Jump to content

Wilco — 2/5/12, Vancouver, BC, Canada (Orpheum Theatre)


Recommended Posts

A good showing by the Vancouver (Van City? The 'Couve? :lol ) crowd on Super Bowl Sunday, which led to a lighthearted but pretty spirited show. It was one of the more energetic theatre crowds I can remember in a while, with people on their feet from the start and even crowding the aisles down front despite the best efforts of the security guards and venue staff.

 

As usual of late, Jeff didn't say anything through the first third of the show and even when he finally broke the silence after Impossible Germany, he offered only the standard "we've got a lot of business to attend to" line and "not much time for chitchat." But once he really got going a few songs later, pointing out a woman and asking if she was Michaela (sp?) and congratulating her on her upcoming wedding, he was pretty chatty the rest of the evening.

 

After talking to Michaela, Jeff joked that he knew she was getting married because he was psychic and proceeded to run with that gag for a while. For instance, he subsequently pointed at another guy and asked if he had "just lost a pet. His name was Kevin, wasn't it?" And later, he pointed out a kid wearing a New York Giants jersey in the front row and said, "I think your favorite sportsball team won today." That led to a bit about penalty flags; apparently someone had thrown some sort of yellow cloth resembling a football penalty flag up on stage earlier and Jeff held it up and said he wished he "had one of these for every audience."

 

The last bit of banter I noted might be a bit difficult to convey, but basically Jeff asked the crowd why Canadians were "Cuh-nay-dee-ans" instead of "Can-uh-dee-ans" since Canada is pronounced with the accent on the first syllable. He said he wished that it was the latter because then he could change the lyrics in California Stars, which he proceeded to do a few times anyway. :lol

 

There was some other funny interaction between Jeff and crowd, particularly with some very enthusiastic, air-guitaring guys in the front row, a couple of whom apparently kept running back and forth to stand next to each other...or something.

 

Anyway, here was the complete setlist as played (only caught a brief glance of the printed list, so I'm not totally sure about any changes/omissions, but the encore—at least—seemed to be played as listed :thumbup ):

 

One Sunday Morning>

Poor Places>

Art Of Almost

I Might

IATTBYH>

One Wing

Radio Cure

Impossible Germany

Born Alone

Spiders (Kidsmoke) (acoustic arrangement)

I'll Fight

Handshake Drugs

Via Chicago

California Stars ("Canadian [pronounced can-uh-dee-an] Stars" :canada )

I Must Be High

Pot Kettle Black

Dawned On Me

A Shot in the Arm

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

Whole Love

Heavy Metal Drummer

Walken

Red-Eyed and Blue>

I Got You (At The End of the Century)>

Outtasite (Outta Mind)

Link to post
Share on other sites

Review from the Vancouver Sun:

 

http://www.vancouver...6129/story.html

 

This may be a record for fastest posting of a concert review by a major metropolitan newspaper. Posted at 11:07 p.m. That had to be like what, 7 minutes after the show ended?

 

Posting at 11:07 would have been like two minutes after the show ended! The band played until about 11:05. Seems like the reviewer had a decent chunk of the review written already and didn't stay for the encore, but that's still a pretty solid recap on deadline.

Link to post
Share on other sites

It was one of the more energetic theatre crowds I can remember in a while, with people on their feet from the start and even crowding the aisles down front despite the best efforts of the security guards and venue staff.

 

Super high-energy crowd and show! With the exception of OSM, none of the "quieter" songs from TWL were played. Acoustic Spiders sounded fantastic. Encore rocked hard! Thanks for the setlist, bbop!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Really fun show! First time I've seen an audience at the Orpheum on their feet from beginning to end. Snuck down the aisle during the encore and saw a lot of air guitar and 'Snoopy dancing' in the front rows. One security guy seemed pretty into it, as well. Nice to see Vancouver let loose and give them the love they deserve.

Link to post
Share on other sites

8th Wilco show part of a brilliant weekend in Vancouver. Up in the balcony which didn't quite have the energy of the floor. Loved the new songs live especially 'One Sunday Morning' which was gorgeous. Being selfish I would have loved to hear a couple more. Rocking encore. For me the show sagged just a tad in the middle. Probably heresy but I would have swapped any of 'I Am Trying...', 'Handshake Drugs' or 'Impossible Germany' for something played less often. 'Spiders' acoustic is dull to these ears too. Given the wonderful acoustics of the Orpheum where you can hear every note of the guitar perfectly something like 'Forget The Flowers' would have been perfect. Anyways - splitting hairs. I think the was Wilco's first indoor show here since 2007. Another great show. Onto Seattle.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Posting at 11:07 would have been like two minutes after the show ended! The band played until about 11:05. Seems like the reviewer had a decent chunk of the review written already and didn't stay for the encore, but that's still a pretty solid recap on deadline.

 

Nice review. The version of Spiders done acoustically isn't a new version, though, it's the original version.

 

8th Wilco show part of a brilliant weekend in Vancouver. Up in the balcony which didn't quite have the energy of the floor. Loved the new songs live especially 'One Sunday Morning' which was gorgeous. Being selfish I would have loved to hear a couple more. Rocking encore. For me the show sagged just a tad in the middle. Probably heresy but I would have swapped any of 'I Am Trying...', 'Handshake Drugs' or 'Impossible Germany' for something played less often. 'Spiders' acoustic is dull to these ears too. Given the wonderful acoustics of the Orpheum where you can hear every note of the guitar perfectly something like 'Forget The Flowers' would have been perfect. Anyways - splitting hairs. I think the was Wilco's first indoor show here since 2007. Another great show. Onto Seattle.

 

Spiders (acoustic) dull?? Blasphemy!! :lol

 

Looks like a great, energetic setlist!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Great show, and I have to hand it to Vancouver - I have troubling memories of Jeff pleading with the audience for any sign of life at the 2004 Orpheum show, but the crowd (and band) were on fire all night. My only complaint, as always, is that I'd like to have heard more songs from "The Whole Love". They only get back here every 2 years (as John points out in a recent interview!), this may be the only chance we have to hear "Black Moon" "Standing O" "Capitol City" "Rising Red Lung" etc...

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...

A solid show from a very tight talented group, I was lucky to be down in front of Nels. First the sound was perfect, also I loved the fans energy this night, in the old days Tweedy would of gave someone shit but he is totally chill and seems to be in a good place with great bandmates, he did appear to be going through the motions a couple times from my vantage point, as he was peering at Nels who was attacking his guitar for one of his many solid solos. But overall it was a five star show I just wish they would play Vancouver more often, These guys give great performance’s night in and night out I have been seeing Wilco since the 97 and aside from the skeleton band of 2001 - 2003 these guys just plain rawk...

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...