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Wilco -- 14/9/10, London, UK

bböp

By bböp,
in After The Show

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bböp

bböp

Posted
Posted

OK, I'm on the case...:ninja

 

First of all, special guest star "Synthesizer Patel" on You Never Know! He totally rocked those mutton chops and that keytar, much to the confusion of almost everyone! :thumbup

 

All in all, a darn great-sounding room -- I don't think I've ever quite heard Jeff's voice and Glenn's pressure-regulated drums on "Reservations" so clearly -- and a more vibrant crowd than I expected. Of course, Jeff had to basically goad everyone into standing up about halfway through the set, but at least most people remained standing. An interesting mix of songs, too, perhaps owing to the fact that it was the band's third London show in little over a year. Maybe it was just the sequencing, but it definitely kept me off-balance. :cheers

 

Anyway, the complete setlist as played:

 

—"The Price Is Right" theme music intro—

Wilco (the song)

Bull Black Nova

You Are My Face

How To Fight Loneliness>

One Wing

Via Chicago

Handshake Drugs

War On War

Impossible Germany

Someday, Some Morning, Sometime (Jeff broke a string during the end solo, and proceeded to replay it afterward with a fresh guitar)

Laminated Cat

I'll Fight

California Stars

Hate It Here

I'm Always In Love

Red-Eyed and Blue>

I Got You (At The End of the Century)

A Shot in the Arm

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

Poor Places>

Reservations>

Misunderstood

You Never Know (w/Synthesizer Patel on keytar)

Jesus, etc.

Heavy Metal Drummer

I'm The Man Who Loves You

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keeprighton2

keeprighton2

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Great to see the trad/regular setlists deconstructed a little - Jesus Etc (no singalong) in encores and Shot In The Arm later than usual.

 

Classic encore trilogy 'Poor Places/Reservations/Misunderstood' and 'Someday..../Not for The Season' was a nice surprise double.

 

Never seen Tweedy looking so happy - great venue/fairly steeply banked seating and boxes etc. 'Wecome to the galactic senate' was Tweedy's observation of the rows of boxes high up in the gods.

 

All in all felt like the band were moving out of cultdom and up to the next level.

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H.Stone

H.Stone

Posted
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OK, I'm on the case...:ninja

Gonna stay on the scene? (Get on up!) Like a-- Wait, no.

 

That seems like a really unusual encore. How often has ITMWLY been the closer? Or is Jesus Etc. part of the encore? (There has to be a WilcoBase "app" for that.) And Synthesizer Patel: where was he on stage? Was he enthusiastic? Dead-pan? Hahaha. That's good stuff. Was he introduced or did he just show up, like cowbell Hall & Oates?

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suites

suites

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Man, Poor Places > Reservations > Misunderstood alone would have made my night, plus REB > I Got You for good measure. Think the Solid Sound and London setlists were accidentally swapped. :shifty

 

 

I agree those 3 in a row is really all they need to play for me to be happy

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Infinite Jest

Infinite Jest

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Man, Poor Places > Reservations > Misunderstood alone would have made my night, plus REB > I Got You for good measure.

 

I was ecstatic by the time they'd played '...Loneliness', 'Someday...' and Laminated Cat. And then they just kept playing the classics. It was wonderful. A perfect companion set to the End of the Road show two days earlier, very little overlap. They played my website request (Laminated Cat) and I also begged them to mix the set up a bit, so whether they were listening to me or not, it was great to see. The sound was great, as bbop said. I don't like seeing Wilco in seated venues, but after hearing that show, I can understand the advantages of playing there.

 

Jeff seemed in a very good mood. Some good banter:

 

'welcome to the representatives of the galactic senate. We have much to discuss' (while gesturing to the crowd in the boxes, seen at the sides of this pic: http://www.acoustics.salford.ac.uk/acoustics_info/concert_hall_acoustics/images/hall.jpg)

 

[crowd shouts] Jeff: "you *still* love us? Why still? What did we do?" [crowd shouts] "Oh, you love *me*? [pause] Why is it always guys who shout that?"

 

"This is the third time in a year that we've played London. So I don't want to hear anyone ever say again that we hate London. [pause] Unless it's one of us"

 

He then convinces the crowd to stand up "I don't want to tell you to stand up, because that's what got me into trouble last time. But if you *want* to stand up...." [shouts from the crowd that we need someone to tell us to stand up] "Oh, you can't just organise yourselves? Senators? What shall we do?" - people eventually stand up [Can someone explain this? I'm not English and haven't lived here long - what's the Wilco/London issue?].

 

(And then after saying Wilco don't hate London, the next song is 'Hate it Here' :D)

 

Towards the end he told people to stop shouting out song titles, because it was wasting time and they didn't have much left.

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bböp

bböp

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Gonna stay on the scene? (Get on up!) Like a-- Wait, no.

 

That seems like a really unusual encore. How often has ITMWLY been the closer? Or is Jesus Etc. part of the encore? (There has to be a WilcoBase "app" for that.) And Synthesizer Patel: where was he on stage? Was he enthusiastic? Dead-pan? Hahaha. That's good stuff. Was he introduced or did he just show up, like cowbell Hall & Oates?

 

Re Synthesizer, he came out unannounced midway through the song. Then Jeff said, "Synthesizer Patel, everybody!" once during the song and then again afterward. He sort of pranced around the front of the stage, starting off on Pat and John's side and I think possibly facing off with Nels briefly at one point.

 

Couldn't really see his facial expression that well, but I think he was pretty deadpan for the most part. He was definitely "in character" when he was on stage.

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H.Stone

H.Stone

Posted
Posted

He had a keytar. What more do you need?

 

I was going to say, "You're right" until I saw andrewdowdall's picture. Turns out that was what I needed. Go, Synth!

 

 

"This is the third time in a year that we've played London. So I don't want to hear anyone ever say again that we hate London. [pause] Unless it's one of us"

 

:lol

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tblair

tblair

Posted
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amazing, as ever.....

 

 

but!!!.........

 

 

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I thought it was too loud :omg

 

some of the 'heavy' bits, where Nils and Jeff go off into one, were painful. I've always thought it was amazing how Wilco manage to create the dynamics, without overbearing levels of sound. We were sitting about half-way back, slightly to the side, in direct line of the pa, and it was just too loud. Even the quiter songs were really loud too. As that review says, it's a credit to the system that it never even got close to distorting, and Jeffs voacals sounded fantastic (and Glenns harmonies are ever improving).

 

I thought the pattern of quiet bit, very loud bit, bit of chaos thrown in for good measure was way overdone. I like the songs too.... Company In My Back, Hummingbird, they've never played On & On & On in London...

 

and Synthesiser Patel..?? what's that about? was it supposed to be funny?

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tblair

tblair

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too loud? i was on the main balcony and wanted them to crank it a bit more.

 

that said, sound quality was great. and an amazing setlist, Via Chicago was incredible. praying for a recording.

as I said, the quality was great. Maybe it was just the position of my seat. But overall, I thought it was overly 'heavy'...

 

and I like heavy

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adrock

adrock

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[Can someone explain this? I'm not English and haven't lived here long - what's the Wilco/London issue?].

 

Back in '95 on one of Wilco's first UK tours they played a show at the Shepherd's Bush Empire on a Sunday night at the end of a long tour. Jeff was tired and super cranky and the audience was in kind of a Sunday night lethargic funk. Jeff kept on berating the audience for being so quiet qnd unenthusiastic and eventually people started walking out (I stuck it out). So ever since then it's been kind of a running joke about his relationship with the London audiences.

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H.Stone

H.Stone

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and Synthesiser Patel..?? what's that about? was it supposed to be funny?

 

In the song You Never Know:

 

It's a long heavy hell

Synthesizer Patel

I don't care anymore

I don't care anymore

 

 

As for why that's the lyric, you never know. (Sorry. That was awful.)

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tblair

tblair

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In the song You Never Know:

 

It's a long heavy hell

Synthesizer Patel

I don't care anymore

I don't care anymore

 

 

As for why that's the lyric, you never know. (Sorry. That was awful.)

:)

I'd never picked up on that lyric before, ta....

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froggie

froggie

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Back in '95 on one of Wilco's first UK tours they played a show at the Shepherd's Bush Empire on a Sunday night at the end of a long tour. Jeff was tired and super cranky and the audience was in kind of a Sunday night lethargic funk. Jeff kept on berating the audience for being so quiet qnd unenthusiastic and eventually people started walking out (I stuck it out). So ever since then it's been kind of a running joke about his relationship with the London audiences.

 

that was april '97 during Kingpin.

 

and i finally understand what Synthesizer Patel means now!

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