bböp

Just doing the requisite housekeeping since I had to jump off the tour for a few days and wasn’t able to make it to SLC this time. Anybody who did make it, please chime in with any details.

According to the good folks at Wilcoworld, here was the complete setlist as played (obviously can’t say if there were any changes/omissions from the printed list):

Infinite Surprise

Levee

Handshake Drugs

I Am My Mother

Cruel Country

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

Soldier Child

Side With The Seeds

Hummingbird

Misunderstood

Cousin

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

Impossible Germany

Evicted

Jesus, etc.

Meant To Be

The Late Greats

Heavy Metal Drummer

A Shot In The Arm

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

Falling Apart (Right Now)

California Stars

Spiders (Kidsmoke)

On 10/20/2023 at 9:29 AM, Brian F. said:

So they went and did this after the show and still made it up to Berkeley the next night? Does anyone know how they are traveling? They must have flown from SoCal to NorCal on Saturday morning on no sleep. They apparently did the same thing the week before, where they played Sunday night in Monterey and then were at Kimmel in L.A. by 2 p.m. on Monday.

I mean, they have a bus driver(s) that drive them overnight, so it’s not that crazy. Drive overnight after the second Bellwether show to SB, get there early in the morning, soundcheck afternoon, play the show, sit in with MHs (who I’m sure we’re playing a venue close by) and then hop back on the bus and drive overnight to Berkeley. Rinse, lather, repeat.

About to be in transit for a while, so won’t get a chance to out proverbial finger to keyboard for some hours yet (many apologies, Signor Tatlock! )…

For now, here was the complete setlist as played for Night 2 (At Least That’s What You Said and California Stars were on the printed setlist as the first two songs of the encore, but weren’t played):

Infinite Surprise

Handshake Drugs

Pittsburgh

I Am My Mother

Cruel Country

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart>
Kamera

Meant To Be

Misunderstood

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

Hummingbird

Sunlight Ends

Whole Love

Impossible Germany

Jesus, etc.

Evicted

Dawned On Me

Cousin

Heavy Metal Drummer

A Shot In The Arm

———————————————

Falling Apart (Right Now)

Spiders (Kidsmoke)

On 10/16/2023 at 1:05 PM, Brian F. said:

That thing is called a "marching machine"? We were wondering about that at the Bellwether the other night when Glenn busted it out. It looked like someone had taped a bunch of wooden cylinders inside a large tambourine. Incidentally, the percussion instrument that dangles off the front of Glenn's kit (as seen from the audience) on his left looks like a cluster of Fig Newtons. Glenn's into some weird stuff.

Yeah, the marching machine was also used a fair bit on Ode To Joy. That record really saw Glenn go to town on some percussion things, which you can see on this great video breakdown he did for Modern Drummer. He talks specifically about the different marching machines he uses around the 18-minute mark of the video, about the song Hold Me Anyway. He actually has a handheld one, which is the one he's using on Pittsburgh, and then a foot-operated one that I haven't seen on stage on this tour for Cousin.

Tour To Infinity, eh? More like Tour To The 21st Century — or close to that.

By the encore of tonight's first of two shows in the familiar confines of the Paramount Theatre, I started to realize — and secretly hope for, if only for the potential historical significance of it — that we were getting awfully close to the prospect of a Wilco show without any songs from A.M., Being There or Summerteeth. If the band had just closed with Spiders (Kidsmoke) as it often has on this tour, that would have likely have cinched the All-21st Century Wilco concert; as it was, the final two songs negated that (although Box Full Of Letters wasn't even on the printed setlist). With the focus squarely on Cousin (and to a lesser extent, Cruel Country) these days, however, it's certainly possible at some point. Just an observation, not a criticism.

At any rate, another feeling I got not too far into tonight's show was one of déja vu. Was it only two years ago, almost to the day, that Wilco was up on this very stage blasting through Helter Skelter with support act The Young Fresh Fellows? I remember being in almost the same spot watching that happen, and thinking back, how it feels like so much and so little time has passed since then. Wilco couldn't possibly be touring behind not just one, but two new records since then, could it?

With such an abundance of new material to play, Jeff said he intended to keep the banter to a minimum as he had in Portland. "We've got a lot of songs to get to, so you won't hear a lot of yapping out of me," he said about six songs in. Then he first tried out the shtick of "abbreviated check-ins" that would become a running theme for most of the remainder of the show. So for example, he would ask, "How's it going?" and audience members would murmur a bit before Jeff abruptly cut them off. A song or two later, same thing: "How have you been? OK, shhh..that's enough." It actually worked pretty well for a while, with Jeff likening it to "speed dating with an audience. I think it's working out. We're enjoying this."

That really was about it for visits to Banter Corner this evening, though. Apart from a few comments in the encore, such as dedicating Meant To Be to all of us ("This one's for you all"), which incidentally fits pretty well as the opening song of an encore, though I'm still waiting for the end-of-main-set positioning for that one. Before starting the next song, Falling Apart (Right Now), Jeff asked for the house lights to be brought up for a minute "so I can see all of your beautiful faces. ... You're all still here! That means a lot to us." After adding an impromptu Box Full Of Letters when he realized there was still more time left to play (and, ahem, partially ruining my aforementioned narrative), Jeff finally bid the Night 1 crowd good night with a wave and a "See you tomorrow night."

I suspect we'll probably get just shy of half the setlist changed up on Night 2. (And ahem, still waiting to hear Levee over here or A Bowl And A Pudding for the first time.) But just based on what Jeff and Co. did at the last two-night stand down in Los Angeles, it seems like some good bets for songs to make it into this second Seattle set include Handshake Drugs, One Wing, Sunlight Ends, Whole Love, Via Chicago, At Least That's What You Said and of course, Spiders (Kidsmoke).

Musically speaking, on Night 1, I should note — for the nerds — that Theologians had the rare riff ending (as it did the other time it was in the set this tour on Night 1 at The Bellwether in L.A.) Soldier Child and Cousin, meanwhile, continue to impress live, perhaps more than on the record. I love the melody of the former, while the latter sort of reminds me a little bit of the live version of Locator with its garage-iness, for lack of a better term. And Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull seems as if it has established itself as a setlist staple for years to come, given the reaction that its extended jam evokes. Even a security guard or usher — I'm not exactly sure which — asked a few of us after the show what the name of that song was.

I also couldn't help but thinking during Nels' solo in Impossible Germany that he must have been thinking about the passing of composer/pianist Carla Bley, whose death he posted about before the show. Anyone who's ever seen Nels play his own music has probably heard him play Bley's composition And Now The Queen at some point, and I know she was a strong influence on him.

Anyway, I think that's about all there was to report from this show, maybe except for the fact that the band welcomed a new support act in singer-songwriter Nina Nastasia, who will be on board until the end of the tour next week. Nastasia, whose seven studio albums have all been recorded by Steve Albini, played a short set of her Gothic-tinged folk songs and endeared herself to the audience with a brief and relatable story about driving mishaps en route to the venue.

Here was the complete setlist, as played, on Night 1 in Seattle (Love Is Everywhere (Beware) was on the printed setlist in place of Jesus, etc., while Box Full Of Letters was not on the list, as previously noted):

Pittsburgh

Infinite Surprise

Muzzle Of Bees

I Am My Mother

Cruel Country

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

If I Ever Was A Child

Soldier Child

Theologians

Cousin

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

Hummingbird

Evicted

Impossible Germany

Jesus, etc.

The Late Greats

Random Name Generator

Heavy Metal Drummer

I'm The Man Who Loves You

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

Meant To Be

Falling Apart (Right Now)

California Stars

Box Full Of Letters

A Shot In The Arm

24 minutes ago, Albert Tatlock said:

Second cuppa of the day so I've read the top-up. Ta again.

Still not done yet. Haven't you any other reading material?

2 hours ago, Albert Tatlock said:

Ta

T'wasn't done yet...

Writing these show recaps over the course of a tour, I realize that it’s almost not fair to compare one place or one venue to another because for the vast majority of the audience of any given show, that’s the one they’re going to see — irrespective of where the band has been or where it’s going. So a Monday night at a seated theater is just that, and should be seen and evaluated through that lens. That said, it's hard not to compare different aspects of shows you’ve experienced.

While the 3,000-seat Keller Auditorium — where I’m told you’d be more likely to see a Broadway show than a rock concert — might not be quite as unique as some of the other venues on this run, Portland does have diverse facial hair, at least one bizarre dancer and Scott McCaughey…so take that!

By now, McCaughey appearing on stage with Jeff and/or Wilco in the Pacific Northwest shouldn’t really be a surprise, but the Young Fresh Fellows/Minus 5/etc., singer-songwriter was nonetheless decked out for the occasion in a white Nudie-type jacket and his trademark sunglasses when he emerged at the start of the encore and took a seat at one of Mike’s keyboards for the inevitable California Stars. I think Jeff might have introduced Scott as "our spiritual father," but the comment was kind of lost to the ether as the latter got all set up at the keys.

Actually, I had figured it would be support act Shara Nova of My Brightest Diamond who would join Jeff and Co. on backing vocals on the Woody Guthrie-penned crowd favorite since it was her final night on tour with the band and that has been a tradition of sorts when someone has opened a stretch of shows. But instead, Nova’s guest turn came on electric guitar on the show-closing Spiders (Kidsmoke) and it was a treat to behold. It’s pretty rare that a guest sits in on Spiders, at least to my memory, but watching the spunky Nova find her way on guitar between Nels and Jeff was really cool. And she more than held her own, adding some counterpoint lines and general shredding to the proceedings. (Incidentally, I haven't really mentioned her 30-minute opening set in other recaps, but while her brand of art rock might not be for everybody, I quite enjoyed it. Maybe she'll make an appearance at the Solid Sound Festival next summer, perhaps with a full band?)

As for the rest of the show, the band played more than half its set before Jeff said anything at all — and he made it pretty clear that there would be less action on Banter Corner than usual. "Not a lot of talking tonight," Jeff said. "We've got a lot of songs to get to, lots of music to play for you. You're not here to hear me yap. I'm not here to hear you yap, either. It's just a fact."

But of course that "warning" only went so far, especially when Jeff got a closer look at the audience toward the end of the main set. There had been some of the usual sitting vs. standing tensions earlier in the show and, actually, a good portion of the front row remained seated when Jeff called them out. It seemed as if he might make a comment on that (or toward the strange woman who periodically danced across the front of the stage at least three times, striking a brief contorted pose on a couple of occasions before going on her way), but apparently he was more intrigued by a more specific feature of the male-dominated front row, which he said "looks like if you went to a barber and they gave you a book of all the different facial hair you could have." And then, completely deadpan, he added, referring to the eccentric dancer, "Also, I'll have whatever she's having."

The only other noteworthy comment Jeff made came before Evicted, when he thanked the audience for "letting us play so much new music. It means so much to us." Then, introducing Evicted, he added, "We were informed earlier that this song is a huge hit. It's in the Top 5, (but) I don't know where."

Evicted came after a trio of songs — Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull, Cousin and Via Chicago — about which I jotted down that Glenn is a percussion machine (or something to that effect). But he really elevated that mid-set threesome with his dynamic and intense playing. I'm glad that the majority of the crowd seemed to be on its feet by then, having broken out of the annoying trend of sitting during unfamiliar songs and standing for known songs that often plagues reserved-seating audiences. Portland was simply too cool for those sorts of shenanigans to continue for long.

Or was it? During the show-closing Spiders (Kidsmoke), Jeff called upon that sense of cool once more during the clapping/riff-singing conclusion to try and encourage more people to participate. "Being cool is keeping you in a cage," Jeff quipped, while clapping. "Liberate yourselves." Spurred on by Jeff and his bandmates as well as special guest Nova, I have to say that — at least for that brief moment in time — the crowd in Portlandia managed to do that.

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

Infinite Surprise

Handshake Drugs

Pittsburgh

I Am My Mother

Cruel Country

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart>

One Wing

Meant To Be

Hummingbird

Sunlight Ends

Whole Love

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

Cousin

Via Chicago

Evicted

Impossible Germany

Jesus, etc.

Heavy Metal Drummer

A Shot In The Arm

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

California Stars (with Scott McCaughey on keyboard)

Spiders (Kidsmoke) (with Shara Nova of My Brightest Diamond on electric guitar)

3 hours ago, Albert Tatlock said:

Intriguing. Nice!

Yeah, baby! Oh, yeah!                                                                       

12 hours ago, imanadultnow said:

Hi @bböp, I signed up to respond.

 

I spent last weekend at this festival and Wilco was one of my key reasons to do so.

 

After two hot days on Friday and Saturday, Sunday was much cooler and possibly as a result the crowd was smaller.

 

I was able to get close to the front for Wilco. I've included a pic.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed the set, more than my hometown show in London in August. Good mix of songs and it was nice to hear California Stars in California, sadly there were no stars visible.

Hey, thanks for the report and for signing up to make it! Glad to hear at least some details about the goings-on there, and that you enjoyed the set. Cheers!

Though I'll admit I heard some pre-show grumblings from a few Northern Californians about how Los Angeles got five shows (and assorted autograph signings/radio events/what have you) while the Bay Area got just the one concert this time around, I also have to say that a sold-out Wilco performance at the esteemed Greek Theatre in Berkeley on a beautiful Saturday night certainly had a big-event feel about it and maybe that helped even out at least some of the perceived imbalance.

It had been more than 11 years since Wilco had played the Greek, the last time being a two-night stand on the Whole Love tour back in 2012, and the setting was as grand as ever. I think the seating structure might have been tweaked a little bit since the last time the band was here, certainly on the floor which used to be general admission standing but featured reserved seats at least for this show. The crowd down front remained seated through My Brightest Diamond's opening set, but fortunately once Wilco took the stage, most everyone stood up and remained standing for the duration. Looking out at the full spectrum of 8,500 people filling out the environs of the venerable open-air amphitheatre must always be quite a sight.

With the stage being so high — probably close to 10 feet — I worried about whether we'd even be able to see Glenn from our seats down front, but fortunately the seats were set back far enough that sight lines weren't too much of a problem. And for those sitting further back, this might have been the best show on the tour to appreciate the full scope of the projections that played behind the band, not mention the varied light show. Those sorts of things are what you would expect from a rock 'n' roll spectacle, after all, and Jeff acknowledged this area as the origin of all that.

"San Francisco...Berkeley...this has been our home away from home for a long time," Jeff bellowed near the end of the main set, a little while after he had also thanked the crowd for letting he and his bandmates play so many new tunes. "We want to thank you for inventing the rock concert."

Despite all of the apparent trappings of a rock show, however, we might also have been "treated" to a bit of a jazz performance — at least as Jeff jokingly defined it. During California Stars, Jeff worked hard to try and get as many people to sing along as he could. He encouraged the audience to sing along with almost-constant arm motions and gestures, until it came back to bite him when he flubbed a lyric the second time through. It was an obvious flub, too, because it happened when he was joined by John and Pat on harmonies and it was clear who had sung the wrong lines.

"It's jazz, man; I wanted it to be a round with both verses at the same time," Jeff said with a wry smile, looking both at his bandmates and the audience. "If you're not hip to that, man, then you're square."

On this night, "jazz" apparently happened more than a couple times. There was the hilarious I'm The Man Who Loves You in the encore, which Jeff had to restart not once, but twice, causing Glenn to lose it. Even Jeff couldn’t help but crack up at himself the second time. Maybe you had to be there, but the band had gotten maybe 10 seconds into the song the first time when Jeff waved it off, blaming it on his delay pedal being on and messing him up. So the rest of the band stopped and started the song again, only for Jeff to botch things and have to restart the song yet again. You rarely see that with Wilco, so it was just a moment when everybody had to laugh. On the third try, they finally got it right. (And why wouldn't they? It's not like I'm The Man Who Loves You isn't the most-played Wilco song of all time!) And earlier in the show, Jeff had another small lyric flub on Kamera when he got out of sync with John near the end of the song and had to stop his part early.

Jeff and Co. had much better luck with the six songs from Cousin that they played in the set. I enjoyed watching Glenn use the "marching machine" implement on Pittsburgh that I also noticed he broke out at one of the L.A. shows, and that song's dramatic guitar squeals really played well on the ace sound system at the Greek. Of course Infinite Surprise and Meant To Be were also once again the bangers that we expect them to be, and Sunlight Ends is a lovely mid-show interlude. My only minor personal grievance is that I once again missed out on hearing Levee, which seems to be played at every show I don't attend on this run. C'est la vie.

In addition to what I've already mentioned, Banter Corner was a bit busier tonight with Jeff opening up as the show went on. On one hand, Jeff continued to pay homage to the importance of the Bay Area musically, saying after the Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull jam that "we put that together for you...just paying it back." And on the other hand, he also had some fun with one stereotype of the Bay Area when he retold the story about his elder son Spencer once coming to an area show, going out shopping with his mom and coming back in "head-to-toe tie dye." "What did you do to my kid?" Jeff asked the crowd back then. "You turned him into a fucking hippie." Back to the present, Jeff recounted that and added, "There were people who didn't realize that was a joke, and I hope they're not here tonight." On a more serious note, Jeff said just before starting the encore with Falling Apart (Right Now) that "I wish this song didn't feel appropriate all the time."

Overall, I don't know if a single show — even in such an iconic space — can make up for all the time spent by the band in Southern California, but I will say that this was probably the loosest, most fun gig I've seen from Wilco in a while. Even with just a couple of minutes remaining before the two-hour mark that typically brings the band's set to an end most nights, there was to be no cutting of the final planned song, Spiders (Kidsmoke) and, indeed, Jeff and his bandmates rolled through a ripping version of it that culminated in an epic singalong of the riff — ba ba ba ba ba ba ba — that sent thousands out into the Berkeley night with smiles on their faces.

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

Infinite Surprise

Handshake Drugs

Pittsburgh

I Am My Mother

Cruel Country

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart>

Kamera

Meant To Be

Hummingbird

Sunlight Ends

Whole Love

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

Cousin

Via Chicago

California Stars

Evicted

Impossible Germany

Jesus, etc.

Heavy Metal Drummer

A Shot In The Arm

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

Falling Apart (Right Now)

I'm The Man Who Loves You

Spiders (Kidsmoke)

6 hours ago, 15step said:

How was this announced? Just social media? Or some other avenue?

I got an e-mail from Wilco's mailing list about two hours before the on sale.

Just doing a bit of housekeeping on here, as I am wont to do, to try and make sure that no show falls through the cracks. Did anybody on here actually go to this festival? See Wilco's set in person? If so, how was it?

According to the good folks at Wilcoworld, here was the complete setlist for Wilco's scheduled 100-minute headlining set on the Steelhead Stage (the band was preceded by Shakey Graves and Elle King):

Infinite Surprise

Handshake Drugs

I Am My Mother

Cruel Country

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

Soldier Child

Side With The Seeds

Hummingbird

Misunderstood

Cousin

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

Impossible Germany

Evicted

Jesus, etc.

The Late Greats

Falling Apart (Right Now)

California Stars

Heavy Metal Drummer

A Shot In The Arm

Having been fortunate enough to see Wilco perform in all kinds of venues over the years, I think I can safely say that a club like the Bellwether — where tonight the band finished up an extended run of concerts and other activities in Los Angeles with the second of two shows at the new adjacent-to-downtown spot — is just about the perfect one for Jeff and his bandmates to do what they do best. It's intimate enough for the band to form a real connection with its audience, to literally see who they're playing for, and for that audience to get relatively up close and personal if they choose, and to participate in the show when appropriate.

More than I can remember at other shows, Jeff really exhorted the crowd to sing along at various points the past couple of nights — even occasionally during one of the new songs from Cousin. And when the audience really responded in kind, like during an intense A Shot In The Arm tonight, it seemed to give the band a particular boost of energy.

Of course, the intimacy afforded by a smallish venue can unfortunately be a two-way street. I can't tell you how many times I've seen some drunken person push their way to front and try to make a song request or otherwise engage Jeff in a personal conversation, and rarely does it turn out well for anyone. Awkward audience interactions can derail a show for a moment or for the rest of the evening, depending on how things go. And years from now, if I remember much about this particular concert, I think I'll probably remember it for the moment about halfway through when a couple of people threatened to take the show off the rails before Jeff regained his grip on the controls and did his best to ensure a smooth landing.

The thing with audience interactions is that sometimes you're not exactly sure what's happening or what's being said, depending your vantage point. That wasn't the problem tonight for me and the friends with whom I was standing — at the rail in front of Nels — because it was just our luck that the disrupters did their disrupting literally right next to us. Just before Wilco took the stage, a couple consisting of a man in a wheelchair and a woman I presume was his girlfriend/wife sort of nudged their way to the front next to where we were standing. Since it wasn't overly crowded, I think the man I had initially been standing next to moved over to his right a bit and allowed the wheelchair guy to pull right up to the rail. His partner then sat on his lap and they watched the first half of the show mostly like that. They were a bit loud — my friend had to shush them once during a quieter song — and proceeded to take a ton of selfies and videos with one of their phones. And when they weren't doing that, they were basically making out. OK, they were a bit much...but basically not bothering anybody too, too much.

Things, however, came to a head after Impossible Germany when a young woman who I can only assume was a bit overserved sidled up right behind the wheelchair couple and began yelling at Jeff, trying to get his attention. Finally he relented and let her speak, and what came out was some rambling monologue that at first seemed to be a request for Kamera but then turned into something about her dad and how his favorite song was Hell Is Chrome and could they play that one? Eventually Jeff gracefully put her off and she went away, and Jeff joked about reaching the part of the show when he had a conversation with each audience member individually.

No sooner had Jeff uttered those words than the wheelchair guy decided that would be the perfect time to speak up. He launched into a brief soliloquy about how his late brother had been such a big fan, Sunken Treasure was his favorite song and could Jeff and his bandmates play that one for him? Jeff did his best to deflect the request, explaining how they weren't prepared to play that song tonight, and that they had a lot of moving parts on stage set up for the songs they did plan to play. The wheelchair guy carried on, bringing up his dead brother again, and Jeff replied that he was very sorry and that he hoped the brother's memory would be a blessing. Realizing he probably wasn't going to be successful with the song request, the man tried to salvage a result and asked Jeff if he would dedicate something — anything — to the brother. Jeff, probably sensing he could end this awkward episode if he relented, clarified what the man wanted and then asked the brother's name. Finally, with the wheelchair man filming as ever, Jeff looked into the phone camera, pointed at it and announced, "Jade, this one's for you." And thus ended another episode of Audience Chats With Jeff. Oy vey.

The thing was, as another friend pointed out, the wheelchair guy was actually a fan — or at least seemed to be. When he wasn't taking videos or making out with his woman friend, he seemed to be genuinely into the music. (His companion, by contrast, was apparently not because she would periodically seem to get sick of the show and step away, only to come back and resume her carousing with the man.) Anyway, it's hard for me to understand how an alleged fan could be so selfish and inject themselves into a show like that, much less make a spectacle of themselves right in the front row. And lest you think I'm exaggerating, you know someone has crossed some kind of line when Wilco's tour manager comes down and instructs a security guard to tell them they aren't allowed to take any more phone videos.

Maybe it was just the kind of night for awkward audience interactions. A song before all of that happened, Jeff made one of his only real visits to Banter Corner when he apparently misheard another audience's members request for If I Ever Was A Child. "Are you telling me to fucking smile?" Jeff asked, seemingly out of nowhere and in typical deadpan Jeff fashion. "I've been smiling all night. This is my smile." When he was informed it was actually a song request, he pivoted to jokingly chiding the audience member for not following the proper protocol for song requests as required by upper management.

The only other real visit to Banter Corner came near the end of the main set, after the rollicking Meant To Be, when Jeff quipped that people would be asking for that song — eventually. "You'll want to hear it in two years," he said of the closing track from Cousin. "We should be playing Ode To Joy songs right now." Whatever challenges he might have faced with the audience tonight — and really, it was just the one disruptive moment — nevertheless, Jeff persisted. Whereas such an episode might have thrown him off at one point in his career, Jeff handled it about as well as one could tonight and that enabled he and his bandmates to not only present the show they wanted to present, but also to make a it a fun one for the vast majority of those in attendance.

Here was the complete setlist, as played, for Night 2 at the Bellwether (a brief glance at the printed list revealed that At Least That's What You Said and Falling Apart (Right Now) were the planned first two songs of the encore, but neither were played):

Infinite Surprise

Handshake Drugs

Pittsburgh

I Am My Mother

Cruel Country

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

One Wing

Cousin

Hummingbird

Sunlight Ends

Whole Love

Impossible Germany

Jesus, etc.

Evicted

Via Chicago>

Many Worlds (coda only)

California Stars

Box Full Of Letters

Meant To Be

Heavy Metal Drummer

A Shot In The Arm

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

Spiders (Kidsmoke)

15 hours ago, chaslor said:

For anyone sitting on the fence, here's a Solid recap of photos from 2010, 2011 and 2022. Gallery limitations forced me to break into two galleries. Enjoy, please let me know what you think...

 

https://www.charlesharris.photography/solidsound

 

https://www.charlesharris.photography/solidsound2

What a trip down memory lane! Great stuff. And hey, I spotted the bböp...um, er...

Well, it's nice to be (mostly) back on the Wilco Express for the remainder of this current U.S. tour. So what'd I miss while I was gone? Oh, I see that the band has set up camp in Los Angeles whilst busily promoting its new record, Cousin. Three full-length performances at the venerable Theatre At Ace Hotel, plus a national TV talk show appearance, a semi-secret, semi-private set for bigwigs of a certain local radio station, an autograph signing at a record store, a weekend festival appearance. Heck, maybe the band should randomly sign up for an open mic at a local bar and play some music for whoever happens to be around. Uh...

With all due respect to those varied settings, I'd venture to say that the most anticipated part of Wilco week(s) in L.A. — at least judging by the number of familiar fan faces that turned out — was this date at the new Bellwether venue adjacent to downtown. A general admission show in a relatively intimate 1,600-capacity ballroom? Yes, please. You can't take those for granted anymore, certainly not in the good ol' US of A. So it wasn't a big surprise, then, that this one sold out pretty quickly and eventually led to the addition of a second night.

For its part, the Bellwether largely delivered on its promise. It featured a nice-sized room with relatively good sight lines all around and a wide, but not-too-high, stage as well as a balcony that ringed the dance floor. I guess it kind of reminded me of a more intimate version of the Palladium in Hollywood or something like that. However, I must give it at least one very strong demerit for screwing over those folks who had waited in line for several hours by pulling that classic venue stunt of opening up its bar/restaurant in advance of the doors and encouraging people to go in there and then letting all of those people into the music room before those who had waited in line and chosen not to go into the bar/restaurant.

It would be one thing if they had said they were going to open the doors from the bar/restaurant first, but they were at best vague about it. I've seen this happen at a number of other venues, and it's just never cool. That's why a venue like the Fillmore in San Francisco always will be superior in my book because the folks who run that place don't pull shenanigans like this. In the end, I hope everyone who had waited a while in the "regular" line got an OK spot, but it definitely was a bit of a shitshow, IMHO.

Anyway, as for the show itself, I enjoyed the mix of Cousin tunes and older material. Even though we didn't get a single song off A.M. or Being There tonight, which I noticed is a consequence when the setlist goes a certain way lately, it does seem like the band is continuing to gradually expand its repertoire as the tour goes along. Tonight, for example, we got an unexpected At Least That's What You Said to kick off the encore, as well as Muzzle Of Bees early on. And building upon the final night at the Ace, when the full band played such staples as I'm The Man Who Loves You and Theologians for the first time in months, we got those two again on Night 1 at the Bellwether.

At one point, Jeff asked if anybody was coming back the following night (as he often does on the first night of a multi-night stand). When there was a smattering of applause in response, he briefly got an impish look on his face and joked, "Good, we can play the same set then. That's just what we want. These are the songs we like." Then he relented a bit and assured the crowd that the band would play a few different songs on Night 2. On a personal note, here's hoping we get a few of the Cousin tunes I've yet to hear live such as Levee and Sunlight Ends or even the as-yet unperformed A Bowl And A Pudding.

Banter Corner wasn't especially busy on this evening, I would say. Jeff's best line might have come at the expense of poor Nels, whose black shirt with a square pocket on the front could be viewed as resembling a garment one might wear to bed. After Impossible Germany, which featured a methodical, mesmerizing solo by the guitarist, and the audience's usual round of appreciative applause, Jeff couldn't help but take the piss, as it were, by quipping that Nels "didn't even get out of his pajamas today." Jeff also briefly responded to what I presume has been some of the critical response to Cousin by introducing Random Name Generator as being a song from the album Star Wars and joking about how it sure sounded like the "same thing we put out on every record...a delicate acoustic number. It's a delight."

But for the most part, Jeff and his bandmates let their music do most of the talking. They seemed to be having fun up there throughout, even though they've been road warriors for the better part of eight straight weeks now. One example of this came when Jeff began strumming the introductory chords to California Stars but had to wait to fully start the song while a minor issue with Nels' gear was sorted out. The rest of the band picked up on the groove and what ended up happening was an entertaining 20 or 30 seconds of an almost-Hawaiian sounding instrumental version of the song. It would have been great if they had just continued in that vein for the duration, but alas, we morphed back into plain old Cali Stars soon enough. And yet it was just that kind of night, by and large, with the band doing what it does best in front of some of its best appreciators.

"It's been fun playing music for you," Jeff said in his final comments to the crowd before delicately making his way off stage one final time. "This is what makes it all worthwhile."

Here was the complete setlist, as played, for Night 1 at the Bellwether (didn't glimpse a printed list, so can't say if there were any changes/omissions, though it didn't seem like it):

Pittsburgh

Infinite Surprise

Muzzle Of Bees

I Am My Mother

Cruel Country

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

If I Ever Was A Child

Soldier Child

Theologians

Cousin

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

Hummingbird

Evicted

Impossible Germany

Love Is Everywhere (Beware)

The Late Greats

Random Name Generator

Heavy Metal Drummer>

I'm The Man Who Loves You

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

At Least That's What You Said

Falling Apart (Right Now)

California Stars

A Shot In The Arm

On 10/9/2023 at 11:16 PM, Brian F. said:

This was an invitation-only gig for local public-radio station KCRW in Santa Monica. The 54-minute set was:

 

Pittsburgh

Infinite Surprise

Handshake Drugs

I Am My Mother

Cruel Country

Sunlight Ends

Soldier Child

Evicted

Bird without a Tail/Base of My Skull

Meant to Be

 

The set was preceded by a hilariously awkward ten-minute conversation between Jeff and Anthony Valadez of KCRW. Anthony: "So I understand something particularly special happened in Dallas on September 27. Tell us about that." Jeff: Confused stare. Anthony leans over and whispers something in Jeff's ear. Jeff: "Oh, yeah, the open-mic thing. Yeah, Glenn signed us up at an open-mic night, and most of us were around so we did it." Next question: "You've just released your thirteenth album, and it has a unique feature among the Wilco catalog. Can you talk about that?" Jeff: Confused stare. Anthony whispers in Jeff's ear again. Jeff: "Oh, yes, it was produced by Cate LeBon." Anthony: "I understand her dad is a big Wilco fan." Jeff: "Apparently, yes." Ultimately, the highlight of this conversation was a thoughtful answer Jeff gave to a question about whether or not Wilco should be in the world in these crazy mixed-up times. (His answer: yes, but expressed more poetically than that.)

Thanks for the setlists and report(s) all week, especially at a private gig like this from which we don’t always get good details.

That interview sounds like it was super awkward, indeed. From your description of it, it seems like Jeff and the interviewer were just on different wavelengths, or was it that Jeff just seemed distracted? I can’t really imagine what he and Susie are going through with the situation in Israel and Sammy being over there. Perhaps that question about Wilco’s role in these crazy times brought things more into focus…

Wot? This post has been up for 17 minutes and Tatlock hasn’t responded? For shame…tut tut.

Decided I would just start this thread up as a way of letting people know that I wasn’t at this show (and unfortunately won’t be at the next two either), so don’t wait to jump in with your thoughts/comments/etc.

I’m sure the good folks at Wilcoworld will have a setlist posted fairly expeditiously, since they’re just so darned efficient these days…and there it finally is. Can’t say if any changes/omissions obviously, but Night 1 at the Ace apparently went as follows:

Pittsburgh

Infinite Surprise

Handshake Drugs

I Am My Mother

Cruel Country

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

Soldier Child

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

Hummingbird

Cousin

Misunderstood

Impossible Germany

Love Is Everywhere (Beware)

Jesus, etc.

Evicted

Box Full Of Letters

Meant To Be

The Late Greats

Heavy Metal Drummer

A Shot In The Arm

———————————————————

California Stars

Spiders (Kidsmoke)

While the name of the Scottsdale Civic Center East Bowl, a new outdoor music venue here next to the Civic Center Library, is more than a tad clunky, I guess its origin story is halfway decent — at least as it pertains to Wilco. Apparently the Texas firm that designed the space digitally inserted Wilco into their plans and renderings of the venue as the representative band performing in it. And the members of that firm were in attendance tonight — along with a number of other prominent Scottsdalians — when fantasy became reality as Jeff and his bandmates inaugurated the East Bowl with a solid two-hour set under Arizona stars.

"Is everybody having a good time?" Jeff asked about halfway through the show. "What a night, what an amazing place...look at this place. We were told that when they designed this place, they Photoshopped us in as a way to manifest us (playing here). It's an honor to be the first band to play here."

Certainly it was a lovely evening, weather-wise, and a pretty decent crowd overall, despite there apparently being a couple of other big concerts simultaneously taking place in the Phoenix metro area (notably, the Postal Service/Death Cab For Cutie show at Arizona Financial Theatre and Foo Fighters/The Breeders at Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre), which Jeff acknowledged on a couple of occasions, including early on when he thanked attendees for "flying with Wilco."

The East Bowl isn't a perfect venue for a rock 'n' roll show, at least the way it was configured for this inaugural performance. It's essentially a bandshell with a little brick terrace in front of it reserved for disabled folks and separated by a dainty white plastic rope from a lawn that gently slopes upward. I think the idea is to have people bring their lawn chairs and blankets and set up on the small hill that overlooks the stage, which obviously can work well for certain shows but which I (and others) worried might suck some of the energy out of the show. Fortunately, at least half of the crowd stood up once Wilco took the stage and there didn't seem to be the types of standing up vs. sitting down tensions that can be such a drag at venues like this.

Obviously the highlights, at least for those of us who have seen more than a few shows over the years, continued to be the songs from Cousin. After seeing the first show of the tour a few days earlier, I was personally delighted to get to hear a few more songs live for the first time and half the record overall. I'm more convinced than ever that Meant To Be will be a set closer at some point, or at least I think it should be. It's definitely one of my favorites of the new songs, with its bright melody and galloping rhythm, as is Soldier Child with Jeff playing what looked like a hollow-body guitar of some sort and taking the solo .

A few of us were speculating beforehand whether we might get an apropos Hotel Arizona, but alas that bit of pandering was not to be, nor was Jeff apparently in a mood to change California Stars to Arizona Stars as he has done with at least one other state and could easily have done to gain favor with this audience. I think he does have a soft spot for this area, though, having spent a bit of time here as a kid and with his sister Debbie now living here full time.

Jeff had a bit of fun at his sister's expense during the show, mentioning before the song Cousin how she was in attendance and that "she has an area" in the audience with some other family and friends, including at least one cousin (who Jeff made clear the song was not about). Later on in the show when he was comparing one side of the audience that was standing to the other side, which largely remained seated, Jeff jokingly noted that his sister was on the seated side, "so it can't be that cool." Debbie must have verbally protested, and Jeff said that he could hear her. It was a funny little moment, though I don't know how many people noticed.

I wonder if it was due to the presence of his sister that Jeff had a few lyric stumbles/flubs over the course of the show. Interestingly, they didn't come on any of the Cousin material, but on songs like Jesus, etc., that he has sung hundreds of times. I suppose that's the way it usually goes, though. In any case, I've seen much worse from Jeff and whether it was because he had such a personal connection to the audience or because of his hip pain (which he continues to struggle with, especially coming on and off stage) or just the day-to-day grind of touring, he mostly shrugged them off.

Ultimately, this was a perfectly fine show that allowed the band to showcase a decent amount of its new material and continue refining the live versions of those songs. Will this performance go down in history as an especially memorable one, even as far as Arizona Wilco shows go? Probably not. But it was still a nice night — shoutout to excellent fill-in correspondent nalafej, with whom it was a pleasure to finally chat with more than in passing — and I'm glad I amended my plans in order to attend.

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

Infinite Surprise

Handshake Drugs

I Am My Mother

Cruel Country

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

Soldier Child

Side With The Seeds

Hummingbird

Misunderstood

Cousin

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

Impossible Germany

Evicted

Jesus, etc.

The Late Greats

Meant To Be

Heavy Metal Drummer

A Shot In The Arm

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

Falling Apart (Right Now)

California Stars

Spiders (Kidsmoke)

On 10/1/2023 at 10:17 PM, nalafej said:

A Sunday night gig held within the confines of a convention center where the bar was down the hall in a conference room didn’t seem like the recipe for a great Wilco show based on my seasoned Wilco show going experience - but I was happily very very wrong. 

Wilco took the stage promptly at 8:30 and left the stage after the encore at 10:30. The audience took 3 songs to warm up and catch up to the excellence that the band was putting forward on stage, but once that happened, it just clicked. 
 

The highlights for me were the new songs and the pleasure of seeing who is playing which parts and with what instruments. Lots to take in on that front given the Cousin song count. The title track was a particular highlight- high intensity on that one. Meant to Be features Jeff and Pat on 12 string guitars. 
 

It was great to be part of the huge organic cheer for ‘the great southwest’ line in Hummingbird. Not a lot of banter from the stage and Jeff sort of indicated that was because they had as lot of music to play but he did acknowledge a delightfully engaging group of a dozen 20 something’s as they came back for the encore asking if they were in a band and agreeing with security’s decision to not let them storm the stage. Something to the effect of ‘you are great right there!’  A request for ‘Jane Smiley’ was denied with Jeff’s stated rationale being that we’d already experienced enough slow tunes and that wasn’t the right move for this crowd. 

 

To that point, this setlist really really worked. It’s a little sad to me that the band skips a 15 year period of their catalog but honestly that’s what I want them to do and I’m positive that I’m not alone. 
 

Pittsburgh was not on the setlist. Spiders was as the final song but got swapped out for the rock song encore!

 

Pittsburgh

Infinite Surprise 

Handshake Drugs

I Am My Mother

Cruel Country

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart 

Kamera

Soldier Child

Side With The Seeds

Hummingbird

Cousin

Bird Without A Tail / Base Of My Skull

Meant To Be

Via Chicago

Impossible Germany

Evicted

Box Full Of Letters

Jesus, Etc

Heavy Metal Drummer

A Shot In The Arm

 

Falling Apart (Right Now)

California Stars

Monday

Outtasite (Outta Mind)

 

Very nice report! Thank you sir, and glad you got to knock New Mexico off the list. You sure you don’t wanna take over full time?

As for the evolving Cousin setlist, I’m looking forward to hearing Infinite Surprise and Meant To Be live. I’m a little surprised they’re not closing the main set with the latter. I know Shot is tough to top as a closer, but I think it would be cool at some point to have Meant To Be end the regular set with a nice gallop off stage…

Cool that they audibled to Monday>Outtasite to end, as well. Monday on Monday…it has to happen, right?

Once again, I wasn't able to make this one in person so consider this just a jumping-off point for the many folks who I know were there. Chime in! Please?

Thanks to a source, who sent me a photo of the printed setlist and notes on amendments, at least I can post that info here to get things started. So here was the complete setlist, as played, at South Side Ballroom aka the Palladium aka Gilley's (Monday and Outtasite (Outta Mind) were listed as the final two songs of the encore, but were replaced by Spiders — which had been on the printed list as the penultimate song of the main set. Via Chicago was also on the printed list as the third-to-last song of the main set, just before Spiders, but apparently wasn't played):

Infinite Surprise

Ten Dead

Handshake Drugs

I Am My Mother

Cruel Country

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

Cousin

Side With The Seeds

Hummingbird

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

Pittsburgh

Misunderstood

Evicted

Impossible Germany

Jesus, etc.

The Late Greats

Heavy Metal Drummer

A Shot In The Arm

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

Falling Apart (Right Now)

California Stars

Spiders (Kidsmoke)

Just doing the requisite housekeeping on this one, since I wasn't there (but boy, how I would have loved to have been). On the off night before their scheduled gig in Dallas the following evening, apparently most of the band decided on a whim to play a set at a local bar's open mic night. According to a report on setlist.fm and confirmed by the good folks at Wilcoworld, Pat was not present.

Anyway, it's nice to know that Wilco can still do random stuff like this from time to time. Perhaps it was because it's release week for Cousin and all sorts of hijinks are on the table — although if it had anything to do with the album release, you figured they would have played at least one song from it.

As it was, if the setlist is accurate, it more closely resembled the twangy, intimate sets they have done at small venues like Carol's Pub in Chicago or the Ingólfsskáli Veitingahús (Viking) hall in Iceland over the past year. The one mystery from the setlist.fm report was that the band also played on an unknown song as the backing band for another performer, but whether or not we ever get any more details on that, here was the complete setlist for what Wilcoworld is calling a "Glenn Kotche and friends impromptu open mic set" (and a sincere hat tip to whoever made it down there to take it down):

Far, Far Away

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

Hate It Here

Too Far Apart

Passenger Side

It's Just That Simple

A Lifetime To Find

New Madrid

She's My Rock [Stoney Edwards]

Forget The Flowers

Give Back The Key To My Heart [Doug Sahm]

After an all-too-short break following a month-long European tour, Wilco are back on American soil, back on the road again and back to business as the summer of 2023 turns into autumn. But although they might be back in this cruel country (wink, wink), the band reached another inflection point in its touring history with tonight's tour kickoff show in Tulsa — if the drumhead on Glenn's kick drum featuring the flower artwork of Azuma Makoto was any indication. In other words, let the Cousin era begin.

OK, OK...so maybe the first show of said era didn't really look all that different than the last run of shows in the Cruel Country epoch with the exception of a couple more songs from the forthcoming record being added. But I expect that the set will become increasingly Cousin-heavy, perhaps as early as two shows from now in Austin on Friday, the day the album officially comes out. In the meantime, those of us at the venerable Cain's Ballroom had to be content with the full-band live debuts of two more songs from Cousin — the plaintive show-opening Pittsburgh as well as the title track — in addition to Evicted, which the band has been performing live for about a month now.

More to come...

For now, here was the complete setlist as played in Tulsa (in terms of changes/omissions from the printed list, Impossible Germany was not on it but was played, while Cousin track Soldier Child was — between California Stars and The Late Greats — but wasn't played):

Pittsburgh

Handshake Drugs

I Am My Mother

Cruel Country

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart>

Kamera

Side With The Seeds

Hummingbird

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

Cousin

Misunderstood

Evicted

Impossible Germany

Jesus, etc.

California Stars

The Late Greats

Heavy Metal Drummer

A Shot In The Arm

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

Falling Apart (Right Now)

Via Chicago>

Spiders (Kidsmoke)

9 hours ago, Albert Tatlock said:

Thank you. From Lake Akan to Ibusuki (plus the two sets of islands I mentioned last time). Overall just about our favourite country!

 

I shall look for Tatlock and Jim O'Rourke to be living side by side in the remote Japanese countryside in, say, three years time...