TWEEDY — 6/11/14, Louisville, KY (Brown Theatre)

[bböp]

Kind of a weird crowd, which fortunately didn't detract from the performance too much. It might have even helped a little, given that Jeff seemed a bit more talky than at some other shows. (Though I myself could have done with less of the woman to my right shrieking repeatedly but none of it seemed to annoy Jeff greatly so maybe I'm just overreacting.)

 

Jeff did seem to be in a more talkative mood than previous shows, joking about his "bass butt" and how, when playing guitar with a pick, he had to be careful because he had a tendency "to get down with my bad self." He also engaged in an extended discussion of how he thought he had a "resting sad face" and demonstrated how said face looked when completely relaxed. He also shared his wife's opinion that he had a "resting bitch face."

 

So there were those bits in addition to continuing discussion of the burgeoning TWEEDY cult (pierogis! chili dogs! whatever they eat in Louisville!). Also an extended band introduction that included a mention of the band getting a White House tour while in Washington and showing guitarist Jim Elkington (who is British) where "his people" had burned the place down. There was also some reminiscing about Jeff knowing bassist Darin Gray since he was 15 years old and one memory Jeff had of how one of Darin's old bands had once played *after* Black Flag (that story somehow ended with Darin under the drum riser).

 

By now, we have an idea of the general format of these shows but it's nice that Jeff and Co. are still finding ways to throw in a pleasant surprise or two every night. Perhaps it's just to keep things fresh for him and/or the band outside of the new material. Or it's a little reward of sorts for the audience sitting and listening to a whole set of unfamiliar songs. Either way, it's much appreciated.

 

Tonight, to start off the first encore, we got a fun, full-band version of Give Back The Key To My Heart with father and son singing together on the choruses. That was a treat, personally speaking, even if the band maybe didn't absolutely nail the song. Jeff said it was the most requested song of the night, though perhaps he stuffed the ballot box himself on that one? Wink, wink.

 

I could write more about the odd wooers and request yellers, but I guess the crowd was on the right side of rowdy for the most part. (Though even Jeff had to pause mid-song to say, "You guys are really weird," during the show-closing, off-PA Misunderstood when someone yelled out "Yeah, yeah" in an odd tone of voice between verses). Que sera sera, I guess...at least on this night.

 

Anyway, here was the complete setlist — as played — for Louisville:

 

Down From Above*

Diamond Light*

Honey Combed*

Flowering*

Desert Bell*

Summer Noon*

Fake Fur Coat#

World Away*

New Moon*

High As Hello*

Where My Love*

Slow Love*

Nobody Dies Anymore*

Via Chicago^

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart^

New Madrid^

Pecan Pie^

No More Poetry^

You And I^

Hummingbird^

Laminated Cat (aka Not For The Season)^

The Ruling Class^

Passenger Side^

Jesus, etc.^

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

Give Back The Key To My Heart* [Doug Sahm]

Low Key* (w/Scott McCaughey on keyboard)

California Stars* (w/Scott McCaughey on keyboard)

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

Misunderstood^ (performed at edge of stage w/o PA system)

 

* — w/full TWEEDY band

# — w/guitarist Jim Elkington only

^ — Jeff solo acoustic

[bböp]

And once again, in case anyone is interested, here was the complete setlist for the opening set by the Minus 5 (which was reduced to a three piece tonight since guitarist Casey Neill, who had played in Baltimore and Washington, apparently couldn't make it; Liam Cunningham of the TWEEDY band pitched in on keyboard and electric guitar for most of the set):

 

I Still Miss Someone [Johnny Cash]

Twilight Distillery

The Old Plantation

The Days of Wine and Booze

My Generation

In The Ground

Can't Explain [The Who]

Aw Shit Man

There Is No Music

Original Luke

 

Of course Scott noted that they played My Generation and Can't Explain in the same set, but that My Generation "had a different song to it." Haha.

 

Scott also joked at one point that they were going to play Billericay Dickey — I think — by Ian Dury and the Blockheads but I can't remember how that came up. (Edit: Oh yeah, there was some joking about how the drummer Joe Adragna had been trying all day to convince the other guys in the band to play Starship Trooper — I assume the Yes epic — and things devolved from there.)

 

Anyway, by most accounts, it was another successful "three-city world tour" for Scott and Co. I'll miss seeing them when the TWEEDY tour resumes after a few days off.

[Albert Tatlock]

Well on the way to Via Chicago MVP of the year (again) Paul  

[bböp]

Well on the way to Via Chicago MVP of the year (again) Paul

Thanks much for the kind words, sir, though I think we both know who should take home that title...

[smells like flowers]

Tonight, to start off the first encore, we got a fun, full-band version of Give Back The Key To My Heart with father and son singing together on te choruses. That was a treat, personally speaking, even if the band maybe didn't absolutely nail the song.

Nice! I'd have loved that! Great, great song, for one, but for Jeff and Spencer to sing together.... I didn't see him sing at all in Baltimore/DC.

[theashtraysays]

Never seems to be many folks posting after the Louisville shows I go to... odd.

 

Highlights for me for last night's show -

 

Seeing a few VC'ers and saying hello - nice to see you all there. 

Sonicshoulder being "that guy" with Scott.... Mr and Mrs Ditty (thanks for the setlst)... and being in the presence of bbop is always an honor.

 

Pecan Pie.

 

There was a lot more banter in the solo part of the show.  Jeff seemed to really relax more in that part of the show and get looser.

 

The cult menu now includes bourbon, which is a major food group here in Kentucky.   When Jeff said that Spencer wasn't allowed to partake since he's only 18, someone (my daughter actually) informed him that it's OK since we're in Kentucky.  Jeff responded "well, that explains a lot".

 

Someone hollered for The Ruling Class early in the solo set.  Jeff consulted his setlist and said "OK.  But you're going to have to wait about 12 minutes". 

 

Jeff started strumming an intro to something, which ended up being New Madrid but wasn't particularly recognizable.  Someone cheered and let out a Whoooo, so Jeff stopped and said "so, what song do you think that is?  70% of my songs all start the same".

 

After that, anytime someone gave a cheer early in the song intro he'd stop and say "thank you very much" in an almost Elvis-like cheesy performer voice.  Said he always wanted to do that. 

 

When Scott came back for a couple songs, Jeff introduced him as being "a member of 73% of bands from North America" or something along those lines.

 

There were two empty seats on the front row, I think where two people left shortly after he started.  Jeff commented that they couldn't handle the awesomeness.  When they returned, he noted that they were able to handle the awesomeness again.

 

Pecan Pie.  Seriously, how can you not just smile throughout that whole song?

 

Jeff started Misunderstood (without PA) on one side of the stage, in front of the "awesomeness" couple.  Then randomly moved to the other side after the first verse, for reasons that weren't clear, but he gave a sly little grin when he moved to the other side.

 

I don't think we did very well singing along to Slow Love.  Jeff asked if we really were going to let ourselves get outdone by "Baltimore".

 

Scott tried to explain the record they released for RSD, saying it was 57 songs and 200 and some minutes of new material, available only on vinyl with 750 copies.  The entire audience seemed very confused and gave a nervous collective laugh.  He said that they were selling well on eBay, but they had copies at the merch table for regular price. 

 

Spencer doesn't smile much.  Kid needs to relax a bit.

 

Jeff only played electric guitar for the first 2 or 3 songs.  I needed more.  He broke a string on one of them.

 

Give Back the Key to My Heart was introduced as the most requested song they have. 

 

Pecan Pie.

[sonicshoulder]

This truly was one of my favorite Tweedy shows. Felt like more for your money with the new stuff and the old split. The new stuff made for a great show visually watching the guys work through the lack of familiarity. Second show at the Brown and I think the acoustics are just about second to none. Took my 67 year old dad who was thoroughly entertained with Jeff's guitar skill and banter.  Highlight of my night by far though as pointed out by ashtray was running into Scott McCaughey at the bar across the street. I did go a little "that guy" and get a picture with him while sporting a Minus 5 t-shirt. He was very cool and grateful for the advertising. Minus 5's set was fantastic too, Old Plantation and I Still Miss Someone were particularly great.