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Wilco — 9/30/15, Austin, TX (Stubb's BBQ) [Night 2 of 2]


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More details to come, but for now, here was the complete setlist – as played – for the final Wilco show of 2015:

 

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The Joke Explained

You Satellite

Taste The Ceiling

Pickled Ginger

Where Do I Begin

Cold Slope>

King Of You

Magnetized

Handshake Drugs>

Art of Almost

Via Chicago

A Magazine Called Sunset

I'm Always In Love

Hummingbird

Theologians

I'm The Man Who Loves You

Jesus, etc.

Born Alone

Passenger Side

Airline To Heaven (with William Tyler on electric guitar)

Impossible Germany

The Late Greats

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Let's Not Get Carried Away

Kingpin ("livin' in...Austin")

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Misunderstood*

War On War*

We've Been Had*

It's Just That Simple*

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

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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Atticus: VIP or prisoner? Haha.

 

Well, in the lengthy annals of Wilco, these two nights at Stubb's might not be remembered with quite as much nostalgia as the band's previous "Evening with" ACL Festival pre-show there in 2013 not to mention a number of other memorable performances over the years, but they were still two more chapters in an enduring relationship the band has had with this venue (and this city).

 

What Stubb's makes up for in comfort and acoustics — there is apparently no other way for the band to get to its dressing room other to cross the stage, for example — it more than makes up for in atmosphere and spirit. It's the kind of venue that probably brings out the best in Jeff and Co.: intimate, sweaty and full of character.

 

Walking on to the frenetic sounds of EKG, Wilco quickly put to rest any thought that it might not play Star Wars for the second straight night. I mean, why wouldn't it? The only drawback, perhaps, of Stubb's as a venue was that because of the nature of the stage setup, the band wasn't able to fully present the lighting show it has developed to complement Star Wars with a series of "curtains" with hundreds of little lights that flicker and dance at various points.

 

As for the rest of the set, of course you knew there would be a number of differences between Nights 1 and 2. It wasn't completely repeat-free, but nevertheless we got a few songs that haven't been played much (if at all) since Star Wars has come out — A Magazine Called Sunset, Theologians and Kingpin, to name a few.

 

(The latter is simply too perfect a crowd-pandering vehicle not to play, given the easy substitution of the "livin' in...Austin" lyric. But the band played it with the newish arrangement that largely omits the call-and-response segment and adds a swaggering boogie-style breakdown at the end.)

 

Elsewhere, any show with two drum solos by Glenn is fine by me. I'd say this second night was as much a Glenn showcase as anything else. He just was able to display so many different facets of what makes him one of the most versatile percussionists in rock today. That he still seems to retain an inherent modesty about it all is a testament to who he is (and I thought the little hug with Jeff — or more accurately all, Jeff's midsection — while Jeff was trying to switch guitars right in front of Glenn's face during the hootenanny was very emblematic.)

 

The hootenanny second encore might have reached one of its high points at this show, turning into the crowd singalong that Jeff seems to want it to be in some sense, especially during the show-closing Give Back The Key... and A Shot in the Arm.

 

Not a huge amount from Banter Corner as has been the case of late. But Jeff didn't go entirely barb-free, noting how the crowd was "so much cooler than last night." When a few folks lightly protested, Jeff retorted, "It's a joke! Neither of you are very cool." B)

 

Other little bits included:

-Leading into Jesus, etc., Jeff said with a smile, "Have you guys been singing along? I can't tell." (pause) "Well, this one is a good one to sing along to."

-After saying goodbye to William Tyler, who added an excellent psych guitar element to Airline To Heaven, Jeff said of the youthful-looking Tyler, "He's 68 years old, did you know that? He looks good." (Tyler, by the way, is actually 36, which is kind of amazing, given that he looks about a decade younger.)

-As the crowd gave an extended ovation after Impossible Germany, Jeff pointed to Nels as he often does. But then he went around the proverbial horn, which he rarely does, proceeding to introduce each member of the band, including himself.

 

Well, I've prattled on for probably too long already so I'll leave it there for now. But I will just say that it's been a pleasure (albeit a sometimes exhausting one) to be able to catch the band so often through this rollout of Star Wars. And after a few months of rest and doing some other things, I'm sure they'll be hitting the road pretty hard next year and it'll be interesting, as always, to see what's to come.

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the new (to me) twists to Kingpin were enjoyable. I used to love that song but had kind of relegated it to pee-break status over the past few years because of the dragging call and response thing. Nels and Glenn matching up for these new bits is much better, in my opinion.

 

The extended Airline to Heaven was great as well, although I'll be happy to hear a recording of it because I wasn't able to catch much of Tyler's guitar from my side-stage vantage.

 

As an unabashed guitar junkie and Tweedy fan, it was a real treat to be able to finally view most of his pedal and other equipment changes between and during songs. It will take me awhile to sort through my mental notes on that account.

 

Great show.

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