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Wilco -- 8/9/08, Baltimore, MD


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Pretty standard festival set, but it's always nice to see Hoodoo Voodoo and the Total Pros being there helped punch up the sound (which sounded pretty muted for the first half of the set, at least where I was). I think the band had a bit of misfortune being slotted right between Citizen Cope and Jack Johnson. Seemed like a lot of fans of the latter couldn't wait for Wilco to get off stage, at least judging from the chatter around me. The line "I know you probably hate me/That's okay with me" in Outtasite never seemed more appropriate...

 

Saw most of the guys watching Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings' set from a raised platform on one side of the stage earlier in the day and, before that, a couple of them taking in the Swell Season's performance as well.

 

Setlist:

 

War on War

A Shot in the Arm

IATTBYH

You Are My Face

Impossible Germany

Handshake Drugs

Spiders (Kidsmoke)

Walken (w/Total Pros horns)

Hate It Here (w/TPs)

I'm The Man Who Loves You (w/TPs)

Monday (w/TPs)

Outtasite (Outta Mind) (w/TPs)

Hoodoo Voodoo (w/TPs)

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Were they all at the same stage? Luckies!

 

Yep, same stage. Pretty lucky because Sharon and the DKs were great, as were Rodrigo y Gabriela.

 

The Swell Season was a nice treat as well. It was just Glen and Marketa this time and they did a cool version of Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" off the PA and down off the stage. It's sort of hard to explain, but there was a fire lane leading to the sound tent and after a pretty short set (which also included covers of Michelle Shocked's "Fogtown" and Van Morrison's "Astral Weeks"), Glen came back and jumped down off the high stage into this U-shaped area between the barricades. Marketa soon joined him and they got the crowd to sing the chorus along with them. Most of the crowd probably couldn't see them and, unless you were along the barricades, you certainly couldn't hear them. I'm no expert on the Swell Season, by any means, but it seemed like a pretty unscripted moment. At least I hope it was, and that they don't do that every show.

 

Only regret was missing Chuck Berry on the other stage; a good portion of his set overlapped Wilco's and he also had the unfortunate situation of being slotted between The Offspring and Foo Fighters.

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How long did the headliners play?

 

Well, if by headliners you mean the last act on each stage...Jack Johnson got 1 hour, 15 minutes, Foo Fighters got 1 hour, 45 minutes and someone called Underworld, who was headlining the creatively named Dance Tent, got 2 hours. :pirate

 

(Edit: Out of curiosity, I just looked up Underworld -- who also played right before Radiohead the other night at the All Points West Festival -- and apparently they are pioneers in the British techno scene. That is one genre I can safely say I know zilch about. :ninja)

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a cool version of Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere"

 

I've never liked any covers of that song. I don't like The Byrds' version. Anyone that does it sounds so deliberate. Actually, any covers of the Basement Tapes stuff ends up souding really un-spontaneous and boring. People should stop trying to cover those songs.

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Yeah, the Citizen Cope/Jack Johnson fans didn't do much to recommend themselves as good ctizens of the live music community. But those unfortunates aside, it was pretty fun to be a part of the melding fan groups throughout the day. Rodrigo y Gabriela especially caught the attenton of everyone within earshot, and they did it with just two guitars, no singing, no drums, nothing else. I've never seen so much enthusiastic hip-shaking in any crowd ever.

 

Well maybe I take that back, there was plenty of hip-shaking for Sharon Jones too, now that I think of it. "Goddess of Soul" is right, she is amazing.

 

Wilco was wonderful, even with blinding sun in their eyes, mean-spirited wilco-haters taking up space in the front row, and vocals muted in the mix. Festival shows are always risky, so I gotta say I loved this one regardless of the distractions.

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really un-spontaneous and boring. People should stop trying to cover those songs.

 

I'm glad Glen didn't take your advice, because I would've hated to miss that performance. He'd been cranky at the sound through much of his set, shoving the monitor away from him in disgust at one point. Jumping down onto the same level as the audience freed him from his annoyance and it sounded singularly spontaneous and un-boring.

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Yeah, the Citizen Cope/Jack Johnson fans didn't do much to recommend themselves as good ctizens of the live music community.

 

 

agreed. i think i was the only one down front by Nels that knew "hoodoo voodoo" i started cheering and clapping and it was stunned silence around me, i had to laugh. although you should have been there yesterday for day 2. Lil Wayne fans made those others seem like angels. Whoever thought putting She and Him before Lil Wayne was an idiot. actually whoever booked Lil Wayne should be flogged, his people caused a need for bouncers to crawl into the crowd during She and Him; then he overplayed his set by 30 min cutting the Black Keys set short which induced a riotous crowd chant of "Fuck Lil Wayne" for a bit. I was proud of that part.

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>Actually, any covers of the Basement Tapes stuff ends up souding really un-spontaneous and boring. People should stop trying to cover those songs.

 

Can't say I agree. I'd rather hear someone cover a song from Basement Tapes than yet another version of Watchtower. Norah Jones does a great version of Bessie Smith in concert.

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I've never liked any covers of that song. I don't like The Byrds' version. Anyone that does it sounds so deliberate. Actually, any covers of the Basement Tapes stuff ends up souding really un-spontaneous and boring. People should stop trying to cover those songs.

 

You should check out Jim James and Calexico's version of "Goin to Acapulco" off the I'm Not There soundtrack (similarly where you can find Glen and Markita's recorded version of YAGN). Nailed it and better than the original, IMO.

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Just wanted to mention that I have just put up the Virgin Mobile Festival show on bt.etree.org for anyone who wants to check it out.

 

[bt.etree] Virgin Mobile Festival 2008-08-09

 

Agree about the chatty crowd, it was unfortunate but actually it was worse during Jack Johnson. Also unfortunate was the odd electrical burning man thing that disrupted parts of the end of the show (as well as part of Jack's show), even drawing a comment from Jeff.

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Just wanted to mention that I have just put up the Virgin Mobile Festival show on bt.etree.org for anyone who wants to check it out.

 

[bt.etree] Virgin Mobile Festival 2008-08-09

 

Agree about the chatty crowd, it was unfortunate but actually it was worse during Jack Johnson. Also unfortunate was the odd electrical burning man thing that disrupted parts of the end of the show (as well as part of Jack's show), even drawing a comment from Jeff.

 

 

thanks! can't wait to get it tonight when i get home from work.

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