bböp Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Don't have time to write much of a recap right now, but in a lot of ways, this felt like a fairly typical first night of a two-night stand. It seemed to take Jeff a little while to get his feet under him, but by the time the big California Stars finale came around, he was all smiles. And so were we (well, mostly)... Jeff seemed especially taken with a couple of kids — brother and sister, I'm pretty sure — who were at the front at stage right, giving their parents some mock grief for taking them out on St. Patrick's Day, for keeping them up past their bedtime and for apparently teaching them all of the lyrics to an obscure Neil Young song (The Losing End) which, Jeff said, was "the way to guarantee alienation." Every now and then, Jeff would "check in" with them; I suspect it helped him to be more comfortable by giving him some banter material. As he was about to leave the stage for the final time, he grabbed a bunch of his picks and walked over and handed them to the kids, so I'm sure they went home happy. A few other quick notes off the top of the head:— From Banter Corner, Jeff interrupted Passenger Side just after the "I should have been your lover..." line when he peered through the darkness and noticed a single balloon apparently being batted around. "Is that a fucking balloon?" Jeff said. "Smash that bitch."— Jeff also talked about his 1930s Kel Kroydon guitar at length again, noting how it tended to require relatively frequent repairs and that, in fact, it had just been fixed earlier that day in San Francisco. "I played one show without it," presumably in Eugene, OR, on Sunday night, "and it was dogshit."— Scott McCaughey (whose Minus 5 had the night off from its supporting slot, but still came out to play keyboard and sing backup on a few songs) might have had the funniest line of the night when Jeff was engaged in some discussion/banter about what else they might have named "Tweedy" (the band). Scott deadpanned from the back of the stage, "Deer Wolf." (Perhaps an allusion to the popularity of those animals in the names of modern indie bands?)— You Are Not Alone was listed as the first song of the encore on the printed setlist, but wasn't played.— It was kind of neat to see Jeff back off and let Sima and Liam Cunningham take the vocals by themselves on the second verse of California Stars. I hadn't seen that happen before, so I'm not sure if it was planned. But Jeff definitely seemed to let them take it, the way you would, say, for one of the instrumental solos. Anyway, that's about all I've got for now but hopefully others will chime in. Until then here was the complete setlist, as played, for Night 1 at The Fillmore: HazelFloweringSummer NoonHoney CombedDesert BellWorld AwayNew MoonFake Fur Coat>Diamond Light, Pt. 1Wait For Love#High As Hello*Love Like A Wire* [Diane Izzo]Low Key*Nobody Dies Anymore*Via Chicago^I Am Trying To Break Your Heart^One Wing^Remember The Mountain Bed^Lost Love^New Madrid^Passenger Side^The Ruling Class^Born Alone^Please Tell My Brother^Misunderstood^Please Don't Let Me Be So UnderstoodOnly 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# — with Sima Cunningham on backing vocals and Scott McCaughey on keyboard and backing vocals Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Albert Tatlock Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Half an hour ago I thought about asking why Sima did not accompany the encore (according to the lack of */# annotation) this time round after really liking the version of The Losing End that I listened to yesterday, but got distracted, and now I see that the post was just a work in progress. Thanks once again for a good read to accompany my first cup of tea of the morning at work. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bböp Posted March 18, 2015 Author Share Posted March 18, 2015 Replying to my own post here, but I also wanted to mention that I dug Eleanor Friedberger's opening set. I've seen her a few times, but tonight she had a full band of young guys playing behind her (two of them from San Francisco, apparently) and her vocals were really clear and strong. I didn't keep a setlist, but she played some rearranged versions of songs like Stare At The Sun that were pretty cool. Also of note, in thanking Tweedy for sharing the bill with her, she said that her band The Fiery Furnaces had opened for Wilco on a brief tour 11 years ago and that it had been a good experience. And Jeff, in turn, later thanked her for opening the show (which doesn't always happen). So it was nice to see each acknowledge the other. Too bad they couldn't get Eleanor and her band for Solid Sound this year... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bböp Posted March 18, 2015 Author Share Posted March 18, 2015 Half an hour ago I thought about asking why Sima did not accompany the encore (according to the lack of */# annotation) this time round after really liking the version of The Losing End that I listened to yesterday, but got distracted, and now I see that the post was just a work in progress. Thanks once again for a good read to accompany my first cup of tea of the morning at work.Always glad to be of assistance, Herr Tatlock! And yes, usually I am making some in-progress edits for a short while after the initial post. I figure not many will notice, given the late hour, but you caught me this time... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Albert Tatlock Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 I had been meaning to ask what keeps your motivation going when, by necessity, the TWEEDY setlists are more predictable and even the JT solo spots seem to my mind to be heavily rotating the same core segment of songs, but perhaps that's too personal a question I suppose a visit to SF is very welcome at any time anyway. Make sure you have one of those famous burritos.Is there still a lone drummer at the Haight-Ashbury end of the park? He seemed like the hippie equivalent of the Olympic flame when I was there. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bböp Posted March 18, 2015 Author Share Posted March 18, 2015 I had been meaning to ask what keeps your motivation going when, by necessity, the TWEEDY setlists are more predictable and even the JT solo spots seem to my mind to be heavily rotating the same core segment of songs, but perhaps that's too personal a question I suppose a visit to SF is very welcome at any time anyway. Make sure you have one of those famous burritos.Is there still a lone drummer at the Haight-Ashbury end of the park? He seemed like the hippie equivalent of the Olympic flame when I was there.As they say, it's complicated... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Albert Tatlock Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 If they book it, he will come ... Much appreciated anyway Edit: Also, who knew JT was a closet globophobe. As it Oprah, apparently. Isn't the internet wonderful. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bböp Posted March 18, 2015 Author Share Posted March 18, 2015 If they book it, he will come ... Much appreciated anyway Edit: Also, who knew JT was a closet globophobe. As it Oprah, apparently. Isn't the internet wonderful.Or perhaps I'm just an idiot...that's always a possibility! Globophobe! The Internet is wonderful indeed... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
aricandover Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 McCaughey is hanging with them on off nights? That's cool. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tinnitus photography Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 well robyn hitchcock was playing ar GAMH the same night.... not sure if it was a solo show or Venus 3. kinda bummed i couldnt make it but my wife had booked dinner reservations a while ago on the same night. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bböp Posted March 18, 2015 Author Share Posted March 18, 2015 well robyn hitchcock was playing ar GAMH the same night.... not sure if it was a solo show or Venus 3. kinda bummed i couldnt make it but my wife had booked dinner reservations a while ago on the same night.Looks like Robyn is actually playing GAMH on Thursday (3/19)? Or did that change? Anyway, that would be fun if Scott played the Tweedy show and then sped over to join Robyn but doesn't sound like the timing quite worked out... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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