Jump to content

TWEEDY — 3/14/15, Portland, OR (Crystal Ballroom)


Recommended Posts

When Jeff Tweedy remarks upon first checking in with an audience, "We have a history," and winds up turning an ongoing bit near the end of the show on guitarists' "riff face" into an extended fart joke, you know it's going to be a slightly weird night on Banter Corner...

The former was, of course, a reference to the last — and apparently, only other — time Jeff had played this venue, on Feb. 3, 2006, when he gave an infamous "talkers" speech/rant during a solo performance. (This moment was captured for posterity on the Sunken Treasure: Live in the Pacific Northwest DVD, and can also be seen on YouTube — though Jeff said that reading the comments section of that video revealed the "darkest side of humanity.") Fortunately, tonight's audience seemed to behave much better than the crowd at that long-ago gig and gave the Tweedy band a relatively warm welcome from the start.

Having attended that 2006 performance as well as tonight's, I will say that the Crystal is still a weird room for live music. Whether it's the stage pushed into one corner of the room, or the divided nature of the floor into sections in which you are allowed or not allowed to consume alcohol in addition to a VIP section, or a balcony that is set way back in the opposite corner from the stage, I've always felt the room is a little strange acoustically. Add to that the thumping bass from the dance party one floor below and it's definitely not a totally ideal setting for the quieter portions of the show. And from an energy standpoint, it can be difficult to gauge whether an audience is really enjoying and engaging with a performer or not (or maybe that's just Portland crowds).

To me, tonight's show didn't really seem to pick up full steam until toward the end of Jeff's solo set when he tried to" lighten things up a bit" by playing I'm A Wheel and, shortly thereafter, shifted from what he intended to play to grant an audience request for Gun. That in turn became a fun singalong for those in the crowd who knew the song and, from there, Jeff seemed to open up a bit and the show developed some flow (fart jokes nothwithstanding).

I don't have a ton of recall right now on any specific bits of banter other than Jeff half jokingly offering to re-enact the speech he gave in 2006 as well as an amusing story about a previous visit to nearby Multnomah Falls on an off day (something the band apparently did again this time). The gist of the story was that Jeff had been hiking for several hours without running into anyone when he finally regained enough signal on his cell phone to check messages. Just then, he encountered someone wearing those shoes shaped like feet — which Jeff derided — whose first comment was "Can't get away from it, can you?" Jeff said, dryly, "I threw him off the mountain." :D

But anyway, hopefully someone else will help me fill in whatever I've missed as I try to be coherent in the wee hours. For now, here was the complete setlist as played (Slow Love was on the printed setlist, but not played):

Hazel
Fake Fur Coat>
Diamond Light, Pt. 1
Flowering
World Away
Wait For Love%
Summer Noon
New Moon
Nobody Dies Anymore*
High As Hello*
Love Like A Wire* [Diane Izzo]
Low Key*
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart^
Remember The Mountain Bed^
Hummingbird^
One Wing^
Via Chicago^
I'm A Wheel^
Jesus, etc.^
Gun^
Heavy Metal Drummer#
Please Don't Let Me Be So Understood
Only The Lord Knows*
----------------------------------------
God [John Lennon]
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

Link to post
Share on other sites

And here was the complete setlist, as played, for the Minus 5's opening set (the normal quartet of McCaughey, Buck, Pitmon and Giblin being joined tonight for the entirety of its set by Portland's own Casey Neill on electric guitar and backing vocals and for the end of its set by Tweedy multi-instrumentalist Liam Cunningham on keyboard):

 

Remain In Lifeboat

It's Magenta, Man!

Hold Down The Fort

The Unforeseen

It's Beautiful Here

In The Ground

The Zero Clowns

Adios Half Soldier

Blue Rickenbacker (with Liam Cunningham on keyboard)

Aw Shit Man (with Liam Cunninghan on keyboard)

My Generation (with Liam Cunningham on keyboard)

Link to post
Share on other sites

Any variations during God?

Don't believe in Wilco?

Just believe in me, ??? and me?

etc.

 

Given JT has done it a few times, is there a 'standard' JT version of variations?

Last night it was "Spencer and me." I've heard it with "Wilco and me," and I'm sure some other slight variations as well.

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...