Leo Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 OK! I think I've finally recovered from 6 shows in 7 nights. What a run!After seeing the Riv shows I was worried the Cleveland show would be a huge letdown, for me and the band. I was also worried the audience would not live up to the high bar set by the Riv audiences. How could they?The venue was great - a high school auditorium for Chrissakes! A little over a thousand seats. We had second row behind the pit rows in front of Nels. Sounds good, but after having stood at or near the rail for the Riv shows, a bit of a letdown. After an OK John Doe set, I walked up and asked Stan at the soundboard if he was going to continue playing Peaches before the "encore." He said probably not. We talked about the Saturday Riv encore which he confirmed was a real encore. They had no intention of returning but, because we wouldn't budge, came back out. We talked about the shows generally. He commented that Mikael finally let him turn up his keyboards in the mix and how great it sounded. Apparently, Mikael is shy about his place in the mix and prefers to remain as much in the background as possible. Stan showed me the setlist and told me to come back up after the show to get it.I wondered whether the Cleveland crowd would remain in the comfy seats or stand. When they took the stage everyone stood and remained up the entire show! They opened with Germany and Nels killed the solo - better than any I had previously heard. Then they went into Mountain Bed, You Are My Face, Seeds and PKB (hell yeah!!). An excellent beginning. Jeff's voice was hit. He sounded raspy and was unable to hit the highs without breaking. Fortunately, a tired, raspy vocal works well in most of Wilco's numbers.About midway through the show, the energy seemed to plateau. I don't know if it was me or the band or both. The Theologians, Walken, I'm The Man, Kingpin, HMD run was fairly pedestrian. Jeff was funny throughout. He spoke as much as I've ever heard him. Almost before every song. As he was raising the harmonica to put around his neck at one point, he appeared to pause to give the crowd a chance to respond as we did at the Riv. No response. So he told us that he had been walking around the school all day with it on and, because of that, was placed in the special ed class. Soon after that he launched into the wrong number and, after being corrected by Nels, claimed because he never learned how to count, he was 5 songs ahead. He said he never went to college, "because I was working." At another point he asked if this was an elementary school. The audience informed him it was a high school, to which he responded, "probably on the same level as our elementary schools," and quickly retracted. He referenced the no alcohol situation, saying "you look painfully alert." All in all he was very friendly and funny.After the show, Bryan, Chris, Mary (my daughter) and I stood out at the bus to see about talking to the band and getting the setlist signed. I had the good fortune of being given the setlist from the final Riv show (the best show I have ever attended!) and brought it on the chance that we could meet the band and get it signed. John was the first to emerge, but went back in to get a Sharpie. He came back and accommodated everyone's requests. I handed him the Wednesday night list and he commented on how much fun they had during the Residency. I thanked him for playing It's Just That Simple in Chicago. He said that he wondered whether the Cleveland crowd appreciated the AM numbers as much as the Riv crowds had. I commented that the Mermaid songs were enthusiastically received. He agreed.Jeff was the next to come out. Still all smiles and full of gratitude, he happily signed and posed until everyone was accommodated. When I handed him the Riv setlist he said he remembered seeing me there up front for the shows. I was shocked! I felt like a geeky teenage rock and roll fan. Well, except for the teenager part, I suppose I am! He said they were most likely doing more Residency shows, but maybe not for a couple years.Nels and Glenn followed Jeff. Nels wasn't feeling well and apologized for not being able to stay and talk longer. Glenn said, "hi Chris, it's been a long time," and then asked Bryan about his band classes. They do have a way with the fans! It's no wonder we are such devoted followers of this band.Pat was the last to come out. No Mikael. He was sick.It was another great night. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kidsmoke Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 Vulture19, welcome to the wonderful, frequently wacky world of Via Chicago! We hope you'll enjoy our community! Thanks to you and to Leo for your reviews! It's the next best thing to being there.  All the commentary and details paint such a nice picture for this slightly Wilco-deprived Californian! For vulture  and for dear Leo (Hiya Leo! ) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tugmoose Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 Vulture19, welcome to the wonderful, frequently wacky world of Via Chicago! We hope you'll enjoy our community! Thanks to you and to Leo for your reviews! It's the next best thing to being there.  All the commentary and details paint such a nice picture for this slightly Wilco-deprived Californian! For vulture  and for dear Leo (Hiya Leo! )Ahem! Over here! Hows about a little love for ol' Tugger ? True, my review was pretty half-assed, but i did post the Plain Dealer writeup, which should count for somethin. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kidsmoke Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 Ahem! Over here! Hows about a little love for ol' Tugger ? True, my review was pretty half-assed, but i did post the Plain Dealer writeup, which should count for somethin. Well for shame! I liked your brief review! AND I even read that entire Plain Dealer piece, and enjoyed it!!!!!!!! (Uh oh, don't get me started with the exclamation points; they've been getting away from me today...) Ok, so first I offer you: :blush  and I will follow with heartfelt: as well as and   So, are we good? Apologies, ol' Tugger. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tugmoose Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 :yes :dance Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kissel me some more Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 My sister was supposed to fly in from Philly and we were going to drive in from Pittsburgh. Her flight never made it so I ended up taking my five year old son. We had such a great time! He had been bugging us to go to a Wilco show for quite some time and I thought this was the perfect opportunity. We had seats in row "A" center which would have been perfect except for the woman who had a seat much further back but decided to stand directly in front of me instead. She seemed to be the only one doing this, everyone else seemed to be very respectful of the aisle that was in front of us. We would have been able to see the whole band but were able to see from Jeff to Nels. It worked out OK because my son stood on his seat mostly and focused on Glenn the entire time. I get a kick out of watching Pat myself but there will be other times for that. His favorite song is 'Hate it Here' so we are very glad that they decided to play that as the encore eventhough it was not on the set list. (thanks to the woman who snabbed a set list off the stage for him!) Summerteeth was a blast to dance to and we also both love PKB. I jokingly coverd up my son's ears for "she lifted up her shirt at the battle of the bands" and Jeff mouthed to me "I saw that".  My son had seen pictures of me with members of the band and wanted to get his picture taken as well. So we waited around after the show (his idea, honest). Thanks to Rob & Evie who let us warm up in there car. He got his picture taken with Jeff & Glenn. They could not have been kinder - Jeff even picked him up for the photo! When I asked my son what his favorite part of the night was he simply answered "Glenn". You gotta love a band that you can share an experience like this with your young children. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Leo Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 Vulture19, welcome to the wonderful, frequently wacky world of Via Chicago! We hope you'll enjoy our community! Thanks to you and to Leo for your reviews! It's the next best thing to being there.  All the commentary and details paint such a nice picture for this slightly Wilco-deprived Californian! For vulture  and for dear Leo (Hiya Leo! )Hey Donna!!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
vulture19 Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 Thanks for the welcome, KS. Am I reading this right - other than the residency shows, Can't Stand It had not been played by the full band in 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wilcogirl Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 My sister was supposed to fly in from Philly and we were going to drive in from Pittsburgh. Her flight never made it so I ended up taking my five year old son. . . . You gotta love a band that you can share an experience like this with your young children. I am/was supposed to pick my sister up in Pittsburgh this morning for the show, but she's flying in from Philly and her flight was cancelled!!! We're waiting to see if she can catch another early flight to get here in time, but I'm facing a 4 hour round trip drive to get her (why she's not flying to Cleveland . . . a difference in $250 in airfare . . .what lengths we all go to to see Wilco!) Hope she can make it  Well how about that, guess we're not the only ones that happened to. Wonder if they were on the same flight (Southwest? 10:00am something arrival originally). I was sad my sister didn't make it, my husband took her ticket (he was happy about that). Funny thing is, I had thought about bringing my 4 1/2 year old daughter, who is my Wilco buddy. I'm really close to bringing her to her first show, she's going to be in awe. Glad to hear your son had such a great time! To Wilco: THANK YOU THANK YOU for coming back to Cleveland, please come back again soon. I was there with my daughter and son-in-law and a friend Hi mumzie!! Everyone, meet my mom, also a big Wilco fan. She found me here! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
KimB Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 Anybody know what happened to the AKG 391 source for the Lakewood show that was up etree? Was there something wrong with it? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
foolnrain97 Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 My son had seen pictures of me with members of the band and wanted to get his picture taken as well. So we waited around after the show (his idea, honest). Thanks to Rob & Evie who let us warm up in there car. He got his picture taken with Jeff & Glenn. They could not have been kinder - Jeff even picked him up for the photo! When I asked my son what his favorite part of the night was he simply answered "Glenn".We saw you back there. I thought your little boy was so cute. And of course his favorite thing was Glenn! Drummers are awesome! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Analogman Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 Anybody know what happened to the AKG 391 source for the Lakewood show that was up etree? Was there something wrong with it?  There is these 2 - which did appear earlier today. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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