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TWEEDY — 3/12/15, Seattle, WA (Neptune Theatre)


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I could probably write a fairly lengthy recap, but to be honest, it's been a long day and I'm hoping some other folks will chime in. Suffice it to say that personally it's nice to be back after very regretfully missing the two shows in Montana the past couple of nights. Those performances, especially in those venues, seemed like they would be fun.

 

At least some of those good times carried over to tonight's show, which took place in the much more familiar setting of Seattle (though research indicates that Jeff had never played this particular venue before). The Neptune is a relatively intimate venue in the shadow of the University of Washington that sort of resembled a smaller Vic Theatre (Chicago), if that helps anybody. Seating in the balcony and mostly general admission standing on the floor, which had several tiers.

 

To me, the show kind of had a similar feel to Minneapolis a few nights ago in that Jeff seemed aware and ultimately wound up thanking the crowd for all of its support over the years — from this current project all the way back to Uncle Tupelo and the early days of Wilco. "You probably even supported Golden Smog," Jeff said half jokingly. Seattle definitely has been a market that has supported Jeff's music over the years, and he seemed to want to return the favor tonight.

 

(Incidentally, speaking of Seattle musicians, the encore turned into something of a Scott McCaughey love fest when Scott emerged to join the band on the show-closing Give Back The Key... and California Stars. First, Jeff led a "Hip! Hip!...McOi!" chant that he said he had always wanted to try. And later Jeff took the opportunity to acknowledge Scott in front of his hometown crowd as being "one of my all-time heroes" and saying that Scott had inspired him in countless ways and that he wouldn't be here without him. Of course, there was some gentle ribbing about Scott's age as well.)

 

More from Banter Corner:

 

*Jeff most definitely did not play it "Low Key" when someone yelled a question about the Kel Kroydon guitar he was about to play (the one with the drawings of the peacocks). He indulged his guitar nerdery for a rather long while to explain a lot about that particular guitar and how it was actually a Gibson model from the 1930s that the company made for a toy manufacturer (I think), which then had its own artists apparently paint decorations onto them. So there are models with pictures of volcanos and mountains and other things. Specifically about his guitar, Jeff explained that he actually has two of them and one has dots that are drawn meticulously on the breast of the bird and the other has a very sloppy dotting pattern, so that's why the latter lives on the road and is used in concert.

 

*Jeff also had some fun with some of the people in the front row, including an 11-year-old boy whom he intermittently interacted with throughout the show, apologizing for saying "asshole" at one point and introducing "Wait For Love" by saying "that's good advice, young man."

 

*And almost literally right in front of him was a couple who, apparently didn't look like they were enjoying themselves very much. Jeff finally broke down at the start of the encore and asked which one had dragged the other to the show. When the answer didn't come right away, Jeff said, "I know one of you is miserable." Haha! I guess that caused one or both members of the couple to look mortified, and then of course Jeff felt badly and went over and apologized and kissed the woman's hand and shook the man's. Jeff reiterated a point that he has made before, which is that even if the crowd is a sea of smilng, happy faces, he always focuses on the one or two people who look like they're not having a good time. "If anybody wants to get my attention, just look miserable," Jeff said.

 

*Jeff also mentioned the perplexing fact that the seated theater crowd at the recent Bozeman show coming to their feet and rushing the stage after..., uh, the waltz-like Desert Bell." For reasons he couldn't understand, that's what happened in Bozeman and he joked that he had "been dreaming about it for years," — namely, writing a slow song that would cause a seated audience to come to their feet and flock to the stage.

 

I guess, musically speaking, the most unique part of the Neptune show was Spencer coming out to join Jeff on Heavy Metal Drummer. Jeff said, "Spencer's been getting asked about this song a lot lately, so we're going to try it." There was one false start, but eventually father and son got on the same page — except, that is, when it came to the "He twirled his sticks..." line. Jeff glanced back at that point as he usually does at Glenn Kotche during Wilco shows, but Spencer remained too focused on his playing for any drummer shenanigans. After the song, however, when Spencer offered a little drumstick twirl, Jeff jokingly asked if Glenn had taught him that. When Spencer replied yes, Jeff mockingly shook his fist at Glenn and said, "Kotche!" :thumbup

 

Well, that's probably all the recapping I can muster for now. But as I said, hopefully others will chime in. For now, here was the complete setlist, as played:

 

Hazel

Flowering

Summer Noon

Honey Combed

Desert Bell

World Away

New Moon

Fake Fur Coat>

Diamond Light, Pt. 1

Wait For Love*

High As Hello*

Love Like A Wire* [Diane Izzo]

Low Key*

Nobody Dies Anymore*

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart^

New Madrid^

One Wing^

Hummingbird^

Be Not So Fearful^ [bill Fay]

Born Alone^

One By One^

Jesus, etc.^

Misunderstood^

Heavy Metal Drummer#

Please Don't Let Me Be So Understood

Only The Lord Knows*

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

The Losing End (When You're On)* [Neil Young]

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

California Stars%

 

* — with Sima Cunningham on backing vocals

^ — Jeff Tweedy solo acoustic

# — Jeff and Spencer Tweedy only

% — with Sima Cunningham on backing vocals and Scott McCaughey on keyboard and backing vocals

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And for our Minus 5-tracking friends, here was the setlist for Seattle (the usual quartet of Scott McCaughey, Peter Buck, Michael Giblin and Linda Pitmon was joined for the entirety of tonight's set by, as Scott dubbed him, John "One Night Only" Ramberg on electric guitar and backing vocals; Tweedy multi-instrumentalist Liam Cunningham also joined on keyboard for two songs, as noted):

 

Hold Down The Fort

Remain In Lifeboat

It's Magenta, Man!

The Unforeseen

It's Beautiful Here

Zero Clowns

Twilight Distillery*

Aw Shit Man

Blue Rickenbacker*

In The Ground

My Generation

 

* — with Liam Cunningham on keyboard

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  • 3 months later...

There's 1 hour 40 minutes (a few songs are missed out) of this on a certain online video site with good steady fixed camera angle and good sound.

 

I particularly enjoyed the guitar nerd interaction described in Banter Corner above. It goes on for quite a while and JT's comic timing in reeling of a seemingly endless list of guitar nerd facts was top notch. 

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There's 1 hour 40 minutes (a few songs are missed out) of this on a certain online video site with good steady fixed camera angle and good sound.

 

I particularly enjoyed the guitar nerd interaction described in Banter Corner above. It goes on for quite a while and JT's comic timing in reeling of a seemingly endless list of guitar nerd facts was top notch.

Wouldn't have looked it up without your tip. do you recall where the guitar nerd banter was? I have a friend who adores that guitar & would love to direct him to it. Thanks!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5prScByw-v0

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