TWEEDY — 6/24/14, Nashville, TN (Ryman Auditorium)

[bböp]

Back on the case (for one night anyway)! Always a special treat to catch a show at the Ryman, but it was even a little bit more so for me because it was the first time — believe it or not — I had managed to catch any Jeff-related project in those hallowed halls.

 

Much more to come about what seemed like an extra-long TWEEDY show (33 songs total and about 2 hours, 20 minutes). For now, here was the complete setlist as played:

 

Down From Above*

Diamond Light*

Flowering*

Wait For Love*

Summer Noon*

Honey Combed#

Desert Bell*

World Away*

New Moon*

Fake Fur Coat!

High As Hello*

Low Key*

Slow Love*

Nobody Dies Anymore*

Via Chicago^ (started and restarted because of vocal mike dropout)

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart^

New Madrid^

How To Fight Loneliness^

Someday Soon^

Pecan Pie^

Someday, Some Morning, Sometime^

Laminated Cat (aka Not For The Season)^

Radio King^

At Least That's What You Said^

I'm Always In Love^

Passenger Side^

Please Tell My Brother^

Jesus, etc.^

I'm The Man Who Loves You^

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

You Are Not Alone*

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

California Stars*

Acuff-Rose^ (performed at edge of stage w/o PA system)

 

* — w/full TWEEDY band

# — w/ guitarists Jim Elkington and Liam Cunningham

! — w/guitarist Jim Elkington only

^ — Jeff solo acoustic

[bböp]

Guess I'm replying to my own post, but I just wanted to quickly add a few notes and quotes from last night's show:.

 

As a friend remarked to me afterward, Jeff was really quite funny tonight with his banter. I only have time to mention a few things now, but he had his dry wit going last night:

 

*After a somewhat tepid effort by the audience to the call-and-response parts in Someday Soon, particularly the swoon, Jeff cracked, "You guys aren't the Jordanaires," referring to Elvis' longtime backing vocalists.

 

*Noting the crowd's enthusiastic response to a particular riff in I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, Jeff went on a little jag about how he didn't really understand why people cheered that riff (and nobody cheered another one that was actually trickier to play) and how "there are probably 1,000 guitar players here tonight who are wondering why they even practice." I'm not getting that entire quote right, but that was the gist of the sarcasm.

 

*In finally introducing the band (and specifically, Spencer) before California Stars, Jeff told a story about how he was eating dinner with his family once and he and his wife were bickering and Spencer looked around and said, "How come I sometimes feel like I'm the only mature one at this table?" And both Jeff and Susan said, at the exact same time, "Because you are." Then Jeff said, "You want to know why? Because you had better parents than we did!" Haha.

 

Jeff went onto say that every parent's dream is for their kids to turn out better than they did and that he didn't know how it had happened because he and his wife were "awful people" but Spencer is really nice.

 

*Early on, Jeff noted what a special place the Ryman is. He said it is "the best place. I tell people in other places that they have the best place, but they're little white lies to make them feel better about their shitty places."

 

*Perhaps the biggest cheer of the night came during Via Chicago when Jeff's vocal mike came back near the end of the song. It had definitely dropped out of the mix at the start, causing Jeff to restart the song once. He continued to play it with basically no vocal amplification, but not being sure that the audience couldn't really hear him. Afterward he said, "I knew something wasn't right. You guys are too polite to say, 'I couldn't really hear him.'" He subsequently called it a unique rendition of the song, jokingly labeling it "the partially inaudible version."

[Albert Tatlock]

Banter Corner becomes a veritable Alcove.

Ta (as ever).

[bböp]

Banter Corner becomes a veritable Alcove.

Ta (as ever).

Sometimes I think you're one of the few who routinely are interested. Or perhaps it's just the time differential...

 

Ta, at any rate.

[Albert Tatlock]

I'm sure there's a huge silent majority who appreciate you :-) and it's just a time difference thing (and you being a creature of the night).

I also think that in years to come when there's some BBC4 music documentary on Wilco/JT (why not already?) you'll be the go to man for the audience witness talking head.

[bböp]

I'm sure there's a huge silent majority who appreciate you :-) and it's just a time difference thing (and you being a creature of the night).

I also think that in years to come when there's some BBC4 music documentary on Wilco/JT (why not already?) you'll be the go to man for the audience witness talking head.

Oh, I wasn't trying to suggest that I'm not appreciated! Haha. I fully realize that there are lurkers-a-plenty. Just that it's nice to know at least you're reading them. But thanks for the kind words...and I look forward to (dread) ever being said go-to fellow/audience witness talking head.

[M. (hristine]

Thank you, Paul.

[smells like flowers]

Guess I'm replying to my own post, but I just wanted to quickly add a few notes and quotes from last night's show:.

As a friend remarked to me afterward, Jeff was really quite funny tonight with his banter. I only have time to mention a few things now, but he had his dry wit going last night:

*After a somewhat tepid effort by the audience to the call-and-response parts in Someday Soon, particularly the swoon, Jeff cracked, "You guys aren't the Jordanaires," referring to Elvis' longtime backing vocalists.

*Noting the crowd's enthusiastic response to a particular riff in I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, Jeff went on a little jag about how he didn't really understand why people cheered that riff (and nobody cheered another one that was actually trickier to play) and how "there are probably 1,000 guitar players here tonight who are wondering why they even practice." I'm not getting that entire quote right, but that was the gist of the sarcasm.

*In finally introducing the band (and specifically, Spencer) before California Stars, Jeff told a story about how he was eating dinner with his family once and he and his wife were bickering and Spencer looked around and said, "How come I sometimes feel like I'm the only mature one at this table?" And both Jeff and Susan said, at the exact same time, "Because you are." Then Jeff said, "You want to know why? Because you had better parents than we did!" Haha.

Jeff went onto say that every parent's dream is for their kids to turn out better than they did and that he didn't know how it had happened because he and his wife were "awful people" but Spencer is really nice.

*Early on, Jeff noted what a special place the Ryman is. He said it is "the best place. I tell people in other places that they have the best place, but they're little white lies to make them feel better about their shitty places."

*Perhaps the biggest cheer of the night came during Via Chicago when Jeff's vocal mike came back near the end of the song. It had definitely dropped out of the mix at the start, causing Jeff to restart the song once. He continued to play it with basically no vocal amplification, but not being sure that the audience couldn't really hear him. Afterward he said, "I knew something wasn't right. You guys are too polite to say, 'I couldn't really hear him.'" He subsequently called it a unique rendition of the song, jokingly labeling it "the partially inaudible version."

Thanks, Paul! Sounds like the banter was top-notch. Love the line about Spencer having better parents than Jeff and Sue did! He really is a witty bastard.

[Cold as Gasoline]

I always read this stuff, but don't chime in because I have nothing interesting to add.  But it doesn't mean I don't love and appreciate all the little details!  Thanks, Paul, for giving us our fix.

[Magnetized]

As an example of how much I look forward to Paul's reports, I stay up way past my bedtime breathlessly awaiting The Posting of the Setlist after every show. When it's late, I get a shortened night's sleep. And after reading the initial post, I drift off to sleep fully expecting the the next morning I will awaken to the more filled-in report which will send me off on my day with a smile. So yes, Paul, we are reading and we have our rituals!

[tinnitus photography]

I always read this stuff, but don't chime in because I have nothing interesting to add.  But it doesn't mean I don't love and appreciate all the little details!  Thanks, Paul, for giving us our fix.

[radiowilco]

Oh, I wasn't trying to suggest that I'm not appreciated! Haha. I fully realize that there are lurkers-a-plenty. Just that it's nice to know at least you're reading them. But thanks for the kind words...and I look forward to (dread) ever being said go-to fellow/audience witness talking head.

Thanks bbop - I lurk regularly and post infrequently.  Your timely set lists, reviews, observations, reports on JT banter etc... are deeply apprecciated.  Always a "must read" for me with my morning coffee when Wilco or Jeff are on tour.  Really looking forward to seeing these songs played live in Portsmouth, NH in late July!

[bböp]

Thanks, Paul! Sounds like the banter was top-notch. Love the line about Spencer having better parents than Jeff and Sue did! He really is a witty bastard.

That was a pretty great story. And maybe truer than we know. Anyway, again, I honestly wasn't angling for praise. Just wanted to let Mr. T.S. Fingers know that his regular interest was appreciated by yours truly. As is everyone else's.

 

But please don't let this thread be hijacked by my apparent neediness! There's more about last night's show that I'm sure I missed...

[lost highway]

For the record, I always enjoy when people recount the gig.  Not just the setlist, but the moments that made it an interesting experience.

[bucknaked]

I was at the show last night and was hoping someone would post the setlist. Much appreciated. I was somewhat indifferent about Jeff’s solo album, but hearing the new material live ignited my interest.

 

[Mr. Heartbreak]

As a writer and fellow Wilco fan, I always appreciate these threads. I read nearly all of them, though I don't comment half as much as I do when it's a show I have attended. There are only so many ways I can say, "Wow, that is some set list. Jealous!"

[bböp]

Interceding on the TWEEDY talk for a second to post The Handsome Family's opening set, in case anyone is interested. It was really a treat to get to see them at the Ryman. Not sure if it was their first time playing there, but I just loved hearing them in that space. I can't really explain why, but it just suits them IMHO.

 

Rennie told a great story about how they had come through Nashville in the late 1980s prior to the Ryman's renaissance when it was all boarded up. They also stopped at the George Jones Gift Shop, which wasn't exactly doing a brisk business. So Rennie apparently bought a couple hundred spoon rests with Jones' face on them, thinking she was doing her part to help out. She said she ended up giving most of them away, but on the occasions she would use one while she was cooking, she could only imagine Jones somehow knowing that she was dropping chili on his face and not being happy about it. Maybe you had to be there, but I found it pretty funny. :lol

 

Anyway, here was the setlist as played for their too-short set:

 

The Bottomless Hole

So Much Wine

My Sister's Tiny Hands

Owls

Far From Any Road (aka the "True Detective" theme song)

I Know You Are There

Up Falling Rock Hill

Don't Be Scared

[rareair]

Guess I'm replying to my own post, but I just wanted to quickly add a few notes and quotes from last night's show:.

 

As a friend remarked to me afterward, Jeff was really quite funny tonight with his banter. I only have time to mention a few things now, but he had his dry wit going last night:

 

*After a somewhat tepid effort by the audience to the call-and-response parts in Someday Soon, particularly the swoon, Jeff cracked, "You guys aren't the Jordanaires," referring to Elvis' longtime backing vocalists.

 

*Noting the crowd's enthusiastic response to a particular riff in I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, Jeff went on a little jag about how he didn't really understand why people cheered that riff (and nobody cheered another one that was actually trickier to play) and how "there are probably 1,000 guitar players here tonight who are wondering why they even practice." I'm not getting that entire quote right, but that was the gist of the sarcasm.

 

*In finally introducing the band (and specifically, Spencer) before California Stars, Jeff told a story about how he was eating dinner with his family once and he and his wife were bickering and Spencer looked around and said, "How come I sometimes feel like I'm the only mature one at this table?" And both Jeff and Susan said, at the exact same time, "Because you are." Then Jeff said, "You want to know why? Because you had better parents than we did!" Haha.

 

Jeff went onto say that every parent's dream is for their kids to turn out better than they did and that he didn't know how it had happened because he and his wife were "awful people" but Spencer is really nice.

 

*Early on, Jeff noted what a special place the Ryman is. He said it is "the best place. I tell people in other places that they have the best place, but they're little white lies to make them feel better about their shitty places."

 

*Perhaps the biggest cheer of the night came during Via Chicago when Jeff's vocal mike came back near the end of the song. It had definitely dropped out of the mix at the start, causing Jeff to restart the song once. He continued to play it with basically no vocal amplification, but not being sure that the audience couldn't really hear him. Afterward he said, "I knew something wasn't right. You guys are too polite to say, 'I couldn't really hear him.'" He subsequently called it a unique rendition of the song, jokingly labeling it "the partially inaudible version."

 

nice summary, which is always appreciated.  i agree it was a great show.  Jeff sounded great and was funny.  I took my 10 year old for her first Ryman show and we sat on the second row.  

 

outstanding time.  great set list and cool hatch print as well.  

[choo-choo-charlie]

I always read this stuff, but don't chime in because I have nothing interesting to add.  But it doesn't mean I don't love and appreciate all the little details!  Thanks, Paul, for giving us our fix.

[Preferred B]

 

Don't Be Scared

 

Now I am jealous! Happy for you that you heard it, though, after the aborted attempt in Tulsa.

[southern hotel foxtrot]

It was also funny when someone yelled "go" before Slow Love in which Jeff responded with 
"Do you have some place else to go, gotta go home?" or something like that then he said how his father was always in a hurry to get somewhere so they could get back…also when the people in the front row stepped out before a song was amusing as well…yeah the banter was good last night for sure...

[bböp]

Now I am jealous! Happy for you that you heard it, though, after the aborted attempt in Tulsa.

 

Yeah, thanks! I was glad to hear it at least once on this run...

 

It was also funny when someone yelled "go" before Slow Love in which Jeff responded with 

"Do you have some place else to go, gotta go home?" or something like that then he said how his father was always in a hurry to get somewhere so they could get back…also when the people in the front row stepped out before a song was amusing as well…yeah the banter was good last night for sure...

 

That was a pretty funny interlude as well. "My dad always said, 'Let's go, so we can get back,'" Jeff said. "No. We have to (make the most) of time because that's all we have." And then just as Jeff was launching into his explanation of the Slow Love singalong and it requiring a sort of cultish mentality, that couple right in the front got up and walked out, as if to reject membership into said cult. It couldn't have been more perfect timing if Jeff had scripted it himself.

 

One other funny bit was after Pecan Pie when a few folks started clapping terribly out of time toward the end of the song. Jeff just sort of shook his head and then afterward, he had a funny little bit about how he blamed himself for not keeping a sturdy enough rhythm to withstand the sound delays of claps echoing in a big room...but that it really was the fault of people who absolutely could not clap in time.

 

Another thing that sort of mystified me in terms of crowd behavior was when Jeff was playing Acuff-Rose to close the show. There was a little bit of a rowdy group right in front of him in that same section with the couple who "rejected the cult" (but subsequently returned in a disruptive manner). When Jeff got to the line in the song, "Name me a song/that everybody knows..." a guy yells out really loudly, "Theologians!" I mean personally, I just can't imagine how you would do that. I'm a little surprised it didn't throw Jeff off more.

 

I was going to mention those relatively minor incidents as a way of saying a few words about the audience at the Ryman. It was a good crowd, by and large — certainly I've seen much, much worse — but it was a little bit weird in that there didn't seem to be that much singing along/crowd participation, whether Jeff asked for it or not (Someday Soon was kind of sad). It seemed almost reverent in there, which I can understand. But at the same time, there were very nice rounds of applause for certain instrumental flourishes, such as Jim Elkington's frenetic strumming on a couple of the new songs or certain acoustic runs by Jeff. It made for an interesting vibe, which I wondered if that had anything to do with the makeup of the crowd. Judging strictly by the folks around me, there was one lady who was attending a nursing convention in town and didn't know anything about either act but simply wanted to attend a show at the Ryman; there were at least two couples, who I gleaned from idle chit chat that the man was a big Wilco/Jeff fan and the significant other was simply along for the ride; and one of those couples came with another couple who I couldn't tell if they were really fans or not. I also heard that upstairs in the back aisle of the balcony, there were people coming and going all night, going out for drinks, chatting, etc. A fair bit of that on the main floor as well.

 

Obviously there were quite a few big fans as well, but it's always struck me at the shows I've gone to at the Ryman how there's a mix of people who are big fans of the act(s), people who just randomly wander in because it's the Ryman and people who are in a sort of Nashvegas party mode and looking for a lively night out. Maybe someone who's more local could tell me if I'm way off or if this kind of thing just happens everywhere. A friend told me that Nashville audiences can be kind of critical, or sort of "been there, done that," given that they're exposed to so much music. It's just interesting to me that the Ryman is such a revered venue by performers, but in my (admittedly limited) experience, the audiences can be kind of hit or miss.

[southern hotel foxtrot]

yeah I can vouch for the people in the back rows getting up a lot…I was seated back there and it was mainly a group of early 20s folks that seemed restless idk…plus one drunk guy kept hollering out "get naked!" No idea what that was all about…

[bböp]

Just noticed that the setlist posted on Wilco's Facebook page lists "Dark California Stars." I can assume you that it was just the usual California Stars, with no Dark Star involved. Not sure where that came from.

[Magnetized]

one drunk guy kept hollering out "get naked!" No idea what that was all about…

Maybe someone who's recently signed up for @jefftweedy on Twitter?