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Wilco — 9/16/15, Kalamazoo, MI (Kalamazoo State Theatre)


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Won't have time to write much of a recap until later, but this was definitely a fun way to kick off the next leg of the Star Wars tour.

 

It's nice to be back indoors, in a decent sounding venue which gave both the new record and the hootenanny encore a vibrancy that maybe was missing a little bit at some of the outdoor festivals and amphitheaters the band played over the summer. If I'm not mistaken, tonight was the first time Star Wars has been publicly performed in its entirety indoors (and certainly with electric instruments inside).

 

It was terrific fun to hear ELT in the hootenanny, which Jeff mentioned they hadn't done before. And The Lonely 1 to close a set is always a nice contrast to the usual rock ending. More later, but for now here was the complete setlist as played (the only change from the printed list was the omission of Bull Black Nova in the hootenanny portion):

 

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

Secret of the Sea

Heavy Metal Drummer>

I'm The Man Who Loves You

Dawned On Me

Via Chicago

Whole Love

Jesus, etc.

Born Alone

The Lonely 1

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

Impossible Germany

The Late Greats

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

Misunderstood*

War On War*

It's Just That Simple*

ELT*

California Stars*

A Shot in the Arm*

 

* — performed hootenanny style with Jeff and John on acoustic guitars, Nels on dobro, Glenn on percussion, Mikael on melodica/acoustic guitar and Pat on banjo/glockenspiel

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This was my second show, and my first in four years, so I was excited to say the least.  My wife and I ate on the deck of a restaurant that happened to be across the street from the tour bus, so we saw John a couple times and caught a glimpse of Jeff.  Then we went for a walk around the area and bumped into Pat and chatted with him for a minute.

 

A couple random highlights from the show:

- The lighting was AMAZING.  Seriously.  Someone in the lighting department deserves a raise.

- Misunderstood was probably the highlight of the set for me.  Everyone was singing the Nothings along with Jeff, and then he leaned into the mic and sang more quietly so the crowd got the cue and cut out just in time for him to sing "nothing at all"

- I think Jeff had a problem with the input on his guitar on Where Do I Begin

- Jeff made a comment about being in Kalamazoo where a lot of their guitars where built, then he looked around and realized that no one on stage had a Gibson in hand

- The RNG vinyl single was for sale at the merch table

- Cold Slope went right into King of You without more than a second of pause, which was cool and makes sense

- William Tyler was absolutely mesmerizing.  Make sure to get there at show time if he is opening.

 

Great show.  I'm looking forward to hearing some other people's comments about it.

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Cool.  Did the band seem happy?  I saw them in Cleveland on the Ghost is Born tour and Jeff seemed a little grumpy (I believe it was not the best time in his life).  But every time I've seen them since, it's such a happy celebratory vibe on stage, and it's totally infectious.  

 

Seeing them Tonight in Cleveland (9th time).  Any idea about when they went on?  Trying to decide if we can grab a bit before the show.    

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Cool.  Did the band seem happy?  I saw them in Cleveland on the Ghost is Born tour and Jeff seemed a little grumpy (I believe it was not the best time in his life).  But every time I've seen them since, it's such a happy celebratory vibe on stage, and it's totally infectious.  

 

Seeing them Tonight in Cleveland (9th time).  Any idea about when they went on?  Trying to decide if we can grab a bit before the show.    

 

Jeff may have seemed a little distracted by technical difficulties.  William Tyler started right at 7:30 (show time) and got exactly a half hour.  I think Wilco went on at 8:30 or very close to.

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I really enjoyed the show last night. They seem to stop here on the way out or the way in, lucky us. Via Kalamazoo. The last time they played here was the last show on the Ghost is Born tour.

 

The entire Star Wars album to start the show was really well done and sounded amazing, even from up in the balcony.  The whole middle section - which could have been a concert in itself - great arrangements of mostly older material with special attention to YHF favorites. The first encore, then second, acoustic encore were extra special and sounded really great. Easy to see why they like playing this great old historic theater - exceptional acoustics. 

 

Seemed like they were using this date as kind of a proving ground for material and to see what translates. Jeff said, at one point they weren't going to do a lot of talking between songs so they could fit as many tunes in as possible... and that "nobody wants to hear me talk". Fine with me - even though I enjoy his usual banter - there was so much music and it seemed like three concerts in one.

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Jeff said, at one point they weren't going to do a lot of talking between songs so they could fit as many tunes in as possible... and that "nobody wants to hear me talk". Fine with me - even though I enjoy his usual banter - there was so much music and it seemed like three concerts in one.

 

Agreed.  I was shocked when I got to my car after the show and realized it was only 11:00.  I thought for sure that it would be a lot later than that.

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