Wilco — 8/16/15, Ketchum, ID (River Run Lodge)

[bböp]

What a difference a day makes. For Wilco, it meant a show that was the polar opposite of the one it played in northern Idaho the night before. As it turned out, that Saturday night show in Sandpoint felt like one that might happen on a Sunday evening, while tonight's show in Ketchum felt like a Saturday.

 

Whether the pendulum swinging from one extreme to the other was a positive thing, however, the jury is still out.

 

"Thanks for inviting us to your ski slope," Jeff said near the end of a show that took place at the base of the Sun Valley Ski Area (outside the River Run Lodge). You wouldn't necessarily have guessed that such an idyllic setting would produce an ultra-boisterous crowd, especially judging by all of the people with chairs and blankets, but apparently Sun Valley rocks once the sun goes down.

 

"This is the opposite of the audience we had last night," Jeff said at one point. "I think that's a good thing? You guys are rowdy...that's awesome." And a bit later, he joked that it was nice to have some young fans at the show, pointing out some t(w)een-looking kids near the front, because the band needed to "replenish" its audience.

 

Personally I think just about anything would be better than the crowd in Sandpoint (and I'd always opt for a little too rowdy over a little too dull), but there were some shenanigans that were a bit annoying and there were some consequences to the boisterousness.

 

One running storyline throughout the show came from a loud group of kids who had a big wooden spoon that they apparently wanted the band to sign for some reason. They made enough of a racket that Jeff had to ask after Star Wars, "OK, what's up with the wooden spoon?" It was Pat who eventually figured out that they wanted it signed and it got passed up to the stage and Jeff promised to get it back to the group before the end of the show. "Anybody else got any utensils to be signed?" Jeff said. "Chopsticks? A whisk?" (Of course Glenn raised one of his brushes...haha.)

 

A while later, the kids apparently got a bit restless and started chanting, "Where's our spoon? Where's our spoon?" Jeff gave them a semi-scolding look and told them to "shut it." Then he said, "You know we're Wilco and not Spoon, right? When Spoon comes here, will you have them sign a Wilco thing?"

 

(To end the Saga of the Spoon, Jeff returned for the encore with the signed implement in hand. He thought about tossing it back to the group, but decided to hand it to a crew member who finally completed the return trip. Still, Jeff couldn't resist one more joke, saying that "back in my day, they called that a coke spoon.")

 

The downside to the rowdiness was that the band decided to scrap its planned five-song second encore — even as some of the crew had begun setting up for the hootenanny. Jeff and Co. must have concluded (probably correctly) that it simply wouldn't have translated in that setting. Alas, for those of us who knew what might have been, it was an unfortunate audible.

 

Not much else from Banter Corner, except Jeff pointed out that at the band's recent Solid Sound Festival, people came from 46 of 50 states and "your state had nobody. That's why we're doing a tour of Idaho." Jeff also dedicated I'm Always In Love to a chipmunk named Tito he met on the hiking trail earlier in the day.

 

Song wise, it's always great to hear Laminated Cat (even if Jeff transposed the "it's not for the season" and "they're not worth reading" lines). And I'll never complain about the return of electric Spiders, but I'll say it: I'm not sure I totally like the standstill start. Ah, minor quibbles.

 

Here was the complete setlist, as played (Misunderstood, Hesitating Beauty, Give Back The Key To My Heart, California Stars and A Shot in the Arm — the planned songs for the acoustic second encore — were on the printed list but not played):

 

More...

Random Name Generator

The Joke Explained

You Satellite

Taste The Ceiling

Pickled Ginger

Where Do I Begin

Cold Slope>

King Of You

Magnetized

Handshake Drugs

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart>

Art Of Almost

Hummingbird

Box Full Of Letters

I'm Always In Love

Via Chicago

Heavy Metal Drummer>

I'm The Man Who Loves You

Dawned On Me

Jesus, etc.

Born Alone>

Laminated Cat (aka Not For The Season)

Impossible Germany

The Late Greats

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

Spiders (Kidsmoke) (electric arrangement)

[Albert Tatlock]

Sorry it spoilt your show, but the whole surreal "Where's our spoon" thing made my laugh for some reason.

[bböp]

Sorry it spoilt your show, but the whole surreal "Where's our spoon" thing made my laugh for some reason.

'Twas a relatively minor occurrence, so nothing was spoilt pour moi!

[mariana neri]

I laughed loudly at work! "You know, we're Wilco and not Spoon, right?" hahahahahha   

 

(btw, Spoon will play in Brazil this year ~just saying~)

[mondrarytomic]

A little disappointed that we didn't get the acoustic encore again, I thought this crowd would have been much more receptive and appreciative of it than Sandpoint.

 

A quirky little venue at the bottom of a ski slope but it worked well. Ketchum was a cool little town with a couple good dive bars.

 

I enjoyed Vetiver talking about driving down the mountain, if anyone driving from Missoula to Ketchum followed the same route they'd know to what in referring. Thought I was going to plunge off the side of a cliff a few times.

 

All in all that was my third show in three days and seventh in five different states since this 20th anniversary tour started. I'll be interested to see how much longer this touring cycle goes now that the new album is out but every show (even Sandpoint in its own weird way) has been phenomenal.