time his final rock 'n' roll leap to the last down beat of Glenn's drum stroke and they were just a tiny bit off. Maybe you had to be there, but it was kind of funny — at least to me. As with the rest of the set, there were more than a few smiles to go around. Happy 54th birthday, Jeff! Let's celebrate — or not — in another 12 years! #OyVey

 

Here was the complete Wilco setlist, as played (didn’t get a look at the printed list, so can’t speak to any omissions/changes but I’m fairly certain they cut California Stars at the end due to time):

A Shot In The Arm

Random Name Generator

At Least That’s What You Said

One Wing

Love Is Everywhere (Beware)

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart>
Art Of Almost

If I Ever Was A Child

Impossible Germany

Hummingbird

Everyone Hides

Box Full Of Letters

Dawned On Me

Jesus, etc.

Theologians

Heavy Metal Drummer

I’m The Man Who Loves You

I’m Always In Love

—————————————————

The Late Greats

Outtasite (Outta Mind)

 

And for those who care, this was Sleater-Kinney’s complete setlist, as played:

High In The Grass

Hurry On Home

A New Wave

Shadow Town

Jumpers

Price Tag

Tomorrow’s Grave

Can I Go On

Path Of Wellness

Bury Our Friends

Down The Line

Reach Out

Modern Girl

Bring Mercy

The Fox

Worry With You

One Beat>
Entertain

7 hours ago, Madcap said:

Couple of questions for those who have seen shows on this tour - How long has Nnamdi been playing and how efficient has the vaccination card checks been?  We have a dinner reservation at 4:30 (lol) on Saturday and am a little nervous about missing Nnamdi’s set.

Nnamdi’s set has been 30 minutes, give or take. He and his band start right on time or even a minute or three early, so I’d be there by 6 if you want to see them (and it’s definitely worth it, IMHO).

 

Re: the vax checks, it’s varied by venue. Some, like Philly, have seemed a little tighter than normal and other places (St. Louis, Boston) they didn’t even match my vax card and my ID. So as expected, it’s kind of a crapshoot. Who knows how thoroughly they’ll check in Chicago? But it has gone reasonably quickly, in terms of speed. Then again, I’m usually getting there on the early side so when the rush of people going in happens, it might slow down. Hope that helps a little.

 

25 minutes ago, tinnitus photography said:

NNamdi has them in his fanny pack.

 

Thanks for the reminder, Tim! I amended my After The Show post...lol.

4 hours ago, Albert Tatlock said:

An exceptionally well balanced and reasoned report. Also very nicely timed to coincide with my elevenses. Pleased for you that there was a special treat in the encore for some variety.

Ta.

Aww, Tatlock…so kind of you. And happy to give you some reading for your elevenses. 

Lobster rolls for everyone tonight in Maine! Jeff's buying, right?

When it came to what songs Wilco was going to play and how much its setlist would change as the band eased back into touring this month, it became pretty clear pretty quickly that the It's Time tour with Sleater-Kinney and Nnamdi wasn't going to be the second coming of the AmericanaRama run in 2013 when you had little idea what would happen night to night (well, that is, before Bob Dylan took the stage). With a 90-minute time slot most nights on this current tour, Jeff and his bandmates — to some people's chagrin — seem to have settled on a set that appeals to the lowest common denominator and plays well in big amphitheater-type settings.

 

That's not a criticism, at least from this observer, as much as a statement of fact. The only real mysteries for It's Time would be if and how often the two co-headliners would collaborate (yes, and not very often) and what covers, if any, might emerge from said collaboration. The deaths of Tom T. Hall and Don Everly over the past week might have offered opportunities for a tribute of some sort, but when that didn't happen, it seemed as if there just wouldn't be room for much beyond the standard fare.

 

But then came news of the passing of Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, the heart of a band that has influenced so many musicians over the years, and there was a sneaking suspicion — at least on my part — that this unfortunate event might just be the catalyst for something unique to happen. And so it was that when the members of Wilco re-emerged for their encore (with Pat clutching a cowbell and a drumstick), they had Sleater-Kinney's Corin Tucker with them; together they combined on a fun and welcome version of Honky Tonk Women that suddenly made it a night to remember. "So sad," Jeff said, simply, after the song.

 

Can one song redeem an entire set? I'm not about to go there, although outside of Honky Tonk Women, the Wilco portion of the show was pretty standard tonight. Then again, I have to also remind myself that every night not only are there plenty of folks who are attending their first concert post-lockdown but there are also still people, amazingly, who are seeing Wilco for the first time. (Seriously, I met some Tweedy Show clients who were seeing the band for the first time! Which sort of blows my mind.) So given that, how can we be overly critical of something as minor as song selection? Are there some songs I wish I didn't have to hear for the 1,000th consecutive time? Of course. But do I understand why I'm hearing them and can I still enjoy them? Sure.

 

When you hear mostly the same songs every night for a run of shows, you start to pick up on the tiniest little things — or at least I do. So I'll mention one here that I've noticed of late, which is in Box Full Of Letters, Jeff has been kind of going back on forth on the line in the second verse about having a lot of your records. Sometimes he sings correctly, "Some things that I might like to hear/But I guess I'll give them back," but other times, like tonight, he clearly sings, "Some things that you might like to hear/But I guess I'll give them back," and you're like, 'Hey, wait a minute..." Tonight, I also noticed that he accidentally sang the last "writing this letter to you" line in I'm The Man Who Loves You, which I audibly chuckled at (and people around me were probably thinking, 'What a weirdo.') And amusingly, the "The End"-style spoken-word prelude to Heavy Metal Drummer was back, which I suppose is also a benefit to playing the song so often that you just feel like messing with it sometimes.

 

Jeff's banter was pretty minimal, perhaps owing to another tight 11 p.m. curfew. It seemed like Wilco had barely played 10 songs when Jeff was already saying, "We're running out of time." His only significant comments were thanking people for singing along during Hummingbird and asking, as he does every night, how many people were at their first real concert back after lockdown and saying what an honor it was to be able to play for people experiencing that. [Edit: I forgot to mention that Jeff mentioned Nnamdi's pet lobster — Fred, was it? — that he keeps in his fanny pack, although I forget why. Anyway, I'm sure that about 95 percent of the people had no idea about that comment since they weren't there for the opening set.]

 

One other thing I keep meaning to mention in these little ramblings is that if people hadn't noticed already, and I guess you probably wouldn't unless you were super close to the front for each show, Glenn's drum head for this run basically features a thought bubble that changes every night. Some nights it's got a drawing on it; others, a phrase of some sort. Tonight, in another ode to Charlie Watts and referring to the first documentary about the Rolling Stones made in 1965 and 1966 that was never officially released until 2012, someone had written, "Charlie Is My Darling."

 

What else can I say about this show in Boston? Well, it was a return to the [insert sponsoring bank name here] Pavilion, for one. Is it possible that the band hasn't played there since 2007? Whoa. It's a perfectly decent shed-type venue run by Live Nation that is basically about 5,000 chairs set up on a concrete pavilion under a giant white circus-like tent set on Boston's harborfront. It's not a super-great acoustic venue or anything; I feel like the mix was never completely right, despite the fact I was sitting directly in front of one of the side speaker stacks about 15 rows back. But compared with some of the other sheds on this tour, at least it didn't feel ridiculously cavernous.

 

And I suppose, at least for now in these COVID times, we must commune with live music where we can, where it feels reasonably safe to do so. We're all making certain sacrifices — some more than others...shout out, Wilcrew — to come together and share this experience that, as Jeff and the ladies of Sleater-Kinney have been verbally reminding us each night, we have missed for so long.

 

Here was Wilco's complete setlist, as played (there were no changes/omissions from the printed list):

A Shot In The Arm

Random Name Generator

At Least That's What You Said

Love Is Everywhere (Beware)

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart>

Art Of Almost

If I Ever Was A Child

Impossible Germany

Hummingbird

Box Full Of Letters

Everyone Hides

Born Alone

Jesus, etc.

Theologians

I'm The Man Who Loves You

Heavy Metal Drummer

I'm Always In Love

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

Honky Tonk Women [The Rolling Stones] (w/Corin Tucker on backing vocals)

The Late Greats

California Stars

 

For those few of you following along, here was Sleater-Kinney's complete setlist, as played:

High In The Grass

Hurry On Home

A New Wave

Shadow Town

Jumpers

Price Tag

Path Of Wellness

Can I Go On

What's Mine Is Yours

Bring Mercy

Surface Envy

Tomorrow's Grave

Modern Girl

Reach Out

The Fox

Worry With You

One Beat>

Entertain

57 minutes ago, Passenger Sid said:

 

Wilco fans reading this who were at the KC show 11 days ago, and didn't get to see their favorite band play even ONE song: 

 

(I'm mostly joking. If I had the ability to see the guys for multiple shows, I'd likely quibble about some things as well.)

We quibble because we love? 🤷‍♂️
 

Sorry about KC. I would have liked to have seen that one happen too, since I had a pretty nice spot! 

14 minutes ago, Albert Tatlock said:

Ta.

 

Wonder if they'll be an Everly Brothers cover tonight? Maybe JT could harmonise with John?

No show tonight, first of all. And second, if they didn’t do a Tom T. Hall cover (or even acknowledge his passing), I don’t think there’s a good chance for the Everlys…though I’ve been proven wrong before!

4 hours ago, theashtraysays said:

It's interesting that there are some grumblings over on the Sleater-Kinney FB fan page about how S-K has lost their edge, become "animatronic", not the same without Janet, etc... sound familiar? 

 

1 hour ago, nalafej said:

 

Never been a SK fan and found them pretty animatronic at MPP.

I actually had to look up “animatronic” to make sure it meant what I thought it meant. Like I said, I’m a dummy. But as far as S-K being robotic or robotlike puppets, I don’t see it. Maybe their band, like the dudes in particular, but not Carrie and Corin, IMHO.

OK, who had show 13 (of 17 on this It's Time tour with Nnamdi and Sleater-Kinney) in the "professional show" pool? I kid, I kid...well, sort of.

 

The truth is it's hard for me to write something about a show like this that I feel accurately represents anyone else's experience but my own. I guess you could say that's true for any given show, but especially for this one, I'm struggling to reconcile my opinion with all of the "Great show!" and "Unbelievable!" comments I overheard on the way out or the friend I talked to who said it was his wife's first real show since the onset of the pandemic and she just wanted to hear the hits for the most part. If this was your first show back, or if you hadn't seen Wilco in a long time, or if you just appreciate a consistently solid performance by a band that is almost always consistently solid, then this was a perfect show for you.

 

In that case, please just disregard my dumb commentary and maybe let me take a mulligan. But I just thought that the ingredients were fairly ripe for a professional-type gig that I define as a show that the average attendee would think was perfectly fine — great, even — but that didn't really have anything particularly noteworthy about it. I mean, it was the band's fifth show in five days, playing mostly the same setlist; the type of venue that just doesn't really suit a barn-burner of a performance because it's hard to connect with folks beyond the first few rows; and an audience with more than a few people who probably liked Wilco just fine but were just as happy to enjoy a pleasant summer evening out or who would be just as likely to come to a show with My Morning Jacket...or...The Avett Brothers...or...Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit...or...The National...or...[insert your favorite WXPN act here].

 

And while we're on the subject, can I just take a brief moment to mention something that's sort of been gnawing at me? Which is why does Wilco feel like the fuddy-duddy band on this tour, especially when compared with Sleater-Kinney? I know it's like comparing apples and oranges in some sense, but both bands were formed in the exact same year (1994) and have been at this a long time and achieved a certain amount of success, but it still feels like Sleater-Kinney is your cool disaffected teenager while Wilco is like your slightly unhip uncle or something. Is it just the specific reputations/images each band has developed over the years, or the types of fanbases? Wilco is unquestionably a bigger band — which is why they are playing (slightly) longer and last every night on this tour despite it technically being a co-headlining situation — but Sleater-Kinney and their fans have arguably brought as much or more energy.

 

I mention all of that here because of what happened midway through during Sleater-Kinney's set when Carrie Brownstein basically invited a stage rush, asking the venue staff and security to allow those who wanted to come up front and dance to come into the pit area and into the aisles. That's not even the first time she has done that on this tour, but watching all those mostly younger folks stream down from their seats higher in the pavilion or from the lawn or wherever, I sort of got a little pang of jealousy like, 'Oh, that's a total punk rock move,' and 'That's what a rock show looks like.' Jeff has done that type of thing before, too — not on this tour — but I did wonder if the situations were reversed or if Wilco were essentially opening for a bigger band, would he do it? I just couldn't get past the feeling that maybe Wilco has become the stodgy old elder statesman while Sleater-Kinney are still like the scrappy underdogs — hence my fuddy-duddy comment.

 

At any rate, back to our regularly scheduled programming. In discussing Wilco and Sleater-Kinney, I should note that we did not get a repeat of their joint performance on A Shot In The Arm in Philadelphia as we did in New York the previous night. Which leads me to believe we might only see that once more on this run, possibly during the tour finale in Chicago later this week. It's not exactly the regular collab among tourmates, a la the AmericanaRama tour, that some of us were hoping for when this run got announced, but at least it happened the one time.

 

Wilco's set, aside from the tour debut of One Wing, was pretty much what we've come to expect for now and Jeff and his bandmates have pretty much fine-tuned the songs they seem to want to present on these dates. In some ways, as I suggested earlier, it's a set designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator of Wilco fans and one that generally sounds very good on the powerful sound systems of these shed-type venues they are playing. I mean, if you like electric guitar, how can you not like the shredding done by Jeff and Nels and Pat on songs like Art Of Almost, At Least That's What You Said and Born Alone, right?

 

If Jeff's banter was any indication, though, he probably could use a night off. We didn't get many visits to Banter Corner, with about the longest being to acknowledge that "this has been a wild tour, from broken wrists to hurricanes," and that all of the crews have "kicked so much ass." Earlier, before Everyone Hides, Jeff also took a moment to acknowledge the local crowd, "You've always been so good to us. What an amazing place. Thanks for inviting us. Here's another not-so-joyous song off Ode To Joy." Other comment by Jeff included half-jokingly admiring his own playing on I'm The Man Who Loves You: "That's the best solo I've ever played. Let's hear it for me!" And just before the main set-closing I'm Always In Love, he told the crowd, "We're running out of time," and of course got a reaction, including some boos. "Boo?" Jeff said, shrugging his shoulders in mock disgust. "Ok."

 

Other than that, the show pretty much went as you'd expect it to if you've been following along. We didn't get the spoken-word "The End"-style Heavy Metal Drummer, nor did we apparently get the planned show-closing California Stars (which was on the printed setlist, but wasn't played). So that's the report. Whether you thoroughly enjoyed it or thought it was lacking, remember I'm just one dummy among many, so take all these words with a grain of salt, as I would always hope you would.

 

Here was Wilco's complete setlist, as played (the only change from the printed list was the aforementioned omission of California Stars):

A Shot In The Arm

Random Name Generator

Before Us

One Wing

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart>

Art Of Almost

If I Ever Was A Child

Impossible Germany

Love Is Everywhere (Beware)

Box Full Of Letters

Everyone Hides

Born Alone

At Least That's What You Said

Jesus, etc.

Theologians

I'm The Man Who Loves You

Heavy Metal Drummer

I'm Always In Love

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

The Late Greats

Outtasite (Outta Mind)

 

And for the few here who care, here was Sleater-Kinney's setlist as played:

High In The Grass

Hurry On Home

Price Tag

Down The Line

Jumpers

Shadow Town

What's Mine Is Yours

Can I Go On

Path Of Wellness

A New Wave

Complex Female Characters

Surface Envy

Modern Girl

Bring Mercy

The Fox

Worry With You

One Beat>

Entertain

1 hour ago, parisisstale said:

You summed it up perfectly as always, Paul.  Not one of my best shows by any means but one I’ll never forget.

 

Now Philly on the other hand.....Wowee Zowee....on so many levels.  I’ll let Paul have the honors on starting the recap.  #nevermissasundayshow

Thanks, but uh oh, it sounds like you might not entirely like what I have to say about Philly...

Toward the end of Wilco's rain-shortened set tonight at Forest Hills Stadium, Jeff looked out from the stage at the torrents of rain falling on drenched audience members and told them he wished he and his bandmates could be physically closer to them. The problem was, Jeff explained, that when the band had initially been set up closer to the front of the covered stage, there was a hole in the roof just where he would have been standing and joked that would have been the perfect visual representation for his songs — that of a solitary figure standing there while rain fell on him.

 

In some ways, you could say that image should be on the front of a T-shirt or poster commemorating this entire "It's Time" tour with Sleater-Kinney and Nnamdi. The run of shows has seemingly been cursed from the start — from support act Nnamdi breaking his wrist and needing surgery just before the first show he was supposed to play to the rise of Covid cases around the country forcing last-minute venue changes and vaccine and mask mandates to extreme weather challenges that have forced cancellations and uncomfortable conditions.

 

And yet, thanks in large part to the legendary Wilcrew and other behind-the-scenes tour personnel, Wilco and the other acts have soldiered on as best they can. Tonight's New York City-area tour stop was no exception, with the effects of Hurricane (or Tropical Storm) Henri hitting the area about halfway through Sleater-Kinney's set and forcing officials to clear the 13,000-capacity stadium for the better part of an hour. Personally I was getting some serious Kansas City déja vu from the show there when Sleater-Kinney also was forced into an abbreviated set and then the venue was cleared before Wilco ultimately had to cancel its performance. I think many of us at the show tonight were probably at least partly preparing for the possibility of another backstage jam room Instagram live stream.

 

But that didn't happen this time. After a quick announcement, people trudged back into the stadium and shortly thereafter — voila! — Wilco took the stage. If there was any silver lining whatsoever to the stormy conditions, it came almost immediately when Jeff called Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker from Sleater-Kinney out on stage for the long-awaited first real collaboration between the two co-headliners — they had sort of performed together virtually on the aforementioned IG live stream — on A Shot In The Arm. Brownstein pretty much stuck to a couple of maracas and a little bit of backing vocals on the chorus, but if memory serves, I think Tucker might have even taken a turn on lead vocals for a verse with what looked like the help of a little cheat sheet for the lyrics. Anyway, I'm glad it finally happened — and, who knows, maybe we'll even get a reprise later this week.

 

As for the rest of the set, which actually went on for about an hour, the rain let up briefly for a few songs early on before returning in earnest during Impossible Germany and pretty much continuing for the duration. Jeff did his best to try and forge a connection with the water-logged audience, stepping out to the lip of the stage and turning the microphone outward during the singalong section of Hummingbird and checking in on more than one occasion, saying how honored he and his bandmates felt to be able to perform, especially for those who had decided to make this their first post-lockdown concert.

 

Probably Jeff's best visit to Banter Corner — other than his Charlie Brown raincloud bit that I mentioned at the top — came when Nels' Jerry Jones double-neck longhorn white guitar made an appearance in preparation for Dawned On Me. Jeff usually pokes fun at the garishness of the instrument in some way, but tonight he quipped, "That’s not the kind of guitar you see in the rain every day. Nels, if you stood out in the rain with that guitar, that would be the most Prince thing you’ve ever done." I couldn't help imagining an epic Purple Rain moment of some sort just then, but alas I don't think Nels has in him the sheer flamboyant, look-at-me-ness of the Artist Formerly Known As..., though he certainly has his own special charisma.

 

I also must mention that despite the adverse conditions, I thought the sound was pretty fantastic. I'm no audio expert, but to my ears, this has to be due at least in part to the quality of the PA system, right? I know Forest Hills Stadium was renovated for use as a concert venue and opened in 2013 and I've seen a couple other shows there (one of the Paul Simon "farewell" concerts, which coincidentally also took place in a monsoon, comes to mind), so I'm guessing that they didn't spare too much expense in installing a powerhouse sound setup. And with the outdoor-venue, greatest-hits set that Jeff and Co. are playing on this run, it definitely makes it more enjoyable — or at least more bearable — to hear some of the songs you hear all the time when they sound especially good.

 

Can't think of too much else to say about this one, but I'm probably forgetting something. Then again, I think I'm still drying off. Will this one go down as one of the best shows I've ever seen Wilco play? Probably not. Was it one of the most enjoyable from a comfort standpoint? Hardly. Will I remember it for a long time? Unquestionably. And I guess that's maybe all you can ask for from a good old-fashioned rock show that somehow went on amid hurricane-like conditions during a global pandemic.

 

Here was Wilco's complete setlist, as played (obviously this was an abridged set due to weather conditions, so there were probably at least one or two songs on the printed setlist that were omitted):

A Shot In The Arm (w/Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker on backing vocals and percussion)

Random Name Generator

At Least That's What You Said

Love Is Everywhere (Beware)

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart>

Art Of Almost

If I Ever Was A Child

Impossible Germany

Hummingbird

Everyone Hides

Box Full Of Letters

Dawned On Me

Jesus, etc.

Theologians

I'm The Man Who Loves You

Heavy Metal Drummer

I'm Always In Love

 

And Sleater-Kinney's abbreviated setlist, as played, for those who care:

High In The Grass

Hurry On Home

Price Tag

Down The Line

Jumpers

Shadow Town

Can I Go On

Path Of Wellness

A New Wave

It's funny, I've never really thought of Merriweather Post Pavilion as a "legendary" venue along the lines of Red Rocks or the Hollywood Bowl or places like that. I'm sure that's probably sacrilegious to those in the Washington, D.C./Baltimore area, but even when I lived on the East Coast, I just always sort of thought of it as another in a series of sheds from Maine to Florida that bands eventually play if they reach a certain level. But hey, not every shed gets a landmark album named after it and I recently met someone who told me that they were at this mythical concert back in 1969. And heck, the place is even noteworthy enough to prompt a visit by esteemed VCer nalafej — good to see you — so what do I know? k

 

Since I'd last visited the sprawling 54-year-old amphitheater, which may have been one of the places to establish what we think of as the modern shed setup (pit/seating/lawn), the place has gotten something of a facelift with a sturdy-looking roof and concrete balcony structure installed over the pit and seating areas that reminded me of another DC-area venue, Wolf Trap. Fortunately, MPP is big enough and/or the show not sold out enough that there seemed to be enough room for pretty much everyone to space out, watch the concert from where they wanted and still get a decent view — no small thing in these crazy Covid times.

 

The unfortunate thing, at least personally, was that because of the nature of the venue, the location of the speakers and other acoustic factors, being up front — at least if you weren't right in front of one of the "fill" monitors facing outward from the stage — probably wasn't the ideal spot to take in the show. I guess that's almost always true at any venue, that you sacrifice sound quality by being closer to the stage, but for me it was especially pronounced tonight. I'm sure the bands all sounded amazing from, say, 10 rows back in the seats or at the front of the lawn, but it was honestly a bit muddy for me and that did detract a little bit from my enjoyment, I must admit.

 

Then again, being closer to the stage also brings with it some advantages, and I have to give kudos to a few of the folks I was standing next to, who were just super enthusiastic for everything from Nnamdi's opening set (which keeps getting better and better, by the way) to Sleater-Kinney's energetic escapades to Wilco's sturdy headlining act. When you've seen a few shows on a run, especially when the setlists are pretty similar night to night, it's nice to be able to get — dare I say it? — a shot in the arm of excitement and perspective from other people.

 

As for Wilco's performance, when a security guard came by early on in the evening and showed the set times on his phone with Jeff and Co. slated for 9:30-10:45 p.m., I was hoping the set wouldn't be rushed even more than usual because of some random curfew. I guess I wasn't the only one for whom the night was flying by, because it seemed like the band had barely gotten warmed up when Jeff glanced over at the ever-present clock at the side of the stage around 10:30 and announced that, "We're getting close to running out of time, so we're just gonna try to play as many songs as we can." Fortunately, the show wound up reaching a satisfactory conclusion at 11 without feeling too rushed and we even got a three-song encore! Three whole songs, can you imagine? I mean, it's hardly the days of two or three encores with as many as eight or 10 total tunes, but hey, Covid. We take what we can get, right?

 

On this night, what we got was the tour debut of You Are My Face (excellent to hear that one again), a decent dose of Ode To Joy (Jeff repeated the joke he's been making about how that album "came out just in time for all the joy") as well as a somewhat surprise Outtasite (Outta Mind) (which utterly delighted the very earnest fan to my left, who had really, really been hoping to hear that one). Also of note was the continuing development of what I guess we'll call "The End" version of Heavy Metal Drummer with Jeff essentially doing a laconic spoken-word intro to the song for about 30 seconds as his bandmates kind of filled in with some light psychedelic jams underneath before launching into the full version of the song (with Glenn actually playing the sample from the recorded version).

 

Overall the band seemed to be in pretty good spirits as the back half of the tour winds down — six shows left for that hoped-for collab with Sleater-Kinney, but who's counting? — and Jeff noted in the encore "that we always have such a good time here." Jeff and Nels even had kind of a sweet little moment during The Late Greats when Jeff went over and briefly hugged Nels as he was holding a note during the middle section, and there were a lot of smiles all around. I was thinking that it can't necessarily be easy to do this tour, with the bands and crews being in relatively tight bubbles and not able to visit with guests, see friends or do things they might ordinarily otherwise do. Add to that some of the wild weather challenges and scheduling issues and other things that we probably aren't even aware of, well, you know that this probably isn't your run-of-the-mill run of shows. So I just have to say kudos to everyone involved for enduring and making it happen and giving those of us in the audience at least some semblance of normality.

 

About seven songs in, Jeff asked how many people were having their first live-music experience back at this show and he seemed touched that there were so many affirmative responses. "It's an honor," he said. "Thanks for letting us entertain you. It really means a lot." And after another remarkable Nels solo on Impossible Germany, Jeff chimed in, "I don't know about you, but I missed that."

 

For as much as we might nitpick things on this forum and elsewhere, I think we all did. And I just really hope that we won't have to miss it again anytime soon.

 

Here was Wilco's complete setlist, as played (didn't get a look at the printed list, so can't say if there were any changes/omissions):

A Shot In The Arm

Random Name Generator

Before Us

You Are My Face

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart>

Art Of Almost

If I Ever Was A Child

Impossible Germany

Love Is Everywhere (Beware)

Box Full Of Letters

Hummingbird

Everyone Hides

Born Alone

Jesus, etc.

Theologians

I'm The Man Who Loves You

Heavy Metal Drummer

I'm Always In Love

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

The Late Greats

Outtasite (Outta Mind)

California Stars

 

And for anyone who cares, here was Sleater-Kinney's setlist:

High In The Grass

Hurry On Home

A New Wave

Shadow Town

The Fox

Can I Go On

Path Of Wellness

Price Tag

Down The Line

Bury Our Friends

Jumpers

Bring Mercy

Modern Girl

Surface Envy

Worry With You

One Beat>

Entertain

 

10 hours ago, Albert Tatlock said:

 

If you're going to pigeon-hole me I prefer to be labelled as tea-guzzling curmudgeon, thank you.

 

 

Ta

 

You tea-totalling bastard! (How was that?)

Just doing my duty here, though unfortunately I wasn't there in person. Someone I know who was there sent me some photos of the setup and the stage and I have to say that, despite the terrible venue name, it did appear to be quite a lovely little spot for an outdoor show. Hopefully the flooding in western North Carolina wasn't too bad around the area...

 

As far as the show, I guess when you don't have Spiders in the setlist, there's time for an extra tune or two. Interesting to note the inclusion of Hummingbird. Is that the first time for this run? I can't remember for sure, but is Asheville Lilac Rain territory? She must be about 30 by now. Anyway, I feel like Hummingbird is one that always gets played in Asheville for some reason, though I'm too lazy to look it up right now. Will look forward to the Vince recap and any others (#SorryAboutTheNovaYetAgain).

 

For now, here was Wilco's complete setlist, as played (once again taken from Wilcoworld, for record-keeping purposes here):

 

A Shot In The Arm

Random Name Generator

At Least That's What You Said

One And A Half Stars

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

Art Of Almost

If I Ever Was A Child

Impossible Germany

Love Is Everywhere (Beware)

Box Full Of Letters

Hummingbird

Everyone Hides

Dawned On Me

Jesus, etc.

Theologians

I'm The Man Who Loves You

What Light

Heavy Metal Drummer

I'm Always In Love

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

The Late Greats

California Stars

Well, that was something. On a scorching, muggy-as-all-get-out night in Richmond — one that Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney had likened to "playing on the surface of the sun," though I guess it was par for the course for mid-August in the Virginia capital — the It's Time tour stop here went from one of those outdoor events you merely tolerate and sort of secretly want to get over with to maybe the best show on the run so far. At least as far as Wilco's performance was concerned.

 

Now I haven't been to all of the shows on this tour — I wasn't at Red Rocks, for instance, though I did watch the live stream — so I realize that I could be speaking out of turn here when I suggest that this was the best post-pandemic performance yet by Jeff and his bandmates. But I've been to enough shows to appreciate when there is something a little extra special in the (thick, sticky, heavy) air. Part of that could have been attributed to the weather, part of it due to the somewhat unique setting and part of it just some of the unexplainable magic of live music, but whatever it was, I was glad to be in the audience for it.

 

Originally scheduled for the indoor (or mostly indoor?) Altria Theater, this show — like the ill-fated Kansas City show last week — was moved at the last minute to an outdoor venue due to concerns over the rising Covid cases and out of concern for the safety of the bands and crews. The new venue turned out to be one of Richmond's most popular public park spaces that sits on an island along the James River. Basically, they split the audience into three general-admission sections based on what kind of ticket you had for the original show (though there were opportunities to upgrade, and chairs were allowed at designated areas). Given the lateness of the change, it all seemed to go remarkably smoothly. The setting actually kind of reminded me a little bit of Joe's Field at Mass MoCA with a bridge as a backdrop and railroad tracks running perpendicular to the stage — and the passing trains would certainly inject themselves into the show during Wilco's set, just as they have in the past at the Solid Sound Festival.

 

As friend, local and old-school VCer GregRVA reminded me, this was just the fourth time Wilco had ever played in Richmond (the band did a club show back in 1995 preceded by a radio session, as well as a festival(?) in 1997 and a stop on the "Evening With..." tour at the National in 2010). That was kind of stunning to me. Accordingly, I wasn't quite prepared for all the audience love for Jeff and Co., particularly by younger folks at least some of whom, presumably, had never had a chance to see the band live before.

 

This is where all of us cynical message board wonks have to try and see the show through someone else's eyes when we complain about setlist variety or whatever. For instance, the young woman next to me who was obviously a big fan got most visibly excited when the band started playing...wait for it...I'm The Man Who Loves You. What does she care that that's the most-played Wilco song ever? And throughout the show, especially near the front, there were very earnest, enthusiastic shouts of love for Jeff. Before Box Full Of Letters, for instance, Jeff joked that, "I would say this is for the old-timers, but let's face it, you're all old-timers." Then he caught a glimpse of some teenage-looking boys front and center and corrected himself a bit: "Ah well, that's not totally true. We got three new fans. I'm basking in your glow."

 

A few songs before that, during If I Ever Was A Child, came maybe the coolest moment of the show when one train passed by on the aforementioned railroad tracks and then another heading the opposite direction also went by and even gave a little honk (or whatever it's called with trains) that led to a brief cheer from the crowd. After the song, Jeff was visibly moved putting his face in his hands — I imagine thoughts of his dad went through his mind — and after composing himself, he said, "That might be the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. Now I wish those wheels squeaking and whistles were on the record (during that song). That made me cry." Of course a song later, after another train passed by, Jeff couldn't help but poke fun at it hogging attention, quipping in part, "Stupid fucking train. You've had your moment." Ladies and gentlemen, classic Jeff Tweedy right there, conjuring memories of similar comments he made about a certain rainbow once during Solid Sound.

 

Musically, even though the songs were for the most part the ones the band has been playing thus far on this tour, this to me was just one of those shows where it mattered less what was played than how it was played. Exhibit A: Impossible Germany. I've tended to be of the opinion that they shouldn't necessarily play it every single night just to keep it a bit fresh, but sometimes you do catch a bit of magic for whatever reason. Nels' creativity always amazes me, how he conjures something new nearly every time even with such a spotlight trained on him, but tonight his solo was one of the best I can remember for a long time. He just flowed, even more than usual, putting together a series of chord progressions that I thought was just right. Art Of Almost was brilliant yet again, and Born Alone and I'm Always In Love also had plenty of juice.

 

And I haven't even mentioned the tour debut of Spiders (Kidsmoke) yet. It may or may not have been on the printed setlist, but clearly the guitar techs weren't expecting it as the encore got underway because Jeff came back out and stood there guitar-less for more than a few seconds with his cable and plug in his hand while the rest of the band started into the noise intro. Finally, Jeff went over to the side of the stage and got the guitar he needed and he and his bandmates started playing the song in earnest — and it was spectacular. Jeff even did both the clapping and the ba-ba-ba crowd singalong bits at the end. I like to think it was a little reward for an enthusiastic audience that had endured not only the extreme heat of the day but also the late venue change. I may have even lost my you know what a bit (though in fairness, the heat sort of made me lose my inhibitions more than I normally might. It was just too hot to worry about that kind of stuff, though I probably annoyed some folks around me. Sowwwwyyyy.)

 

I mean, as evidence of the oppressive steambath that Richmond in August apparently is, how often can you remember Jeff wearing short sleeves on stage? He had on a short-sleeved blue Hawaiian-style shirt that apparently had some sort of fish on it (after someone in the crowd asked whether it was Colonel Sanders on the shirt, Jeff said he thought it was swordfish of some sort but then got corrected by someone that it was actually marlin, which caused him to say he was worried that "the audience has turned on me because I misidentified a fish.") Maybe you had to be there. But he did say earlier that he felt like "a wringer in a wet T-shirt contest" and noted that he almost never wears short sleeves on stage and yet he was sweating much more than he usually did, so "I'm going back to my winter coat."

 

Whatever Jeff's attire, though, it was clear that he and his bandmates had forged a connection with a receptive and grateful, albeit very sweaty, audience. They ended up playing nearly 100 minutes, which is about 10 minutes longer than they've been able to at a few venues with hard curfews on this run. Here's hoping it won't be another decade-plus before the denizens of the River City get to enjoy another evening with Wilco (although maybe they can do it in a club with decent air conditioning next time? #JustSaying).

 

Here was the complete Wilco setlist, as played (didn't get a look at the printed list, so can't say if there were any omissions or changes):

A Shot In The Arm

Random Name Generator

Side With The Seeds

One And A Half Stars

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart>

Art Of Almost

If I Ever Was A Child

Impossible Germany

Love Is Everywhere (Beware)

Box Full Of Letters

Everyone Hides

Born Alone

Jesus, etc.

Theologians

Heavy Metal Drummer>

I'm The Man Who Loves You

I'm Always In Love

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

Spiders (Kidsmoke)

California Stars

 

And for those who care, here was Sleater-Kinney's setlist, as played:

High In The Grass

Hurry On Home

Price Tag

Down The Line

Jumpers

Shadow Town

Can I Go On

Tomorrow's Grave

A New Wave

Complex Female Characters

Bring Mercy

Modern Girl

Worry With You

The Fox

One Beat>

Entertain

On 8/18/2021 at 6:30 PM, dave41 said:

Has Wilco gone on after S/K every night?

Yes, and will continue to — or so I’ve been told (and so it says on Wilcoworld ).

18 hours ago, Albert Tatlock said:

Ta to theashtraysays for fillling bbop;s boots (or was that just a nasty rumour).

With apologies to Nancy and Lee, these boots are made for fillin’! 👢 👢 👢 

On 8/16/2021 at 6:58 AM, Lukestar said:

Stop the presses....THIS should be the new t-shirt design!

 

Per usual, great re-cap bböp.

 

I would sign up for one of those shirts!

3 minutes ago, theashtraysays said:

Really, anything that gets a smile from Jeff is well worth a couple sheets of posterboard, some bigass sharpie ink, and a little hassle here and there.  Maturity has never been my long suit, and I'm of the age where I kinda don't much care if it looks a little fangirl or not. 
Hey are you able to make Asheville now?

 

Haha, yeah, that's kind of what I figured. And re: Asheville, in theory I could make it now. But given the lack of setlist variety and the fact I'd still have to finagle a ticket and drive like 5 hours out of my way down there and then 8+ hours back to get to the Merriweather Post show with no day-off cushion (plus the prospect of a nice meal of some Maryland crabs), I think I'm still going to have to beg off. I did seriously consider it despite all of the hurdles, but you know. Sorry I'll miss you this run. Looks like a cool setting, from what I've seen.

8 minutes ago, theashtraysays said:

On a personal note, no sign of the Nova, and I'm thinking it might be sitting this tour out.  I was able to get a couple of the usual suspects up on the rail to help out with wearing facemasks so that the three of us had "BULL", "BLACK", and "NOVA" in sequence for a song early on.  That got a noticeable chuckle from Jeffie which was fun.  The "FAUCI SAYS PLAY BULL BLACK NOVA" sign also showed up a little later, prompting another headshake that conveyed "no, I don't think so Vince". 

Just one more of these SK/Wilco shows for me - now thankfully Thursday night in Asheville, the delay of which gave me a little time to jot down these meager thoughts here in our little corner of the interwebs, as well as a nice rest for these old bones.  See you at the show.

Cheers!

 

Well, sorry your Nova gambits haven't paid dividends so far but I'm sure they were at least mildly amusing. Thanks for the reports. I think it seems like they are pretty much, er, boxed in with the set for this run with maybe one or two swap outs per night. Just hoping we'll actually get that (semi-promised) collab with S-K at this point...nine shows to go! Good to hear that Pat got some hometown love and that it wasn't your usual Nashville, too-cool industry-town kind of crowd — at least for the most part.

1 hour ago, theashtraysays said:

On a more personal note, it's starting to appear that the Nova was left in the Chicago garage this run.  Even my new "FAUCI SAYS PLAY BULL BLACK NOVA" sign failed to get an audible for that one, though it did get an amused head-shake "Nope" from the lead singer, like a pitcher shaking off the pitch signal from the catcher.  Alas.  But in one of the more surreal things that's ever happened to me, no less than SIX of the very kind / southern hospitality security staff asked me "are you Vince?" when they saw me carrying in my sign for the night.  Turns out that someone had tipped them off during the pre-show security meeting that I'd be there with a sign, and that it would be OK for me to bring it in even though the venue policy was no signs over 8x10, since I'm a courteous, well-mannered signguy.  Quite the red carpet treatment!!

Would love to hear from others if there really was any noteworthy banter for the evening... c'mon folks! You can do it !!

Cheers!

 

 

Wow, the royal treatment indeed! You should test it out next time with a sign that says "Glenn is a big ol' baby!" or something like that. I wish I would have had such a security "escort" when I tried to bring in my empty poster tube to the venue in St. Louis. Thanks for nothing, Live Nation! (Special to Vince: I thought I actually had done something to warrant a visit from PK at that St. Louis show when she suddenly turned up next to my seat during the last song of the S-K set. Turns out she was just escorting some real VIPs to their seats. Haha! And I was actually sitting in one of their seats by mistake, having misread a 7 for a 1 on my ticket. Boy, did I feel dumb.)

 

Anyway, thanks for filling in some of the details! I had always heard that Chastain Park venue was kind of suspect as far as audiences go (I don't remember exactly what shenanigan I was thinking of, jff, but maybe it was just someone's report on the annoying crowd from last time). Great to hear that the S-K fanbase represented and injected some energy at least.

 

Since I guess no one who actually went to the show seems to be in a hurry to chime in — or maybe everyone just goes to that other forum that shall not be named now — I guess I'm the designated cutter/paster here, too...

 

From what I heard and saw on Wilco's social media, it seemed that it had been raining leading up to the show but the rain stopped and the skies cleared just in time for this show to proceed comfortably. There was even a rainbow. I can't imagine Jeff wouldn't offer any comments on that, if indeed it was still visible while he was on stage (though I guess that was probably unlikely given Wilco's 9:30 p.m. set time).

 

Here was the Wilco setlist, taken from Wilcoworld for record-keeping purposes here (obviously there could have been a few changes/omissions from the printed setlist):

 

A Shot In The Arm

Random Name Generator

At Least That's What You Said

Love Is Everywhere (Beware)

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

Art Of Almost

If I Ever Was A Child

Impossible Germany

War On War

Box Full Of Letters

Hate It Here

Everyone Hides

Dawned On Me

Jesus, etc.

Theologians

I'm The Man Who Loves You

Heavy Metal Drummer

I'm Always In Love

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

California Stars

I obviously wasn't at the show. Would be interested to hear details, though. Is this venue the same as the Chastain Park venue the band has played in the past? I've actually never made it there myself, but I remember there being a lot of audience shenanigans one time when they played at Chastain Park. Spill the tea, attendees!

 

It occurred to me this morning that, I think outside of Outtasite at Red Rocks, there haven't been any Being There songs played this whole tour. Not a great one for the old-school heads (unless you're a huuuuuuuuge fan of Box or something ).

 

Anyway, here was Wilco's complete setlist as played, taken from Wilcoworld for record-keeping purposes here. I suspect this was another Live Nation shed-type venue with a curfew, which looks like it forced the cutting of a couple songs. #Bah (Judging from the printed list, it looks like What Light was planned between Man and HMD and The Late Greats as the first song of the encore, but neither were apparently played. Perhaps someone can confirm.)

 

A Shot In The Arm

Random Name Generator

At Least That's What You Said

Love Is Everywhere (Beware)

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

Art Of Almost

If I Ever Was A Child

Impossible Germany

Box Full Of Letters

Hate It Here

Either Way

Everyone Hides

Dawned On Me

Jesus, etc.

Theologians

I'm The Man Who Loves You

Heavy Metal Drummer

I'm Always In Love

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

California Stars