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Someone asked me after tonight's second of three Wilco sets at this year's edition of the Sky Blue Sky Festival whether I liked the previous night's performance or tonight's better, and obviously it's difficult to argue against the latter. Jeff seemingly felt much better after having to cut Night 1's set short due to some symptoms of heat exhaustion. And while both night's setlists were filled with more than a few deeper cuts and/or songs that don't get played as often these days, Night 2 just felt more like a typical Wilco show in terms of pacing, antics and the like. Just as a po

Some 23 months since the last edition of Wilco's Sky Blue Sky Festival at the Hard Rock Hotel in Mexico's Riviera Maya corridor, it's hard to express the different feelings conjured by being back here. On one hand, there's some sense of déja vu with the familiar layout of the resort and the different concert stages (though a few changes have been made to some of the restaurants and buildings). But awaiting Wilco's set on the opening night of this year's event, you also couldn't help but think about all that had happened in both Wilcoworld and the world at large since the band last performed on

Well, since this one was filmed live from Wrigleyville, beamed via fiber-optic cable to laptops all over the world (?) and probably then chromecast — or whatever you call it — to people's big-screen plasma TVs in their man caves or patios, I think I only need provide recapping for one Albert Tatlock, who surely doesn't engage in any of this live-streaming nonsense (but might if it involved a far-off Welsh rugby match). At any rate, Tatlock, I only have limited minutes currently to recount what transpired inside the walls of Metro tonight, where Los Wilcos played the final show of a

They put the St. Louis setlist in for Bentonville, it looks like. And haven't corrected it. Oof.

As the appointed 8:30 p.m. hour for Wilco to take the stage approached tonight, on what was technically the final night of a grueling period of touring over the past couple of months, I couldn't help but get one more strong feeling of déja vu on this run. First of all, we were standing outdoors on a large lawn area outside of a contemporary art museum. And it was lightly raining. And then suddenly, there was Joe Thompson (the eponym of Joe's Field at Mass MoCA in North Adams, Mass.) on stage introducing — and gushing over — Jeff and his bandmates. Wait, had the time/space continuum

Ah, St. Louis...always a date to circle on the calendar whenever Jeff and/or Wilco decided to swing through town and play a show. I mean, it is another one of those homes away from home for our leading man — in fact, it is pretty much literally that — even if he has often had a kind of tumultuous relationship with the city. Certainly there's a ton of personal history here for the Belleville, Ill., native, and I think that history has become even more intense in some ways as he has gotten older and he has gone through the sorts of life changes that we all experience. Particularly si

Well, Kansas City certainly seems to be having a moment, doesn't it? At least that's how it seems to this out-of-towner. Obviously there's the Taylor-and-Travis soap opera that has captivated the nation, but apart from that, as someone who's been visiting fairly regularly for years now, I've been impressed by the continuing revitalization of downtown, the gleaming new airport that makes the dumpy old MCI seem like a distant memory and just the general sense of a city on the upswing. Heck, Wilco's show on a Wednesday night was just a blip on a cultural landscape that featured an even bigger con

Mostly they haven’t been. They did it twice in LA, the second of three nights at the Ace and then Night 2 at the Bellwether. Before that it had been since the end of the spring tour in April. They only even played Via once in Europe this summer, at the very last show in Ireland before coming home (nudge, nudge). Anyway I wouldn’t count on the Many Worlds coda at Metro since I think the intent is to showcase Cousin, but it always could happen…

I acknowledged it! I am easily pleased...

Funny, I'm currently reading The Devil and Sherlock Holmes by David Grann for a book club and that quotation just came up. And you are absolutely correct, my dear Tatlock, that this is indeed a possibility. However, in the context of the recounting of a rock concert, it is a possibility (pissability?) that I simply prefer not to discuss...

One night after Jeff admitted to struggling a bit with his voice, I'm happy to report that he returned to his usual tendency of not taking a sip of any liquid on stage — which I can only assume meant that he was feeling better in that regard. Not that he didn't have at least one case of vocal difficulties on a lovely Monday night in Nebraska, but at least that was caused by something mental and not physical. What I'm referring to is Jeff's mind getting ahead of himself during Hummingbird when he came to the lyric, "A fixed bayonet through the great southwest..." I'm not sure if som

I mean, that's rock 'n' roll, right? At least for a mid-tier working band...

Hopefully someone got a good picture of Jeff taking a sip of water on stage tonight because it rarely ever happens. Better yet, maybe someone was quick enough to grab a shot of Jeff doing his best Michael Anthony impression as the show was winding down. More on that later. What's this, Jeff actually consuming liquid on stage during a show? You knew something was amiss when he asked his guitar tech Cash to bring him a bottle of Topo Chico sparkling water early in the set and then sipped from it between songs three separate times within the first nine tunes. Indeed, as we subsequentl

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

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

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 n

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

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 roc

Yeah, baby! Oh, yeah!

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

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