bböp

Excellently spewed recap, Herr Tatlock, and please allow me to say it's always a pleasure getting to catch up with you a bit in person! I hope you will make your way to our shores again sooner than later. Until then, I guess we'll always have Paris (where I have somewhat fond memories of teenaged French using me as a pogo stick during Spiders)... ...and now the Brixton Academy (sorry I mean, O2 Academy Brixton), where before a near-capacity crowd of just under 5,000, Wilco closed out its 2016 touring schedule with a solid, professional performance that probably delighted 95 percent of the th

No great surprises, setlist-wise, for anyone who's been closely following these last few full-band shows of 2016, but I will say that the crowd was a relatively lively one. English (and Scottish — I see you Queenies) fans have been waiting for a good long while for the band to return to this area. Could it be possible that this was Wilco's first non-festival headlining show in the UK since two London gigs on the Whole Love tour in October of 2011? I could be missing an appearance somewhere in that time, but the point is it has been a good long while. So there was definitely a palpable level

Great work, Mariana!

I think the site was down overnight here, so this following morning is the first chance I'm getting to post about the show in Paris. But once again I don't have that much time and there wasn't necessarily that much to say, in that it was a pretty typical show for this end-of-2016 touring schedule with a focus on Wilco Schmilco and Star Wars material. I guess you could say that it was a very professional show, which I think anyone who's followed along on tours like this will probably be able to appreciate. I'm not sure if there was a curfew, but the band was on and off stage in under two hours

Dammit! RIP Mose. Was just reading about how he was an early influence on Alex Chilton.

Once again, it's tough to find time to do a comprehensive recapping when there are early-morning transit connections to make and packing to be done (and redone). I know, I know...these are good problems to have. Nonetheless, I'll attempt to keep this relatively brief and perhaps other folks will be able to fill in with anything I've missed... The Volkshaus is the kind of venue that Wilco doesn't play much anymore, especially in America, so it's always nice to see a show there. It's basically a roughly 1,000-1,200 capacity hall with a relatively low stage, an open floor and balcony seating in

I believe it actually started as a tribute to the Shellac drummer Todd Trainer, fwiw. I was about surprised he did it last night in Vienna but he also did it on the first night in Utrecht. And I believe he did it a few times in South America last month as well. So it seems that it's being revived a bit, maybe when the crowd seems right...

I can confirm the accuracy of the above setlist. I believe this was only Wilco's third show ever in Austria, and only its second headlining gig. Don't have any time to really offer many details at the moment as an early flight beckons, but I personally had a lot of fun and it seemed like the band members were mostly back to their usual selves for maybe the first time since Election Day. Jeff had his "soapbox moment" again, as I'm sure dasradiohead or other attendees can describe. Otherwise, just a good solid show with surprisingly good sound up front — front fill monitors are always appreciate

Grazie mille for your report, and for your kind words about mine! I actually had a ticket for the show in Milano, but the travel was too difficult to go there for just one day and then back for the rest of the tour, so I decided unfortunately to not attend and stay in Utrecht for the massive record fair that they had there over the weekend (as well as the rest of the Le Guess Who festival, which is a very eclectic and enjoyable one). So I'm glad to hear about what I missed in Milano. Sounds like it was a pretty good venue to see the band, though a bit unfortunate about the organization of th

Day Two in Utrecht and Day Two of Jeff and the other members of Wilco and all of us, really, continuing to grapple with the world post-President Trump. It's hard enough to write something coherent in the middle of the night having just gotten the news about Leonard Cohen's passing — RIP Mr. Cohen, such an inspiration — but when you're still struggling to come to terms with what's changed at home, it makes it even more of a challenge. So as we deal with these increasingly turbulent times, we once again fall back on music and art and community to help us cope. It didn't take long for the band t

No, they stayed on but just kind of stood and watched Jeff and Nels on NAK.

During the first encore tonight, a man near the front loudly said to Jeff in Dutch-accented English that "you can stay here if you don't want to go back to Trumpland." The comment, I think, was meant to be empathetic, but the tone of it was a tad too sharp and on this night of nights, Jeff couldn't help but respond. "Don't tell me that you don't have your own Trumps; I know you do," he said. But then, in a spirit of unity, Jeff added that "they will all be defeated. They'll all die and we'll rejoice. Until then, we play rock shows and sing to each other." Music as catharsis. Yeah, that was th

Man, that was way more fun a show than it probably had any right to be for a Monday night in a city not necessarily known for its exuberance (at least when it comes to cultish American rock bands) and in a venue that wouldn't necessarily portend a super engaged crowd. But for whatever reason, after the first few songs, the vibe shifted from one of a passive, relatively disengaged dynamic between band and audience to one of connection. And that's always a good thing. First a few words about Tempodrom, which the band has played at least once before and which is a decidedly odd kind of room. It

You've been doing good work! Thanks for doing that. Guess our European colleagues haven't had much to say about these shows, at least on here. Too bad, because even a few words about the crowd, venue, how the band played or any funny/unexpected moments would have been interesting. I'll be on the back half of this tour, starting tonight in Berlin, so will try to report at least a little bit...

Sad news about saki. Always sad to hear about any record store closing, but I figured it would happen sooner or later. Just not enough profit to be made solely off new vinyl. For a store to really thrive these days, in my opinion, finding a way to get quality used stuff in regularly has to be the main focus. Gotta be really smart with what and how much new stuff you stock... And FYI, the owner of saki (and Carrot Top Records/Distribution) Patrick Monaghan is married to Julia Adams, who used to be Susan Miller Tweedy's partner in Lounge Ax. So the connection with saki and the Tweedys was a pr

Glan Kotche? I prefer Geoff Koch...

Well, you definitely had the best view during the Fillmore run! Thanks for the clarification/confirmation/attention to detail. Interesting that they would switch from the double bass arrangement, but I guess that must've been part of the new stripped-down setup.

Guess he's no longer going by Yim Yames?

Almost certain he does play bass on Locator, though it's kind of hard to tell the first time you see it. Looks like a guitar (well, it is a guitar). Anyway, I missed it the first time I saw them play it. Don't think he plays it on Just Say Goodbye, however.

Thanks for the report (and the setlist)! Sounds like it was a very "made-for-radio" production. Look forward to hearing/seeing it!

Couldn't ask for a much better day or setting to close out a West Coast tour as well as watch what most likely was Wilco's last "real" U.S. show of 2016. And you couldn't really ask for a more fitting cast of guests to help the band cap a successful run of shows in California than local resident Bob Weir, not to mention esteemed guitarist Bill Frisell and pedal steel stalwart Greg Leisz. (You could ask for a little jolt of oxygen to help with the altitude and some Dramamine to help with the motion sickness from all the switchbacks you have to take to get up there, however! ) Anyway, fortunat

Now that's more like it, Los Angeles! All in all, a pretty great way to close out an ever-eventful, three-night run at the Theatre at Ace Hotel. It seemed like there was much less in the way of crowd shenanigans than the first two shows — though an enthusiastic young woman in the front row briefly threatened to derail things —and that led the band to what was probably its most relaxed and assured performance of the run. Don't really have time to maybe craft as thorough a recap as this show probably deserves, but I'll definitely try to hit the highlights as best I can... First off, I gues

Damn, that sucks! Probably didn't sell enough tickets. They were kinda insanely pricey for a band that's never played there before, I think. Too bad, though.

Wow, that's never happened to me with VC before. I had a decent-sized recap written and was just about ready to post it...when my computer suddenly crashed. I don't really have the energy to rewrite it all now, so I guess I'll just have to let it go. Sad trombone. What I had written really wasn't that good (honestly), and I didn't have a great seat to hear or see a lot of the audience back-and-forth that once again seemed to perplex Jeff anyway, so hopefully others that did will chime in and pick me up...

Another interesting crowd tonight. More commentary to come... Here was the complete setlist, as played, for Night 2 in LA (didn't get a look at a printed setlist tonight, but I suspect there weren't any changes): Normal American Kids^ Via Chicago If I Ever Was A Child Cry All Day Sunken Treasure (acoustic arrangement — Jeff on acoustic guitar, no harmonica; Pat on keyboard) Pick Up The Change Someone To Lose The Joke Explained You Are My Face Reservations Impossible Germany Happiness Whole Love Cold Slope> King Of You Poor Places Locator> Laminated Cat (aka Not For The Season) Dawned