Wilco — 9/24/15, Ann Arbor, MI (Hill Auditorium)

[bböp]

Here was the complete setlist, as 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

Company In My Back

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart>

Art Of Almost

You Are My Face

Hummingbird

Handshake Drugs

Camera

Via Chicago

Jesus, etc.

Born Alone

Impossible Germany

The Late Greats

Heavy Metal Drummer>

I'm The Man Who Loves You

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

Spiders (Kidsmoke) (electric arrangement)

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Misunderstood*

War On War*

True Love Will Find You In The End* [Daniel Johnston]

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

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

[BoboBrazil666]

From the Dept. of You Had To Be There: Yay!

[Preferred B]

Ah, it was so great to finally see Star Wars live! Hill Auditorium feels smaller than it is from up close, which is very cool for a large space (though I don't know how it feels from the upper balcony). I didn't realize how much I'd missed seeing "You Are My Face" in the regular rotation, but I did.

 

Was it mentioned at some point how the large porcelain (?) cat on stage was procured? A worthy addition.

[Bourbon Gangster]

Ah, it was so great to finally see Star Wars live! Hill Auditorium feels smaller than it is from up close, which is very cool for a large space (though I don't know how it feels from the upper balcony). I didn't realize how much I'd missed seeing "You Are My Face" in the regular rotation, but I did.

 

Was it mentioned at some point how the large porcelain (?) cat on stage was procured? A worthy addition.

 

I would love to hear Face live sometime.  I read somewhere that Nels got the cat at a second hand store across the street from The Loft.

[bböp]

Ah, it was so great to finally see Star Wars live! Hill Auditorium feels smaller than it is from up close, which is very cool for a large space (though I don't know how it feels from the upper balcony). I didn't realize how much I'd missed seeing "You Are My Face" in the regular rotation, but I did.

 

Was it mentioned at some point how the large porcelain (?) cat on stage was procured? A worthy addition.

I believe the porcelain cat was procured in LA, actually, just before the start of the West Coast tour last month. By Nels and Yuka. I liked how Jeff petted it during the end of (I think) Hummingbird.

 

What I think was procured at the thrift store across the street from the Loft was the painting that is the cover art of SW.

[Atticus]

bbop, you coming to the Austin shows this coming week?

[Albert Tatlock]

http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2015/09/moments_from_wilcos_show_in_an.html

 

This is about the best of the bunch

 

[bböp]

bbop, you coming to the Austin shows this coming week?

Si, señor.

[Atticus]

Cool. I'll be there Wednesday. A friend scored a couple VIP passes. 2013's show there was phenomenal.

[Lukestar]

http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2015/09/moments_from_wilcos_show_in_an.html

 

This is about the best of the bunch

 

 Nice photos. Tweedy got his hairs cut on the road...

[Bourbon Gangster]

What I think was procured at the thrift store across the street from the Loft was the painting that is the cover art of SW.

 

That's what I was thinking of.  Good call.  By the way, how is it that you are able to go to most of the shows?  Do you work for/with the band?  I've been meaning to ask since I started getting back on here a few weeks ago.

[bböp]

That's what I was thinking of. Good call. By the way, how is it that you are able to go to most of the shows? Do you work for/with the band? I've been meaning to ask since I started getting back on here a few weeks ago.

No official affiliation with the band (sigh...just kidding). Just a guy who tries to make it to as many shows as I can, while I can.

 

As far as this show goes, I've been trying to come up with some sort of recap but struggling a bit because I really had very little sense of the rest of the crowd. I can describe the show from my perspective, which was felt very intimate (or as intimate as a large concert hall with two balconies can be), but I'm not sure if that will provide a very accurate depiction of how it was to a majority of the audience.

 

At any rate, one thing that affected the sonic aspect of the show from where I was standing was that the fill monitors in the front kept cutting in and out for a good part of the show. When they were on, you really could hear the mix pretty well but when they went out, it was almost like Jeff was singing underwater or something. I can definitely better understand now what it's like for a performer when his/her monitor goes out. It's sort of disorienting.

 

From Banter Corner, Jeff had a couple of good items tonight. He noted that the band had wanted to play more of the songs that had been requested, but that "all of the requests were so sad. Are you guys OK?" Jeff jokingly said to the rest of the band that someone should remind him to have help hotlines included with the song request form.

 

After Impossible Germany, Jeff pointed to Nels and quipped, "Nels Cline everybody. He's so good I had to get a bigger amp," referring to the massive Marshall cabinet he's been using on this tour. "I'm not overcompensating." To which Glenn, behind him, hilariously mouthed, "Oh really?"

 

Those were definitely the best bits there. Earlier Jeff had also said something about how the crowd was so nice and how he felt like "we don't deserve you. I wanted to ask if everyone was having a good time, but that seemed too desperate." As I mentioned, I didn't really have much of a sense of the crowd but if I had to guess, it just felt very respectful. Polite, even. For instance, a friend looked around during Spiders and very few people seemed to even be moving, much less headbanging during the breakdowns. I just remember like 10 years ago when that song was new, how some crowds just went absolutely crazy for it with pogoing and the like. I guess we've all gotten a little bit older.

 

It was definitely nice to get a little variety in the setlist with songs like Company In My Back and You Are My Face (the latter which saw Jeff return to his familiar SG instead of the acoustic he had used when the band played it earlier on this run). And it's always great to hear songs like True Love... and Give Back The Key... in the hootenanny. I feel like that format gives the band a fair amount of flexibility in terms of song selection and it would be nice to hear Jeff and Co. be a little bit more wide-ranging in that part of the show like they were when they started playing songs that way. Thirteen, anyone?

 

I think that's about all I've got for now. On a final note, looking back, Jeff did have a couple of minor lyric flubs, including the K-Settes line in The Late Greats and the "followed me down the neck to D" lyric in A Shot in the Arm, but he took them in stride and more or less shrugged them off. It was unlikely, anyway, that the Hill crowd would have held his feet to the fire.

[Yaz Rock]

Those were definitely the best bits there. Earlier Jeff had also said something about how the crowd was so nice and how he felt like "we don't deserve you. I wanted to ask if everyone was having a good time, but that seemed too desperate." As I mentioned, I didn't really have much of a sense of the crowd but if I had to guess, it just felt very respectful. Polite, even. For instance, a friend looked around during Spiders and very few people seemed to even be moving, much less headbanging during the breakdowns. I just remember like 10 years ago when that song was new, how some crowds just went absolutely crazy for it with pogoing and the like. I guess we've all gotten a little bit older.

 

Well, not every crowd can be Ithaca, y'know  

 

Sorry you missed that one!  I'll post some pics/addl. comments for that show over the weekend.

[dark]

Great show...was nice having to only drive an hour and a half. My daughter and I got to see our fourth show together, it's a very cool thing to share Wilco with your kid. I have seen Wilco probably ten times and never at a venue with out alcohol... I think it added to a more subdued and respectful audience though for whatever reason I always end up with talkers behind me. They didn't affect the Wilco portion but ruined the opener for us. A great show!

[augurus]

Great show...was nice having to only drive an hour and a half. My daughter and I got to see our fourth show together, it's a very cool thing to share Wilco with your kid. I have seen Wilco probably ten times and never at a venue with out alcohol... I think it added to a more subdued and respectful audience though for whatever reason I always end up with talkers behind me. They didn't affect the Wilco portion but ruined the opener for us. A great show!

People were definitely chatting in the front rows during William Tyler, and pretty loudly.  That really disappointed me, but the Hill's sound wasn't super this time around unlike 3 years ago and 11 years ago.  But, most of the chatter died down once Wilco took stage.