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Wilco - State Theatre Portland, ME 1/27


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Preemptive post for tomorrow's show at the State Theatre! So pumped to see them again in my hometown! 

Did anybody get a wrist band for their acoustic set at Bullmoose Music? Might be a few left if you go buy Star Wars on vinyl! 

 

And if y'all wanna keep the party going my band will be performing Yankee Hotel Foxtrot 2 blocks down the street at Empire right after Wilco plays their final note! If you have a Wilco ticket stub you can get in for $4 in stead of 6! 

 

https://www.facebook.com/events/455903984594105/

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Preemptive post for tomorrow's show at the State Theatre! So pumped to see them again in my hometown! 

 

Did anybody get a wrist band for their acoustic set at Bullmoose Music? Might be a few left if you go buy Star Wars on vinyl! 

 

And if y'all wanna keep the party going my band will be performing Yankee Hotel Foxtrot 2 blocks down the street at Empire right after Wilco plays their final note! If you have a Wilco ticket stub you can get in for $4 in stead of 6! 

 

https://www.facebook.com/events/455903984594105/

I did and I'm very psyched for both shows!

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Well, I was going to start a new thread for the show itself — with the preferred title style — but I'm too lazy at this point so here goes...

 

An interesting show tonight in that I couldn't tell if Jeff was annoyed with, pleased by or bemused at the crowd at the State. Probably a little of all three. Just before the end of the show, he came up with a perfect summary of the show when he told the audience, "I have to say, what you lack in attentiveness you've made up for in spirit."

 

He added half-jokingly, probably referring to the very loud screaming lady from either the balcony or the back bar area, that "it's like Wilcomania in here...which is entirely uncomfortable."

 

After waiting an unusually long time to "check in" with an audience that he likened to a Friday night crowd and then accusing of having "been drinking...pure maple syrup," Jeff revealed a bit of his annoyance at people talking loudly during Magnetized. "You guys were pretty chatty during that last song of Star Wars, so I didn't talk to you (for a while) until I cooled down."

 

At any rate, that was about all we got from Banter Corner save for an amusing mid-Heavy Metal Drummer "don't encourage him" when a few of us applauded Glenn's requisite drumstick twirl.

 

There were a few nuggets tonight, as always, and those featured some especially fierce guitar work from Jeff, which is always welcome. As is the "rock songs" end to the main set. But it was during the always-played I'm The Man Who Loves You that probably the most unusual moment came when Jeff realized his guitar was in the wrong tuning (I think) and sort of had to retune it himself after the band had already started the song. "You'll never see it performed that way again," Jeff said.

 

Beyond that, I thought two other highlights were Nels' Impossible Germany solo, which was especially inventive IMHO (and it's got to be hard to keep finding new territory to mine given how frequently that song is played) and the extended ovation John got after the hootenanny It's Just That Simple. Jeff had noted that the band had ties to this community, and he was referring to John — whose wife is from Maine and who spends quite a bit of time there in the summers, I think.

 

I'm sure others will contribute with more details that I've forgotten, but for me, tonight was sort of the tradeoff with the beautiful acoustics of the first two shows of the tour in Pittsburgh and Burlington. Tonight the mix, at least where I was standing (which, granted, was far from the room's sweet spot), was a little off with Jeff's vocals sometimes sounding a little muddy. I'm sure it sounded better, say, in the first row of the balcony, which is why so many early arrivers headed up there. The energy and general vibe of the crowd, however, felt much more like a typical Wilco show. So I guess you just rarely ever get the "perfect storm" of great sound and great spirit. For me, I'd probably tend to opt for the latter but I totally understand those who lean the other way.

 

Here was the complete setlist, as played (didn't see a printed list tonight, but it didn't seem like there were any audibles):

 

More...

Random Name Generator

The Joke Explained

You Satellite

Taste The Ceiling

Pickled Ginger

Where Do I Begin

Cold Slope>

King Of You

Magnetized

At Least That's What You Said

Camera

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart>

Art Of Almost

You Are My Face

Hummingbird

Box Full Of Letters

Heavy Metal Drummer>

I'm The Man Who Loves You

Dawned On Me

Impossible Germany

Red-Eyed And Blue>

I Got You (At The End of the Century)>

Outtasite (Outta Mind)

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

Spiders (Kidsmoke) (electric arrangement)

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

Misunderstood*

I'm Always In Love*

It's Just That Simple*

Casino Queen*

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 banjitar/glockenspiel

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Well, my first Wilco show since Solid Sound, and my first show at the State. Well worth the trip from Boston. Never having been in that theater, my expectations were for a really nice restored theater with excellent sound. That is not the State. The sound was a little muddy, my friend and I were noticing that all night. And there were so many freakin talkers right in front of us. We also were annoyed, like Jeff. But just like Jeff said, the spirit was there and Wilco delivered the goods. I had an outstanding time. Seeing SW for the first time was better than I expected. Just love seeing 3 guitars across the stage for the entire album. I don't know if anything could be better for me than the rock n roll fury of the main set ending run of Impossible then Red Eyed>I Got You>Outtamind. Just perfect rock n roll. They can never play too much from Being There for me. So many other highlights, You Satellite melted my mind live, and of course the always lovely and furious version of ALTWYS.

 

 

 

Alarm just went off, gotta get back to Boston and look forward to the Orpheum shows.

 

 

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2 quick things to add:

 

 

 

Great to meet gods8apedhole, who had given me perfect info about the State and where to be if I couldn't stand all night. So nice to be able to say hi and chat. And her daughter too.

 

 

 

After the show, I shared an elevator ride with Glenn and a couple other fans. The nicest guy, just what you would expect him to be.

 

 

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You were not alone in making the trek from Boston.

What a great building*and I liked the downtown area.

* if they ever restored the Orpheum this it how it would be.

As indicated above the show was tremendous. The GA had its usual pluses and minuses. The song selection in the second half along with the f a s t pace of SW made for a compact and full night.

Glad I drove 2 hrs.

Kudos to the Bamd covering Wilco at the Empire post show.

See you good people at the Orpheum.

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i would love it if they tore out all the lower orchestra seats of the Orpheum

Having been at the State Theater last night, I'm totally with you on this.  It was a perfect blend of open floor GA for those who want that, and then seats starting at the board, which start above the floor and gradually rise to the rear. Or I should say, to the number of bars in the rear.  State is not much of a nice theater, the ceiling is very plain and flat.  The Orpheum could be gorgeous again, like the Beacon.  Getting rid of those seats, which defy current human size (were folks really that small when they built the place?) would be a huge step in the right direction. 

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quoted for fucking truth.

i'm not a big guy, but those things are torture devices. i can't imagine a 6'3" person having to sit for 2 hours in one of those things.

6'2" here and I will be folding myself into lowers at the Orpheum this weekend for SW set .. Although I know it will be sort of a stand up sit down portion till they hit the homestretch .. Well Worth It ... Looking forward to seeing family and familiar faces there !
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quoted for fucking truth.

i'm not a big guy, but those things are torture devices. i can't imagine a 6'3" person having to sit for 2 hours in one of those things.

I have only seen one show at the Orpheum, and I thought the seats were great - they were so small that everyone ignored them and stood the entire show. Kind of like a GA show, with a little room around you because the seats are in between you and the folks in front of you and behind you.

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6'2" here and I will be folding myself into lowers at the Orpheum this weekend for SW set .. Although I know it will be sort of a stand up sit down portion till they hit the homestretch .. Well Worth It ... Looking forward to seeing family and familiar faces there !

I'm pretty sure you will find everyone in the lower orch standing for the entire show. 

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I loved last night's show. We had no chatty folks near us. We were right in the middle, standing on the rail that is about 15 yards back from the real rail. I love this spot at the State Theater - the sound is better, and it is raised above the standing area that is closer to the stage so the sight lines are excellent. This will be my go-to spot now at the State.

 

Star Wars was excellent, particularly from Pickled Ginger on. I was most surprised by Pickled Ginger and You Satellite, as I am not as big a fan of these two on vinyl. They rocked live. Cold Slope/King of You was raucous, as I had hoped.

 

Other musings:

Three songs from AM was a surprise.
At Least That's What You Said was a great way to jack up the energy after Magnetized.
You Are My Face was my guess as the ballot-stuffed song of the night. Somebody must have been working the keyboard over the past few months to get that one played. I was glad that whoever requested that one did so.

The State Theater does put a premium on placing a bar area close by. I love that. And they had Oxbow Farmhouse on tap. I love that, too.
There were some feedback problems during at least two songs, and they appeared to annoy Jeff. However, what the band lacked in sound quality, they made up for in raucousness. Alas, it will very likely not make it to a Roadcase release as a result of the intermittent sound problems. Too bad - the crowd was loud as hell in their appreciation of the band.
I Got You (At The End of the Century)>Outtasite (Outta Mind) plain and simply kicked ass.

I got goosebumps during the Impossible Germany solo. For over two minutes.

The sustained applause for John after It's Just That Simple, given that he had family there, was the highlight of the show for me. I got a little teary for him. Wish all the VCers could have been there to see/hear it - it was quite touching.
 

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i would love it if they tore out all the lower orchestra seats of the Orpheum

WORD. all my fellow boston VCers are spot on with this idea. we went to the cap in port chester for the first time for one of the october shows last year and it was such a perfect wilco venue- the cozy warm feel and neat details of a handsome theatre with the GA floor feel of a smaller rock club. maybe we should start a letter-writing campaign.

looking forward to tomorrow and saturday- hope to finally meet some of you face to face...

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WORD. all my fellow boston VCers are spot on with this idea. we went to the cap in port chester for the first time for one of the october shows last year and it was such a perfect wilco venue- the cozy warm feel and neat details of a handsome theatre with the GA floor feel of a smaller rock club. maybe we should start a letter-writing campaign.

looking forward to tomorrow and saturday- hope to finally meet some of you face to face...

The thing about the Cap is not only did they take up the chairs in the orchestra, but Peter Shapiro obviously spent some bucks refurbishing the place and putting in a top notch sound and light system.  I wish the same for the Orpheum. ASAP

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