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Wilco — 3/9/12, Bologna, Italy (Estragon)


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Apologies to the handful of you who might care for the delay in posting last night's setlist — and thank you kindly, Bologna airport, for having free WiFi. I don't know if I really have that much insight to offer on this show, and I'm certainly not operating at 100 percent brainpower at the moment, but I can confirm that it was another fun Italian show.

 

To start off, I have to give credit to the Italian crowds the past two nights. Obviously this is a total overgeneralization on my part, but judging purely from what I saw, they're willing to line up (pretty) early, are enthusiastic and both respectful and rowdy at the appropriate moments and just generally good music fans. They also really like to "sing" guitar riffs and clap along, but that's another story. Anyway, it was a pleasure to get to stand in their midst for the past two shows. (On a personal note, I hope you found your way to this forum, Davide...It was nice to meet you!)

 

Actually Jeff voiced similar sentiments about last night's crowd, while also expressing some thoughts about what a weird venue Estragon is. "We always expect a lot from Italian audiences, and we're never disappointed," he said before Heavy Metal Drummer. "Even if we're in the middle of a parking lot. You always hear how beautiful Bologna is...and I believe it." :lol

 

Everyone in attendance had to chuckle a bit at that comment because the Estragon is relatively far from civilization compared with most venues Wilco plays, maybe two to three miles out of the city center, and safe to say, unpicturesque. It looks like one of those sports bubbles plopped down in the middle of a huge parking lot just off a major highway. There were actually two bubbles next to each other in the complex — the other one looked like it might cover an indoor soccer field or something — and I couldn't help wondering if it was named Vladimir. (A little Waiting For Godot humor there, sorry.) Anyway, it was kind of an odd place for a show, but the band made the most of it. :rock

 

Jeff had some other funny banter as well when he pulled out one of the vast array of bootleg T-shirts being sold outside the venue (not sure why I'm surprised, but I think there were probably even more bootleg shirt stands outside last night than in Milan). This one in particular was hilarious because it featured cartoon likenesses of four of the six band members that were ripped off from the Dawned On Me video — let's just say that video seems to have been particularly fruitful as source material for T-shirt bootleggers — but Jeff and Pat were nowhere to be found. :ninja

 

So Jeff calls attention to this omission right before Born Alone and proceeds to have the band demonstrate what that song would be like without himself and Pat. At first they can't even figure out how to start it (without Pat counting it off) and then they got it down the second time and even Jeff had to admit that it "actually sounded pretty good." But the whole thing was just funny. :lol

 

I didn't get a look at the printed setlist, so I can't say if there were any adjustments but I thought it veered between a sort of standard one for this tour in a city the band haven't played before (or have only played once — who knew they apparently played some stadium in Bologna in 1999?) and some nice deeper cuts. When The Roses Bloom Again came from seemingly nowhere and sounded great, and Via Chicago reappeared (sorry Pillowy Star). And you don't always get songs like I Must Be High and Monday in a city the band doesn't play frequently.

 

OK, I think that's about as much of a report as I can muster for now. Will make every effort to check in once more from Zagreb after sleeping for about 10 years... :yawn

 

Here was the complete setlist for Estragon, as played:

 

One Sunday Morning>

Poor Places>

Art Of Almost

I Might

IATTBYH>

One Wing

Black Moon

Spiders (Kidsmoke) (acoustic arrangement)

Impossible Germany

When The Roses Bloom Again

Born Alone

Laminated Cat (electric arrangement)

Capitol City>

I Must Be High

Whole Love

Heavy Metal Drummer

Dawned On Me

A Shot in the Arm

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

Via Chicago

The Late Greats

Walken

I'm The Man Who Loves You

Monday

I'm A Wheel

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I always enjoy reading your post-show nuggets, Paul! Sounds like a stand-out show to me (Born Alone w/out Jeff!) And Monday/I'm a Wheel back to back in the encore-- I would have spontaneously combusted if I'd been there.

 

Hope to see you in the Southeast if you're headed this way in May!

 

Thanks for kind words! However, I should have clarified in my post that they just did a couple of bars of Born Alone without Jeff and Pat and then stopped and did the whole song properly from start to finish. Didn't mean to be misleading, although that would have been even cooler if they did an instrumental version...haha.

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When The Roses Bloom Again came from seemingly nowhere and sounded great, and Via Chicago reappeared (sorry Pillowy Star).

 

Oh well. :ohwell I guess I can't really complain when I count how often I have heard it live.

 

Glad you had a good time at the Italian shows, Paul :wave

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