Jump to content

Wilco - Bloomington, IN 4.17.06


Recommended Posts

Another awesome show from the guys. Jeff mentioned Woodgrain's letter, talking about "one of the websites where people write about us," and said the crowd was pretty tame, he asked if they weren't intoxicating us with their music. :cheers After the first encore break he said that a momentus occasion had passed: he and John got married. The opening act was pretty good; the crowd got more into it as the show went on after a lame start.

 

Setlist:

 

Airline to Heaven

Kingpin

Handshake Drugs

Shot in the Arm

At Least That's What You Said

Hell is Chrome

Spiders (Kidsmoke)

I Am Trying to Break Your Heart

Forget the Flowers

War on War

Jesus, etc.

Hummingbird

The Good Part (thanks jcroach)

Walken (TTMSAY)

Heavy Metal Drummer

Theologians

I'm the Man Who Loves You

Monday

---

Late Greats

I'm Always In Love

I'm A Wheel

---

California Stars

Edited by frisbeeman
Link to post
Share on other sites
  • Replies 59
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Another awesome show from the guys. Jeff mentioned Woodgrain's letter, talking about "one of the websites where people write about us," and said the crowd was pretty tame, he asked if they weren't intoxicating us with their music. :cheers After the first encore break he said that a momentus occasion had passed: he and John got married. The opening act was pretty good; the crowd got more into it as the show went on after a lame start.

 

 

 

 

twice. :w00t

 

 

...more to come upon further reflection...

Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest HoopsMcCann

lame crowd

 

great sound

 

took a buddy to his first wilco show, came away amazed, said it was the best show he'd ever seen. i thought it was ok (for wilco). sounded great, but lame crowd hurt. still, well worth the nearly three-hour drive (and ticket from the indiana state patrol) and ticket price

Link to post
Share on other sites
Another awesome show from the guys. Jeff mentioned Woodgrain's letter, talking about "one of the websites where people write about us," and said the crowd was pretty tame, he asked if they weren't intoxicating us with their music. :cheers After the first encore break he said that a momentus occasion had passed: he and John got married. The opening act was pretty good; the crowd got more into it as the show went on after a lame start.

what letter? is there a link to this?

Link to post
Share on other sites

the crowd seemed fairly into it where I was at.

But overall I have to say I was a little disappointed. As for the music they certainly sounded tight together, so no complaints there. But I guess I was hoping for a little more from the set-list especially after the little break. I hadn't gone to a show in about a year and a half because the set-lists seems a little stale, and I guess I felt that same way coming out of this one. Only 1 new song? Plus it seemed well under two hours.

It was nice to not have to drive home from Chicago at least, as it was nice to hear The Good Part.

Link to post
Share on other sites

2nd wilco show-changed a lot since farm aid 98-- IU auditorium always sucks the life out of any crowd, especially if you are not down close. The room is just so cavernous and sterile. Add that to the rustiness inherent in any band's tour opener show. It took them a few songs to get the sound to a suitable level. Once they brought the levels up, it started rocking. That being said, I had a good time. Of the two new tunes, I dug walken more than the bossa nova tune. The drum sound is phenominal, cheers to the drum tech. I've been listening a bunch lately, so I agree with the stale setlist comment, but they still create open spaces better than almost anybody.

 

How about some venus stop that train?

Link to post
Share on other sites

I went to the show last night, 5th row, and thought it was great. I saw them in Indy in October and that was equally good. I would have liked to have heard a couple of slower songs like Wishful Thinking but I really can't complain. I also met Jeff and Nels after the show and thats pretty much the highlight of my year thus far.

Link to post
Share on other sites
I also met Jeff and Nels after the show and thats pretty much the highlight of my year thus far.

 

 

Anything of note, or just your standard fan meets musician dialogue?

 

 

fan: you guys rawk! Great set!

musician: Thanks. Thanks for coming.

 

awkward silence ensues. Musician leaves to peruse cold cut table.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Not a bad looking setlist for a "tour" opener - but, I have to agree that the setlists seem a bit stale. To play the same 15 songs per night when you have such a dynamic catalog of music seems a bit, well - shitty. Jeff's greatness is in his songwriting and I would love to hear him exemplify that with some of the deeper cuts. So, I guess I'm not looking for new songs as much as I am for some older, more rare tunes. Maybe, they can morph some of the older tunes into the new routine with a new flare. Just looking for a little variety.

Link to post
Share on other sites

although constant guitar changing midset can be irksome at some shows, wilco pulled off the most efficient guitar switching I have ever seen. Jeff even switched from acoustic to electric midsong at one point only to begin rocking out more profusely.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest Jules
IU auditorium always sucks the life out of any crowd, especially if you are not down close. The room is just so cavernous and sterile.

 

 

The IU Auditorium only rocks for Mellencamp.

 

It was a Monday, too. I don't care if it's Little 500 week or whatever, it's still a college campus on a Monday. Always somewhat dead.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I liked the crowd. I thought they were appropriately quiet during the quiet parts and loud when cheering or prompted (KingPin). I don't know if I've ever heard the quiet details of At Least That's What You Said without having to try to filter out a ton of chatter. Last night, you could tell the audience was listening instead of yapping.

Link to post
Share on other sites

i was so happy to be there last night, even though i have a horrible cold today! (calling in sick turned out to be accurate for once!) before the cold medicine kicks me into a coma, some quick shout-outs:

 

since it hasn't been said already, spiders kicked major ass. even wendy said so, and she isn't usually a huge spiders fan. i thought walken sounded especially good too. the highlight of my night was "i'm always in love"...summerteeth gets me every time. :wub

 

thanks to those in the pit who helped me stay down there for the entire second half of the show. while a lot of the auditorium seemed to not be rocking out, the pit sure was! a special thanks goes out to urban outfitters, for making bracelets that somewhat resemble those pit seat patron bracelets, helping keep me right down front.

 

lou, chris, and nicburto...so great seeing you again! hope you all had safe travels back home.

 

leo and adam...i love my detroit boys. always great spending time with you, especially storytelling in the car. thanks for putting up with jen the mute today. i'm already looking forward to the elvis show in june.

 

wendy...you little sneaky girl. thanks for giving us a chance to live like rock stars. you're my favorite concert buddy of all time. :worship

 

pat...thanks for being such a great host. :D

 

glenn...i forgive you for the speeding ticket. it was worth it, if for no other reason than to have a cool glenn kotche story. thanks for being so sweet.

 

john...thanks for taking the time to stand around and chat. congrats on your wedding. that's awesome. hope to run into you again soon.

 

now, off to a drug-induced rest...

Link to post
Share on other sites

Some thoughts & opinions from Row #19...

I would've wrote more last nite but we were all wrung out from the daze events..including someone hitting my truck on the way down :realmad Everyone was OK tho...

After that,things improved significantly.Wine tasting at Olivers in the afternoon,excellent Dragonfly I.P.A. at Upland pre-show (thanx for the heads up on that place,Boots :cheers )

As for the show itself,nice call to open w/ Airline on the day after Easter! I've been to a number of tour openers with other bands (esp. GD) & they usually have a rough kind of electricity all their own...cues blown,little mistakes but HIGH energy! Not really the case for most of last nite....what i heard was a very professional,well-oiled machine cranking out the stock setlist w/ few surprises.Not a bad thing at all,but I DO love surprises!! As has been said,setlist zen IS the key to enlightenment.

Very strange crowd at first...then Jeff started talking about Woodgrain's letter.Not long after he seemed to goad the crowd into loosening up a bit & BOOM!! People start running down front to the pit (thought it was a Phish show there for a minute).Damned if ya do,damned if ya don't.

Spiders I found to be especially good..near the end of the song,they dropped it down to a near-whisper & then SLAMMED right back into the finale :thumbup

I agree w/ This Year's Girl in that Always in Love was a definite highlight for me...actually the run from about Monday on was really rockin' & achieved some transcendence..it just wasn't one continuous mind-blower.

My wife was at her first show & LOVED it! Got many of her faves so that was nice...I think she's been converted!

Absolutely a fine evening W/ perfect weather & an excellent show! Thanks to all!!

Scott

Link to post
Share on other sites

My take on the evening...

 

The weater was nice and the flowers were indeed in bloom. We arrived a few songs into the opening act and took our seats in the 'front row,' which was sadly behind the orchestra pit. The pit could realistically hold maybe fifty people comfortably seated, but they had set up around 20-30 chairs for Union Board members and the like. Hey, don't get me wrong...I am all for rewarding civic virtue and the like...but there were definitely some folks up there who were going into the concert with no previous knowledge of the band. Regardless, the openers were decent but not stellar, and after a short break the lights dimmed and the feature presentation took the stage.

 

...I don't think anyone has mentioned this elsewhere, and I don't know if this was a recent development at all, but John is clean-shaven once more. I can only assume this was for the wedding? And Jeff's glasses are to be permanent if this show was any indication.

 

I agree with the previous statements regarding the odd crowd, especially at first. I think partially it may have been a lot of people who liked Wilco passingly, or even knew their material fairly well, but had never been to a show before. I think there was a general feeling-out of how the night's mood would take shape. I will say that by no means were people super-chatty, at least towards the front. Rather, it was almost dead, which I attribute possibly to the fact that the Union Board pit-folks stayed near their seats, leaving a sizable void between the audience and the band.

 

As stated, Jeff took a break a few songs in and referenced my post as a way of introducing the idea of enthusiasm to the masses. He proceeded to invite the Union Board kids up to the stage, which they did. Unfortunately, this left a ten foot gap between the two-deep row of people on the stage, and the fans in the seats behind. This was kind of awkward, but by no means bad, (I could see everything much more clearly for pictures and the like), but after the song was finished, Jeff commented on the space.

 

What followed was the degeneration of civilization as we knew it... Essentially, Jeff looked at the two security guys who were guarding the two entrances to the pit, and said "I really don't care if the rest of them come down..." Around halfway through this statement, the floodgates were opened, and all hell broke loose. We quickly realized we were going to be overrun, so we joined the masses as they moved to the front. Jeff immediately launched into 'The Good Part' as people jockeyed for position. The crowd by itself was not obnoxious though, and if you took out the people standing on chairs for a view, things would have probably turned out civil enough for the remainder of the evening.

 

Unfortunately, security decided that it was time to regain order after Walken, and they began trying to clear people from the pit area. My security guard dispensed of people with a light tap and a 'let's go,' which was fine. I made my way back to my row, which was at this point full of people. My friends on the other side of the stage were a little less lucky, and two of them got fairly decent shoves in the back. I know at least one report was filed last night against the security, though I think it was just an awkwardly bad situation for all parties. I heard Jeff say in between songs to Guitar Roadie something along the lines of, "Tell them I am sorry about that..."

 

Regardless, it was an excellent show, and one of my friend entered the show only owning YHF and Being There and left a die-hard convert. Highlights for me consisted of Always in Love (from where I was, I couldn't hear the synth part at all. I don't know if this was true for others elsewhere, but it came across as very crunchy rock... :rock ), Forget the Flowers (Nels can hold his own on the countrified solo work in addition to his freak-out stuff), and The Good Part. More than anything, the lack of set-list surprises mentioned was not an issue for me just because they all seemed to be enjoying themselves up there. They were all smiles for most of the show, and the looser the crowd got the better everyone appeared to enjoy things.

 

In conclusion, I am glad to hear that most people enjoyed themselves. I've heard from multiple sources multiple times that the Bluebird has tried to get a solo Tweedy before, and I can only hope that this comes true eventually (after June 24th preferably). I wish I could have stuck around to meet the guys, but I had many peoples to deliver to places, so it was not meant to be. I will try to upload my pictures today, and we will see how well my attempts to capture Pat mid-windmill turned out. :thumbup

 

thomas.

 

 

p.s. Did anyone who talked to them after the show have their wits about them enough to ask what they might play on Conan? I figured it was worth asking.

Edited by Woodgrain
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...

×
×
  • Create New...