Vancouver, British Columbia - 20/8/07

[atv125]

Did anyone tape the Vancouver show?

[carolinew]

Anyone remember the order of the soundcheck songs?

I remember, in no order:

Either Way

Hesitating Beauty

Bob Dylan's Beard

When The Roses Bloom Again

Too Far Apart

and one or two other other SBS numbers.

 

Grr, the Vancouver Sun cut me out of this picture.. I was just beside the girl with the hanker chief!

 

sweet...that's me with the bandana...my friend called me up this morning to let me know that me and the

3 people I went with had made the front page of arts & life! too funny

[the_raconteur]

sweet...that's me with the bandana...my friend called me up this morning to let me know that me and the

3 people I went with had made the front page of arts & life! too funny

whoa, good find. i'm the one above carolinew in the brown hoodie, that was on increadible show. my friend dove over the railing for the setlist and got it. i kinda wished i saw more from Richard Swift though, he was pretty intresting, although that wilco concert went by fast enough.

[TCP]

You were with the larger (by larger I mean four or five) group of younger (highschoolish) kids??

[the_raconteur]

ya, were you the one who we saved a spot for when you went to the bathroom?

[TCP]

Yeah man!! That was me.

[roadtripper]

My favorite moments of the night:

 

The hand claps during Spiders and Jeff telling us that "Lord Stanley would be disappointed!"

 

Vancouverites SUCK at hand clapping -- I was at an Erin McKeown concert where we had to do a capella handclapping and it was very random. All the pot smoke floating around the audience really messes with the mind-hand connection!

 

Hey blindgonzo and gogo, I'll dance with you anytime! I hate myself for missing Seattle.

 

Roadtripper aka Stacy

[thecanuck]

This was my first chance to catch Wilco live and I was completely blown away. Glenn Kotche was unreal and I was pretty suprised at how well Pat Sansone can play guitar. He was rolling out lick after lick of Stonesy goodness. That's one thing I loved about the show. Each of the three guitarists has an very distinct style and they compliment each other nicely. The setlist itself was incredible though. I went nuts when I heard the opening progression for "I Got You". Definitely did not expect that one coming into the show. Oh and btw, I was also with the_raconteur's group.

[blindgonzo]

After letting it all sink in, the Vancouver show was my favourite show this time around (rather than the Calgary or Seattle ones). I think the combination of the small, beautifull outdoor setting and the AMAZING setlist really created the funnest atmosphere for me. After this show I went and got all of the guys to sign the Vancouver poster (thanks to their tour manager (?) Nick(?) ) and chatted with Glenn again and told him how wicked I thought it was that they busted out Too Far Apart, Red-Eyed and Blue, and I Got You, all in the same show. He said that he was surpised that they played all of those three as well. I just get so happy thinking about this show, and I really hope a recording surfaces at some point in the future!!!! I took some photos, they're not very good, but I thought I'd share them anyways:

 

 

 

 

 

unfortuantely, from where i was standing, i couldn't really get any good photo's of the rest of the band

[blindgonzo]

you can check out the rest of the photo's at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/10557043@N07/

[FlametopFred]

August 20 2007 Vancouver Canada Malkin Bowl

 

After having grown up through a few punk gigs at the Smiling Buddha, and now aged with considerable bulk, easy now to hold my own against frail computer programmer guys and Yaletown water-bottle girls with Nana Mouskouri glasses. My elbows didn't even bruise.

 

I remember now why I love Malkin Bowl for gigs. Perhaps it was the stormy skies over Stanely Park. A moody backdrop with threatening weather only framed Wilco's complex and brooding sound. I don't think there is a better venue for live sound outside of the old PNE Gardens. Vancouver needs more outdoor concerts at the Malkin. Fall, Winter, summer. Picture a cold winter night with light snow falling, hot chocolate in hand and an intimate band playing. Tarps maybe when it rains.

 

Great gig, great band that keeps chasing inspiration, which, when they find it keeps inspiring listeners as well as countless musicians and writers.

 

Jeff Tweedy has conquered a lot of demons and is becoming a confident showman and much less reluctant frontman.

He's even having improvised fun conversations with the audience. While Tweedy interacts with the audience, bassist John Stirratt remains the grounding conduit that links Tweedy's vocal to the rest of the musicians on stage. Which is a very underrated position in any band because everyone on stage turns to you when it seems the music is about to go off the rails. After 13 years together, Stirratt anticipates where Tweedy is going next.

 

Guitarist Nels Cline is the element that was sorely missing for from Wilco for too long: blatant showmanship. He is one part manic showman, one part stunning craftsman. Not that the world needs more lead guitar players, but in Wilco's case Cline holds the attention of the audience visually and drives the audience and band to new heights during moving and inventive guitar solos which effectively go over the top. He is the balancing musical foil to Tweedy's earnest and searching delivery.

 

Where Cline is most effective is in augmenting Jeff Tweedy's guitar solos. Together they take a guitar solo, follow it along and develop lines to see where they can go. In the past, Tweedy's guitar solos have sputtered and fallen apart due to self-consciousness. Now Cline takes Tweedy's basic solo and keeps adding to it, each time taking cues and then building and building to effective crescendo and logical conclusion. When Pat Sansore jumps into the three-guitar mix the band truly soars and briefly echos the better moments of the Allman Brothers or Lynyrd Skynyrd. Then they move on quickly. Wilco is not a band that dwells anymore. They get to the point and move on.

 

Pat Sansore also doubles on piano and adds solid stage presence when needed. Keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen stoically and studiously hold the back-line intact and allows the music to flow continuously without a hiccup. It's dynamic drummer Glenn Kotche that ebbs and flows like a Newfoundland tide. Keeping the beat rock steady but then driving up the dynamics instantly in a wild-card flourish. The band is working together now as a great band does. Strongly cohesive with moments of outstanding, intense individual flash and solo flare.

 

Wilco's musicianship level is now very high and growing. Thoroughly seasoned musical maturity is reaching levels where technique disappears and pure audience communication begins. Overcoming "audience cool" is always a challenge for any performer, more so with the Wilco audience. From what I saw the audience was primarily 30-something professionals with extensive and appropriately eclectic CD collections and iPod Playlists. Well groomed with only one strategic and tasty tattoo. Somewhat previously bohemian and now studiously respectable. Quickly however, their cool facade was thwarted and they were wrapped up in the very powerful music while Tweedy lured them into the palm of his hand.

[TheRat]

i was there, straight up front and center. loved it; one of the best concerts i've ever been to. setlist was perfect and jeff was in a great mood all night.