El Paso -- 6/17/09

[mikechuck]

Great show last night. Maybe will post some some personal observations when I get to Tucson later today. For now, here's the review from the El Paso Times:

 

Concert review: Wilco puts hungry EP crowd under its spell

EL PASO — "Why didn't we come here before," a smiling Jeff Tweedy asked the Chavez Theatre crowd toward the end of Wilco's rousing performance Wednesday night. "You're awesome. We don't say that to everybody."

 

He wasn't kidding. Tweedy's a quietly intense kind of performer, not one given to smiling a lot or goofing around. But as the relationship between the reserved, gravely serious-looking singer, his resourceful five-piece band and a virgin El Paso audience grew, almost song by song over a mesmerizing two hours, the looser, more friendly and more playful the band, particularly its Brillo-haired singer, became.

 

That's twice in a week that a rock band with considerable acclaim and hipster cache — but no big hits or radio exposure —has come to town and seriously bonded with a hungry local crowd, augmented Thursday, no doubt, by a few discerning out-of-towners who knew they could score an inexpensive ticket in a place where acts like Wilco don't come close to selling out (they filled 1,100 of the theater's more than 2,000 seats Wednesday).

 

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, who cut their newest album in nearby Tornillo, managed to make that same, if more intense kind of connection with a much bigger audience of 1,700 starved fans last June 10 at Club 101.

 

There are a couple of good reasons why Wilco got such a rapturous reaction from the willing crowd, and why the smiles on the band members' faces got bigger as the show progressed. It wasn't about whetting a hungry audience's appetite with their mere presence, it was about Tweedy's artfully honest, smartly crafted songs about love, heartbreak and his own shortcomings, and about the focused, resourceful musicianship of a band with a dynamic range that was roughly the equivalent of a driver who can go from 0 to 60 mph and back in seconds — and make it look easy.

 

Despite Tweedy's late-show chattiness — he also vamped during "Hummingbird," singled out a boy in the front row during the driving, episodic "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" and fretted the neck while the kid, who looked 8 or 9, picked out a solo. Just before the gentle rolling intro of "Jesus Don't Cry," Tweedy pointed to an amorous couple he'd singled out earlier and jokingly admonished them to "keep it clean, kids, there's a youngster right here — no more grinding."

 

It's those little moments of spontaneity that help elevate a concert from the routine to the remembered. So, too, does the high-level of the performance itself.

 

They opened with Tweedy's slightly mocking, slightly celebratory "Wilco (The Song)," from "Wilco (The Album)," due June 30, the closest thing to humor in the set's more straightforward, focused first half.

 

There were other highlights, for sure, particularly a smoldering "A Shot in the Arm," the ominous homocide tale "Bull Black Nova," a requested "Should've Been in Love" and barely restrained versions of "Handshake Drugs" and "Shake It Off" that complemented Tweedy's intensifying, throaty intonations with Nels Cline's caged animal guitar histrionics, a sweat-soaked Glenn Kotche's metronomic drum work and unobtrusive contributions from longtime bassist John Stirratt, Pat Sansone (on keys and guitar) and keyboardist Mike Jorgensen.

 

It was after Tweedy started opening up to the crowd that the performance moved to the next level — or two. "Impossible Germany" is the song that best encapsulates what this particularly resourceful lineup can do, starting out as a gently Allmansesque ballad that, thanks to the stratospheric guitar duels of Clines and Tweedy, propels the song into jam band hyper drive before they pull it back down to earth. It's easily one of their best songs.

 

The set took on a more playful quality as it neared its conclusion, with "Hummingbird" eliciting one of the more vocal crowd singalongs (and Tweedy's face suggested he didn't expect the crowd to know the lyrics to so many of their songs), while "Heavy Metal Drummer," the first of a three-song encore, invoking Kiss in a wistfully nostalgic way. The heartbroken sweetness of "Hate It Here" and the finale of "I'm the Man Who Loves You" were an emotive one-two punch that ended the night on a high note.

 

Credit goes to Jim Ward and his band Sleepercar for getting the evening started on the right foot. The former At the Drive-in and Sparta member's a local fixture whose rootsy rock band has made numerous hometown appearances over the past year.

 

None that I'd seen previously matched this one, which was by far the tightest, most assured I've heard them (fill-in drummer Joel Quintana of El Paso's The Royalty had something to do with that) and the best his songs from Sleepercar's "West Texas" and his own solo CDs have sounded to me.

 

The importance of a high-caliber concert act like Wilco finally coming here was not lost on Ward, who has been promoting the show through his new My Town blog for the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

 

"This is a good night for our town," Ward said.

 

Indeed it was. In fact, it was pretty awesome. And I don't say that very often.

 

 

Wilco setlist

1. Wilco (The Song)

2. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart

3. You Are My Face

4. One Wing

5. Pot Kettle Black

6. A Shot in the Arm

7. Bull Black Nova

8. Side with the Seeds

9. Should've Been in Love (request)

10. Handshake Drugs

11. Shake it Off

12. At Least That's What You Said

13. Jesus, Etc.

14. Impossible Germany

15. Via Chicago

16. You Never Know

17. Spiders (Kidsmoke)

18. Misunderstood

19. Hummingbird

(encore)

20. Heavy Metal Drummer

21. Hate it Here

22. I'm the Man Who Loves You

[sticky2000]

you might wanna change that to say "homicide"

 

just a tip.

[moxiebean]

Brillo-haired singer

Art Garfunkel's fronting Wilco?

[saul goode]

This was a really great show! I have seen them three other times and this was the best by far, it made the 800+ mile trek worth it. I was worried that they would play a "slower" show because it was in a theater, and not a sell out... boy was I wrong! Nels on the double neck guitar was a little over the top though, I don't think I ever saw him play the top neck. I'll try and post up a pic later.

 

Here is a clip of BBN, the only video I took, the quality came out better than I thought, I wish I would have taken more than one now.

 

Enjoy

 

Link removed to comply with VC rules of video posting. If you want to see it PM and I'll give you the link

 

SG

Edited June 19, 2009 by saul goode

[W(TF)]

Here is a clip of BBN, the only video I took, the quality came out better than I thought, I wish I would have taken more than one now.

 

Enjoy

 

That was pretty good quality..thanks for posting. Jeff sure looked surprised when he hit that bum chord.

[barnyard pimp]

shake it off!

[froggie]

Art Garfunkel's fronting Wilco?

 

 

nah, he's touring australia this month. although "tweedy & garfunkel" sounds like a good idea!. he could pull off a good version of Its just that simple

[saul goode]

Does anyone know if there was an El Paso specific poster? I don't remember seeing one at the show.

[radioheadless]

Does anyone know if there was an El Paso specific poster? I don't remember seeing one at the show.

 

There was no El Paso poster commissioned for this show, sad to say...I checked with their merch guy as soon as I got there.

 

Also, the setlist as posted in the original post is slightly off; "Spiders" and "Misunderstood" are switched around, and "Walken" was also included in the encore. The band played from approximately 9:20pm to 11:30pm, much like they did for Tucson the following night. Here's the corrected list:

 

1. Wilco (The Song)

2. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart

3. You Are My Face

4. One Wing

5. Pot Kettle Black

6. A Shot in the Arm

7. Bull Black Nova

8. Side with the Seeds

9. Should've Been in Love (request)

10. Handshake Drugs

11. Shake it Off

12. At Least That's What You Said

13. Jesus, Etc.

14. Impossible Germany

15. Via Chicago

16. You Never Know

17. Misunderstood

18. Spiders (Kidsmoke)

19. Hummingbird

(encore)

20. Heavy Metal Drummer

21. Hate it Here

22. Walken

23. I'm the Man Who Loves You

 

This was my 17th Wilco show and will go down as a personal favorite of mine. The El Paso audience may have been relatively small, but they more than made up for it with sheer enthusiasm -- and I too was shocked at how well everyone knew the words to so many songs. Great fun.

[sky blue bats]

Any tapers?

[saul goode]

Any tapers?

 

 

I didn't see any, but then again I wasn't really looking for them.... does anyone know?

[mikechuck]

There was no El Paso poster commissioned for this show, sad to say...I checked with their merch guy as soon as I got there.

 

Also, the setlist as posted in the original post is slightly off; "Spiders" and "Misunderstood" are switched around, and "Walken" was also included in the encore. The band played from approximately 9:20pm to 11:30pm, much like they did for Tucson the following night. Here's the corrected list:

 

1. Wilco (The Song)

2. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart

3. You Are My Face

4. One Wing......

 

This was my 17th Wilco show and will go down as a personal favorite of mine. The El Paso audience may have been relatively small, but they more than made up for it with sheer enthusiasm -- and I too was shocked at how well everyone knew the words to so many songs. Great fun.

 

 

Thanks for correcting the setlist. I knew something was off with it when I posted it. I just pasted it from the El Paso Times and was out the door for Tucson and didn't take the time to correct it.

 

Glad you liked the El Paso crowd. Jeff seemed to as well. The thing is, no one really ever comes here. We're so starved for good shows that when we get one, we simply give off tremendous energy to the performers. Bands don't make a lot of money here, but they love our audiences.