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Given the slightly off-kilter setting for this show — a genuine, tried-and-true collegiate-style lecture hall — it would be easy to make a crack about how "Professor Tweedy" riveted the crowd with both his oratory and guitar skills and put on a clinic for solo acoustic performance. So I'll restrain myself from that and just suggest that if Jeff was to one day do a TED Talk of some sort, it would probably become the most successful thing he's ever done. When one audience member took the opportunity to ask the natural question — "Where's your PowerPoint?" — Jeff joked that he left it on the bu

Hello!!! Didn't think you frequented these parts anymore...

At least you don’t have to buy anything to get in...

And what would that be, a couple of Mooseheads, some poutine and an apology? I haven't heard anything about fall tour dates yet, but assuming the next Wilco record comes out this summer or fall, as has been rumored, I would assume there will be at least some touring in the U.S. and Canada in October or November.

Someone will probably have to confirm this for me, because I wasn't blessed with a particularly great seat at the anachronistic Queen Elizabeth Theatre, but did Jeff duck out of the building a little early last night and onto the idling tour bus he joked about? Or at least his spirit? Because I thought I had gone to a Jeff Tweedy show only to watch a Neil Young concert break out... I kid, of course, because although Jeff played not one, but two, songs by the Canadian legend, he did so in an unmistakably Tweedyian attempt at connecting with an audience that to that point had decidedly not emb

If that's the case, there will be some more disturbances forthcoming in the next week. Hopefully someone (or someones) will help with reports from Boston and New York. I assume in those two hotbeds, there won't be any shortage of potential correspondents...

Thanks, and sorry to leave things half-finished there! I was in transit this morning and didn't really have a chance to finished writing my post until just now.

What do you get when you combine, among other things, a couple of guitars that stubbornly refuse to stay in tune, a female admirer who doesn't know when to shut up and a very Midwestern Monday night audience? Happy (or perhaps more accurately, not-so-happy) April Fool's Day, Jeff! Turns out that all of the factors that amounted to a de facto pranking of Jeff didn't seem to make him very comfortable on stage and that, in turn, didn't make for one of his better outings on this recent run of solo performances in support of Warm and the soon-to-be released Warmer. Not that the show started on an

Wasn't able to make it to the kickoff show of this second leg of USA Warm touring, but fortunately "Wilco" posted the setlist on their Facebook and on Wilcoworld. Which I shall now cross-post here, to the interest of few... Via Chicago
 Remember the Mountain Bed
 Bombs Above
 Some Birds
 I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
 Radio King New Madrid You And I The Ruling Class Hummingbird 
Family Ghost Guaranteed Impossible Germany 
I Know What It's Like Let’s Go Rain Having Been Is No Way To Be Jesus, etc. Heavy Metal Drummer Passenger Side Don’t Forget I’m The Man Who Loves You --------------------

Wow, hard to believe Jeff ever had short hair (even though I saw him when he did). Thanks for sharing!

Apologies. And anything by Graham Gouldman is worth a listen, IMHO, though I don’t think you’ll sway Mrs. T from her tune.

Well put, Vince. I tried to write about that a little bit in my report from Night 1 (available now...haha!). But I think what you wrote is definitely more than right on.

Fwiw, I finally filed my full report from Night 1 above. Seems like old news now, but I would've felt guilty to have written about only the second night and not the first. Carry on...

Oh, interesting. Didn’t realize (or had forgotten) that JA had opened for Wilco. You should definitely try to get to the Orange Peel someday! And thanks for reading, man. And everyone.

Sick Server is a track off Warmer (see full report above). And I think a lot of people did request YHF songs that ended up being played, but Jeff definitely said he had added Kamera and Jesus, etc., himself.

These annual benefit shows have been happening for so long now that it's hard to imagine that most people don't know what to expect from Jeff when they come to one, even though he always issues a disclaimer near the top of his set warning any newcomers that that they are in for a grind because the majority of the songs he will play have been chosen by a "group of freaks" who wait in line all day. It's a tried-and-true formula for "a long and boring show," which probably secretly delights most serious fans. "And it's for charity, so fuck you," Jeff said, half-jokingly. “(The people who choose

While I haven't really researched it, I'm fairly certain that Jeff's annual benefit shows at the Vic this year were the first — or at least the first in a long time — to take place on the heels of an actual solo tour. Often Jeff is coming off a relatively long layoff from performing solo acoustic and it usually affects the first show most of all, especially when you consider that he gets the requests for the 30 songs on the setlist just a few hours before showtime. This year, in addition to being in the routine of playing solo acoustic shows after a three-week trek through the Midwest and Sou

Malleable even (though ductile is clearly the better word).

There was a very good reason for that, as I shall attempt to address right now.

After all these years of playing solo acoustic shows, how is it possible that this was Jeff’s first such gig in Indianapolis? This is a city just three hours' drive to the south of Chicago, one that Wilco has visited many times over the years and that boasts a relatively vibrant music scene. It's a bit of a puzzle, at least to this scribe, but the locals confirmed it. And what a fine performance Indy got on a night when you might have forgiven Jeff for being a little tired and ready to get home after a long run of Warm shows. I suppose we can chalk it up to a bit of beginner's luck? Certainl

Thanks for picking up in my stead, VInce. Want to take over full time? Sounds like it was a good 'un. Glad you guys got to hear White Wooden Cross. I was looking at the Warmer song titles and couldn't figure out what it would be among the ones we don't know, but it could be (probably is) completely out of left field. Anyway, guess we'll find out soon enough. And thanks for reporting from the Grimey's set as well. I meant to note that chintzy-sounding Barclay guitar he used the other day in Orlando as well, but forgot. How were the Nashvillians (Nashvegians?) in terms of singing along?

Cool, thanks! Nice that you got From Far Away. Maybe only the third time he’s played that one live...

Don't remind me. Three encores!

Let me know if you've heard this one before: A slightly rumpled singer-songwriter with just an acoustic guitar and a couple of microphones walks into a bar...and ends up plugging in. Not long into his set at the iconic Orange Peel, Jeff relented to the vibe in the room (and at least one call to "Turn it up!") and did something he rarely does when performing solo these days — that is, reached down, picked up a cable and attached himself to the PA system. "Stan, I plugged in," Jeff said after Some Birds, alerting his longtime front-of-house engineer to the fact. "Because these animals can't ha

Maybe? Maybe not! (Haha. Anyway, for the record, I did just file my full report for this show above, with a few more details about this new song. Better late than never, right? )