Jeff Tweedy -- 8/8/09, Chicago, IL

[bböp]

Plenty of VCers in attendance, so I'll just reserve comment and simply post the setlist for tonight's benefit show at the lovely Emanuel Congregation:

 

—Hebrew prayer (Baruch atah adonai, elohaynu melech ha'olam boray p'ri ha'gafen)—

Sunken Treasure

Remember The Mountain Bed

I'll Fight

Hummingbird

Muzzle of Bees

Long Time Ago

Laminated Cat/Not For The Season

Someday, Some Morning, Sometime

—Happy Birthday sung to both "Mary Beth" and Rabbi Zedek—

Box Full of Letters

Airline to Heaven [requested as "Airplane to Heaven" ]

Theologians

A Shot in the Arm

Pick Up The Change [stopped and restarted because of forgotten lyric]

One By One

So Much Wine [Handsome Family]

Solitaire

California Stars

I'm The Man Who Loves You

-----------------------

I Shall Be Released [bob Dylan]

True Love Will Find You In The End [Daniel Johnston]

Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway(again)

Pecan Pie

You and I

Ripple [Grateful Dead] [instrumental fragment only]

[Jesus, etc. aborted]

Hate It Here

The Thanks I Get

[Preferred B]

It was a pretty unique show experience! Thanks for the setlist as usual, P. Susan did come out before the show to take requests from folks in line, which was very nice. I didn't request it, but I think one of my favorite songs of the night was "So Much Wine." It's a gorgeous song to begin with, but Jeff does it so well. So thanks to whomever asked for that one. I just got home, so I need to crash. (We managed to make it to Fleet Foxes afterward. Even caught Dungen's last two songs!) I look forward to more people chiming in.

[Bhickman]

Great show. Had a nice chat with the dude, the dude's friend (Mike?) and Tommy and his fiancee from VA Beach. Nice to see Jeff again, but realize now I should have gotten at the end of the line to maybe be able to have a quick conversation with him. Oh well...next time. Nice that he remembered me. And I finally got up the nerve to introduce myself to Sue properly! I have a problem introducing myself to women I have loads of respect for. I couldn't bring myself to say hi to Emmylou Harris once, Neko Case when i interviewed the new pornographers and have never said hi to Katie Tuten of the Hideout. I'm a dork.

[blureu]

Long Time Ago!?! That's a rare one.

[W(TF)]

[Jesus, etc. aborted]

 

Hmmm, why abort Jesus? I thought this was a liberal congregation.

[terrapin]

Jeff was great. Peter...not so much. Tough crowd for a stand-up. Fortunately, he wasn't on for long.

 

I was surprised that so many seats were empty.

 

Hate it Here sounds good acoustic.

 

Good Bob Weir story after the Ripple opening (in response to a shout out) -- paraphrase: at some unnamed festival, Bob walks into the Wilco dressing room by mistake. He stands staring for a moment and says, "Carry on". Jeff: "And I wouldn't have it any other way."

[DAngerer09]

any tapers?

[Gewee]

Great time last night at the temple! Interesting song selection... A few other notes to add: big thumbs up to The Dude for the lyrical assist on Pick up the Change. Jeff was trying to remember the end of the first verse and came down to the front row, got the lyrics from The Dude and returned. Dude, almost snapped a picture of you and Jeff conferring but it did not come out....

 

Before skipping Jesus etc, Jeff said something like "not going to do that one right now"

Crowd: "play it"

Jeff retorted: "You don;t even know what I was going to play"

Crowd "Jesus Etc!" and one guy shouted "Capo on the 5th!"

Jeff: How'd you know that? Freaky! Played 2 seconds and shook it off

 

Before Ripple:

Guy in back: Ripple!

Jeff: I don't know know that one

Guy: You played it before

Jeff: Yeah with a lyric sheet two feet away. Played intro and first lyric in a very low voice. The in faux-brag mode: Hey I played that with Phil Lesh once and he forgot the lyrics. The talked about Weir.

 

Don't think anyone was taping unfortunately

 

Jeff and Sue were extremely gracious afterwards and before. Nice night!

 

any tapers?

 

 

Don't think so. I heard someone say there was a no taping policy there and I saw no mic stands.

[Gewee]

Great show. Had a nice chat with the dude, the dude's friend (Mike?) and Tommy and his fiancee from VA Beach. Nice to see Jeff again, but realize now I should have gotten at the end of the line to maybe be able to have a quick conversation with him. Oh well...next time. Nice that he remembered me. And I finally got up the nerve to introduce myself to Sue properly! I have a problem introducing myself to women I have loads of respect for. I couldn't bring myself to say hi to Emmylou Harris once, Neko Case when i interviewed the new pornographers and have never said hi to Katie Tuten of the Hideout. I'm a dork.

 

 

I think I was right behind you (sitting next to he VA couple).. same experience. Spoke with Sue briefly at the end after talking with Jeff. Dorks unite!

[shoesgetcold3]

I have become the guy I used to hate. I loved hearing Wine, Love will find you, and Long Time Ago even though they are not on a Wilco proper album nor instantly recognizable to even a die hard. The beauty of the solo show is hearing gems that not only would you never get during a full band performance, but are rare in a solo setting as well. The most impressive songs from my point of view were Hummingbird and Hate it Here because Jeff does not play guitar on those songs with a full band. So to hear Jeff's solo interpretation is something different and very cool. The two AM songs really sounded great live, the strong alt-country tunes really go well on acoustic guitar. I thought Nothings ever gonna was the most emotionally charged song of the evening as the guitar really popped. And getting I Shall Be Released (which is among my favorite all time songs) was more then I could have asked for.

 

The event was extremely well run from start to finish. The volunteers and security staff were professional, yet friendly. The setup was great with all three price point sections well marked. I counted (more estimated) about 800 seats and I thought most were filled. Yes there were some empties, but no huge blocks of seats. The sound was very very good and pure. The crowd was mostly polite, although there were still quite a few requests being shouted, something I had hoped would not happen in a more conservative setting (even though the temple is reformed)

 

My favorite banter of the night was Jeff in response to Peter calling him out on being lazy by naming the last album and first track eponymously. Jeff joked that Peter does not name all his jokes, he just call them jokes.

[cmackey34]

This was a great show... and it was totally me who yelled "Jesus, Etc." and "capo 5"... I guess I was over excited to hear that song solo.

[H.Stone]

I didn't request it, but I think one of my favorite songs of the night was "So Much Wine." It's a gorgeous song to begin with, but Jeff does it so well. So thanks to whomever asked for that one. I just got home, so I need to crash. (We managed to make it to Fleet Foxes afterward. Even caught Dungen's last two songs!) I look forward to more people chiming in.

 

I'd like to hear that. (Actually, it would have been an appropriate song for me to hear last night. Oy.) Glad to hear you were able to pull off the double-header, as well! Impressive.

[M. (hristine]

I have become the guy I used to hate. I loved hearing Wine, Love will find you, and Long Time Ago even though they are not on a Wilco proper album nor instantly recognizable to even a die hard. The beauty of the solo show is hearing gems that not only would you never get during a full band performance, but are rare in a solo setting as well. The most impressive songs from my point of view were Hummingbird and Hate it Here because Jeff does not play guitar on those songs with a full band. So to hear Jeff's solo interpretation is something different and very cool. The two AM songs really sounded great live, the strong alt-country tunes really go well on acoustic guitar. I thought Nothings ever gonna was the most emotionally charged song of the evening as the guitar really popped. And getting I Shall Be Released (which is among my favorite all time songs) was more then I could have asked for.

 

 

This is a wonderful post.

I love the primitive, nuanced, intimate nature of a songwriter and his guitar.

Jeff hasn't done much solo touring in the past couple of years, and I have feared that this part of his career has become 'obsolete'.

[Guest Jules]

Had a great time. I really enjoyed the set list. Esp. Long Time Ago, Someday..., Wine... Wendy came and sat with my wife and I, which was an added bonus.

 

I thought Peter did pretty well, actually. Kept it topical (New York vs. Chicago, Wilco jokes, etc), and short. Good intro. for the show.

 

Anyway, really glad I made it down there.

 

-Jules

[Gewee]

 

My favorite banter of the night was Jeff in response to Peter calling him out on being lazy by naming the last album and first track eponymously. Jeff joked that Peter does not name all his jokes, he just call them jokes.

 

 

And Jeff continued "Do you have one called Airplane to Heaven?"

[Dude]

Great time last night at the temple! Interesting song selection... A few other notes to add: big thumbs up to The Dude for the lyrical assist on Pick up the Change. Jeff was trying to remember the end of the first verse and came down to the front row, got the lyrics from The Dude and returned. Dude, almost snapped a picture of you and Jeff conferring but it did not come out....

 

Thanks man. 'Course, the lyric ("We used to have a lot of things in common, but you know now we're just the same") is one of my favorites off AM. Personally though, I think Remembering the 'Mountain Bed' more than makes up for the fact that he occasionally Forgets the 'Pick Up the Change'.

 

I didn't request it, but I think one of my favorite songs of the night was "So Much Wine." It's a gorgeous song to begin with, but Jeff does it so well. So thanks to whomever asked for that one.

 

"So Much Wine" sounded great, as did "True Love Will Find You in the End", which doesn't get trotted out too often. As I said to a friend, there are no bad setlists at Tweedy / Wilco shows.

[bböp]

Long Time Ago!?! That's a rare one.

 

Yeah, seems like it's only been played once before solo (not sure about living room shows) — at Martyr's in '03. And then once with Golden Smog when Jeff played the one show at the Vic in '06. At least that's all I could find.

[Preferred B]

Yeah, seems like it's only been played once before solo (not sure about living room shows) — at Martyr's in '03. And then once with Golden Smog when Jeff played the one show at the Vic in '06. At least that's all I could find.

The song he played at Martyr's in '03 was not this Golden Smog song. It was another song, maybe not even formally titled; a snippet of something he'd found on a tape from the Anodyne era. At least I think that's was he said at the show.

 

Aside from Golden Smog, I don't know if that song had ever been played during a show before.

[bböp]

The song he played at Martyr's in '03 was not this Golden Smog song. It was another song, maybe not even formally titled; a snippet of something he'd found on a tape from the Anodyne era. At least I think that's was he said at the show.

 

Aside from Golden Smog, I don't know if that song had ever been played during a show before.

 

Oh, I was just going by Wilcobase (Rob has that Martyr's snippet listed as "A Long Time Ago"). Haha, I was actually at that Martyr's show too, and I thought I didn't remember this Long Time Ago being played. So perhaps last night was the live solo debut? Thanks for setting the record straight, B.

[candyfloss1214]

We were sitting right behind all of you! And, it was nice to meet you, Gewee, and sit next to you at the show. Hope you had a safe trip back. My husband is going through the pictures and I will post them soon. Jeff was very gracious post-show. I'm just glad I didn't say anything stupid or drool on myself. Hearing the new songs acoustic really added a whole new dimension to my appreciation for the new album. Overall, AWESOME evening.

 

I think I was right behind you (sitting next to he VA couple).. same experience. Spoke with Sue briefly at the end after talking with Jeff. Dorks unite!

[Dude]

Jeff was very gracious post-show. I'm just glad I didn't say anything stupid or drool on myself.

 

I felt a little bad for the fact that Peter Grosz was getting largely ignored in that meet and greet line. I mean, not too bad. Just a little.

[candyfloss1214]

Right! I wanted to say something to him, but he kind of shuffled off to the side and was not making eye contact with anyone. I think he felt awkward. He was really funny and I wanted to thank him, too.

 

I felt a little bad for the fact that Peter Grosz was getting largely ignored in that meet and greet line. I mean, not too bad. Just a little.

[candyfloss1214]

Here are some pictures from the show last night courtesy of my husband. The link is to his FB, but I think this will work:

 

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30259301&l=87bb2d42cc&id=1540287247

[Tommy74]

What a weekend. Just got back home in Virginia Beach after a days travel from Chicago. What a show last night. My fiance Mara and I had a great time meeting all the good folks from VC. We were sitting right behind The Dude, nice job on the lyrics. I thought the set list was fantastic, as was the sound quality. Mara and I are both very jealous of you Chicagoans. What a great city with a great hometown band. We are crossing our fingers for a winter residency.

[Maddie Hope]

Wow I sure wish someone recorded, the setlist is wonderful! Wish I could have been there...