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Thanks a lot for reading. I’m glad that someone other than my loyal British Isles readers is getting something out of my blatherings.

Ah, the enduring mysteries of a Jeff Tweedy solo show. How does he never (or almost never) drink anything on stage and yet his voice remains unaffected? What’s going through his head at any given point in time? Does requesting songs, via Wilco’s Web site or shouting them out, even make any difference? Perhaps questions like these are better left unanswered. Or perhaps they’re just unanswerable, even by Jeff himself. Why, to cite another example, did Jeff suddenly play the Summerteeth rarity Candyfloss of all songs when he was in the middle of a run of several singalongs — Let’s Go Rain, Pass

All things considered, I suppose it was appropriate that the 'P' word — as in, professional — came up fairly early on in Jeff's set tonight. An audience member was trying to pay Jeff a compliment, I think, during his first significant remarks of the evening when after playing Having Been Is No Way To Be off the forthcoming WARM, he told the crowd that he had spent the summer playing somewhat depressing songs like that at outdoor festivals where he often was scheduled to follow upbeat sets by bands that would tell the crowd that everything was going to be all right. "Some things are gonna be

Maybe it's a bit of recency bias on my part, but what I've witnessed over the past few days has convinced me that there are basically two types of audiences when it comes to Jeff's solo shows and it comes down to the venue. In mostly general admission standing room, bar-type settings, crowds are engaged, loud and occasionally shameless, while in reserved-seat darkened theaters, they are generally attentive, anonymous and somewhat detached. (The exception to this theory, of course, being Spokane.) The thing is, as I've often maintained, you'd like to have a bit of both in order to have a trul

That guy actually did an OK job! Thanks for digging that up, Michael, to placate the masses. My full account of the Spokane show is now posted above. Sorry for the delays, faithful readers. To be completely honest, I was trying to finish writing earlier this morning but then like most everyone, I got caught up in watching Dr. Blasey Ford's testimony, started feeling a little sheepish about writing about something so trivial as a show recap when such important stuff was going on and then didn't get a chance to finish before I had to leave to go catch my flight. Obviously I didn't want to post a

Don’t worry, there’s no way it’ll live up to the hype.

It’s nothing like Jeff had a fit and stormed off stage or anything like that. It takes some time to write these damn things, and transit and internet connections that don’t care! Apparently only people in the British Isles (which are like 10 hours ahead of where we are now) even bother to read these things...✌️

Well, that was something. I usually say that about at least one show on a given tour, and this might be the one. After a pair of shows in Montana in which he had to deal with audiences that were alternatively rowdy and sedate, Jeff took the stage at the lovely Bing Crosby Theater in Spokane and encountered a crowd that was, I don't know...confusing? And he reacted in some unforeseen (at least by me) ways. Let me preface this by saying that even though I've been fortunate to have seen Jeff perform solo numerous times, I never feel like I truly can relate to how he must feel out there, alone i

Also played in North Carolina on 20 April 2018, fwiw.

They are not selling WARM at the merch stall, presumably because the physical editions aren't ready yet. Its release date isn't until late November, I think, so still a bit far off. And yes, there has been a song played with the chorus including Drawing From Memory. I don't have notes from shows I attended where that was played in front of me, so can't say if it's called something else or just didn't make the cut for this record. He's also been playing a song presumably called Evergreen that I'm fairly confident won't be on WARM. Also, Family Ghost which may or may not be called something el

A very good friend of mine (who, incidentally, happens to be an old-school VCer) used to play music at a regular Tuesday night gig in Manhattan and was fond of telling audiences that "a Tuesday night in New York City is better than a Saturday night anywhere else." If the latest stop on Jeff's fall solo tour tonight was any indication of a Tuesday night in Missoula, well, I guess a Tuesday night in Missoula is more or less what you might expect it to be — that is to say, friendly and pleasant but perhaps a touch subdued. Perhaps that had something to do with the setting, a darkened theater wi

"Half of it's you, half is me," or so a certain songwriter once posited, and perhaps there wasn't a better recent example of that mantra than Jeff's show in Bozeman last night. It might be the case that you had to be there, but on the day that his first proper solo album was officially announced, Jeff had one of those shows where he seemed like he was a little bit distracted and not necessarily in the mood to perform — and much of the audience seemed almost just as eager to interact with him as to hear him play music. That makes it sound like it was a trainwreck of a show, but I should prefa

Only one eagled-eyed Welshman I know of on here...

Thanks for taking a stab at it, and for sticking to the titling convention! It’s much appreciated. Indeed, I had to unfortunately miss last night’s show. It won’t happen again (hopefully) this tour, so thanks for picking me up. Sounds like you probably got most of it right as far as the order. Cool that you guys got Simple Twist!

FYI, I did finally add a short recap for this show (lest certain eagle-eyed readers think I didn't keep my promise to return to it).

I'm a little bit jealous. That would've been fun to see. Apparently they're doing it the next couple nights in Berkeley as well...

One observation I can offer having just seen several of Jeff's recent solo shows in Europe is that no matter if Jeff has played in a city before or is playing there for the first time, there remains a certain level of formality between artist and audience. For better or worse, when he takes the stage, he is typically afforded the courtesy of performing the songs he wants to perform, addressing the crowd when he is ready to and so forth. It's relatively rare (and usually an indication of the presence of Americans) that requests would be shouted and conversations would be attempted, at least fro

[starting a new thread for this show because — well, frankly — I'd like to start this tour off by adhering to the titling protocol. Anyway, that was a very fun way to kick off Jeff's final tour of the year! So many familiar faces that it almost felt like a living-room show (or perhaps that was just my personal perspective of Jeff). Anyway, I will write some more in the morning when I have a better chance of being at least somewhat coherent...] There's that old saying that "familiarity breeds contempt," but in the case of Jeff's first show of a fall solo tour that will see him head west ov

The Sadies actually did the score for the film, I forgot to mention. It was made by Ron Mann, who is apparently a well-known figure in the local Toronto film community, so there's definitely a Canadian tie-in there.

Randomly I happened to be able to catch a screening of this today at the Toronto International Film Festival, and it was an interesting look at both a small business and at the changing nature of Greenwich Village in New York. It was cool to see the way the owner and luthier of Carmine Street Guitars, Rick Kelly, salvaged wood from various NYC buildings and bars to use for his creations. But the bulk of the film just sort of felt like hanging in the shop and listening to various musicians come in and talk about this and that with Kelly and/or his apprentice Cindy Hulej. That could be somewhat

I haven't seen this posted about anywhere on here, but I guess it fits into a reissue thread. Apparently Nonesuch is putting out a picture disc version of Wilco (The Album) relatively soon for some reason? I know it's not the news of Summerteeth deluxe reissue that most are hoping for, but I guess Wilco vinyl completists will be interested at least. Apparently due out in a few weeks or November, depending on who you order from/believe... Here are some links to (pre)order: https://www.amazon.com/Wilco-album-Picture-Disc/dp/B07G1YC4GV https://www.musicdirect.com/vinyl/Wilco-Wilco-(The-Albu

I can grab one for you and bring it over, if you’re really keen...

Oh, Oslo...will you be destined to go down with places like Iowa City and Edinburgh — at least in my mind — when it comes to a single audience member nearly derailing the show? Well, that's probably a bit dramatic but certainly last night's show at the Sentrum Scene proved to be an "interesting" (to quote Jeff) way to close out a short run of solo performances in Europe. I guess I'll always remember it as the "God Has Left The Building" show. As I've often opined in post-show recaps, the optimal audience for a Jeff show is neither too rowdy nor too polite. I think you want to have some of bo

Thanks for chiming in, man! I'll try to chip in with a few more comments when I have a chance, but I echo your hopes that Jeff and/or Wilco return sooner than the 2020 elections. Don't the Dutch make anything beside Belgian burgers, beers (and vlaamse frites), though?

In looking back at this show in Antwerp, which somehow (I think) was Jeff's first-ever solo performance in Belgium, I suppose the only way to properly view it is through that sort of introductory lens. After all, this was a show where Jeff apparently felt compelled to tell the crowd early on of his intention to play songs from a variety of records he has been involved with — i.e. not just Wilco records — and later introduced Lost Love as being from a record he made with some friends called "Golden Smog." These aren't the kinds of introductions that Jeff makes at most solo shows (and he probab