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On the bus home from Copenhagen’s Den Grå Hal, I overheard a local (who was presumably also writing about the show since he already had his latop open on his lap with a screen that had “Review” in big letters at the top — which, ahem, is way more dedicated than your friendly slacker VC correspondent) tell someone that he really enjoyed the concert and “if not for the technical problem, I would have given it the top mark.” Oh, if he could only have known how that technical problem — and I’m assuming he meant the botched start to Box Full Of Letters, which the band had to start and restart twi

Most definitely, most definitely. Welfare!

Dear Mr Lotti, Though it is most difficult to decline sweet treat in Daneland, I have succeeded to this point and landed safely on cobblestone ground of København, where I also renewed slumber patterns. Therefore Norseland report has at last been completed...not very well, I must admit, but it is something. Welfare!

Considering that Wilco will play its first shows ever in Mexico next year and that it still hasn't played a full-band show in Hawaii, for example, it might surprise some to learn just how regularly Jeff and/or the band have played in Oslo over the years. Almost since the band's inception in the mid-1990s, it has played various rooms and festivals in the Norwegian capital. Many of those have taken place at the Sentrum Scene, a venerable rock club a short walk from the central train station, that hosted Wilco in 2010 and 2012 and now 2019 as well as the Tweedy band in 2014 and Jeff solo in 2018.

Yeah, I was there for that show. Knew the lyrics sounded familiar, so thanks for the reminder. Jeff also took at least a fragment of lyrics from a work-in-progress that he randomly played once at a solo show in Spokane last year and seems to have incorporated them into An Empty Corner: “The silver black boot/That cracked my front tooth/Is a new kind of truth/I’m getting used to.” Just another random little thing that only the truly nerdy would care about, probably.

I use it in the context of 'blathering idiot," which is what I am half the time.

[Once again, thread parking until I get a chance to do some more substantial blathering...but we're now up to eight Ode To Joy songs played! OK, commencing blather...] With each day seemingly bringing a new song, you could argue that these days leading up to the release of a new album are among the most exciting times to be a fan of a band. And especially to have the opportunity to see the members of said band perform those new songs night in and night out as they get more and more comfortable with the material is something I don’t take for granted. So it was in Bergen tonight that Wilco a

Also forgot to mention that Jeff thanked Spiral Stairs for opening, both in Trondheim and in Stavanger. Tonight Jeff said he has “been friends with that guy for a long time, and it’s nice to be out on the road with him again.” Spiral’s post-Pavement, pre-solo band Preston School of Industry supported Wilco for a run of shows way back in 2002 on the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot tour. Anyway, on this run, Spiral is playing as a stripped-down duo act with an electric guitarist but it has been fun to see him again. And he has even sprinkled in a Pavement song or two (Two States, Painted Soldiers) and

With one Ode To Joy show and an early off day behind them, Wilco and crew played the second of four Norwegian shows at the Stavanger Konserthus (which was about as far removed from the venue in Trondheim as that city is from Stavanger — which, if you’re not up on your Fjordland geography, is far). The Konserthus is a gleaming performing arts center located on the Stavanger harbor with a couple of different rooms, the smaller of which (Zetlitz) was where the band performed to a crowd that felt relatively sparse but I couldn’t say for certain. Not to say that the show was uptight by any means,

You beat me to it, Lotti! Pure bathing culture, indeed.

Yep, thanks for pointing that out. I noted the same thing to myself at the time (and also included that fact in my tardy, but finally completed, recap above). Thanks for reading!

I will write something, dammit!

P.S. I met another Vincenzo!

Well, what else can I say about this tour kickoff show in the picturesque city of Trondheim, Norway, except that I think it might have been the second-furthest north that Wilco has ever played — trailing only Fairbanks, Alaska, where the band performed just over a decade ago and which is just a hair further north than Trondheim by latitude, according to good old Google. What, you thought I was going to lead with the dawn of the Ode To Joy era? Oh, OK, I guess there was also that small matter of a new album on the horizon and the introduction and incorporation of a new batch of songs into the

I will go ahead and call them “Amerikanske rocklegender” when I see them...

No, we wouldn’t have been together at the stage that night. I hadn’t reached peak psycho, early freakdom yet, so as I recall I was somewhere in the front half of the floor. I think I may have gone with a work friend of mine who I bonded with over music and the Jayhawks in particular. He ended up fairly quickly settling down and getting married and having a bunch of kids and, well, I went down a different road...

Thanks for the quick update/report! Sounds like it was fun time. Seems like Jeff’s set was a bit short, though, even for a festival. I don’t know, maybe not. At least he got a nice melon out of the trip! Glad he’s continuing to play Plateau. Seems an appropriate cover, especially for the Seattle area. Who was Novoselic there with?

Thanks for the quick update/report! Sounds like it was fun time.

It’s also in the middle of nowhere, and there’s a homeless shelter in the same building! I don’t get why Toronto doesn’t have a more suitable theater venue than this, or is it because Live Nation owns it so they get certain bookings almost by default?

Well, in that case, you’d probably need the Neko Case/Kelly Hogan duo, no?

He definitely played IG because I was listening to the live stream, but they cut off the last few songs to cut over to Dawes so would be nice to see the complete list. Also, Jeff apparently made a cameo at Mavis’ aftershow at the (I think) Pickens. Anybody make it to that one/know what they played together?

I was kind of on the fence about it, but I could only make it for Sunday and the one-day tickets were long sold out so unfortunately I probably won’t make it at this point. But yeah, a setlist and report would be great. Looks like a beautiful part of the world...have fun!

No encore? That’s too bad. Cool that he did Plateau again, though! Thanks for the report.

Wasn't sure where to put this, but this seemed like as good a place as any... Sounds like a fun show to have been at. Wonder if anyone on here was in attendance (I'll bet solace was, though I don't think he frequents these parts much anymore). But anyway, I didn't even realize this show had happened until I stumbled on the article about it today. I guess Jeff has pretty much moved past GS these days, but it's nice to hear that the other guys seem to still find a way to play together every few years, even with Dan Murphy technically having "retired" from music.

Just gotta give a shout out for my first show!