Tweedy - 22 March 2016, Sydney, Australia (Factory Theatre)

[eckythump]

Tweedy set:

Hazel
Fake Fur Coat
Diamond Light Pt. 1
Flowering
Summer Noon
World Away
New Moon
High As Hello
Wait For Love
Love Like a Wire (Diane Izzo cover)
Low Key
Nobody Dies Anymore

Jeff solo:

Via Chicago

I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
Remember the Mountain Bed
Lost Love [Golden Smog]*
New Madrid [uncle Tupelo]
Please Tell My Brother [Golden Smog] *
Hummingbird
Either Way [request for BT - tour promoter extraordinaire]*
Jesus, Etc.
I'm the Man Who Loves You
A Shot in the Arm

Tweedy band returns:

Please Don't Let Me Be So Understood
Only The Lord Knows (Mavis Staples cover)

 

Encore:
Losing End (Neil Young Cover)
Give Back The Key To My Heart (Doug Sahm Cover)
California Stars (w/ Jody Stephens and Luther Russell)
Five Years (David Bowie Cover)
Queen Bitch (David Bowie Cover)

 

* Not on printed setlist

Also New Madrid was on the setlist before Mountain Bed.

On the setlist but not played: One Wing, Spiders (3 nights running!), Born Alone and Passenger Side

 

One word can sum up this show: Wow! This show was a complete turn around from the previous 2 nights, which while awesome, suffered from what I like to call "sit down syndrome", an affliction that affects Australian audiences who become polite clapping shy creatures when presented with a chair. Put those same people in a large room with a bar and force them to stand, and they become very different people, talkative, loud, and in the mood for a sing along. This is what happened in Sydney last night. The Factory Theatre is basically a large room with 800 capacity (frustratingly nowhere near sold out last night) in a suburban area 10 minutes out of the city (or 30 in rush hour!). The crowd, while not at capacity, was up for it last night, and Jeff responded in a big way, looking very gracious at the loud cheers many songs received, and appreciated the respectful singalongs during the solo set. There was some great banter, most notably a running joke through the set of how many waltzes there were, which upon the many odd responses this solicited, none more odd than someone in the crowd singing The Doors Hello I Love You, which got a very strange puzzled look from Spencer and Jeff, who quickly replied back 'that's not a waltz where we come from!'. Other highlights early in the set - a man with his toddler coming to the front during Summer Noon and bopping along, before Jeff giving the toddler a high 5 at the end of the song, after which said gentleman and toddler retreated to the back again.

With a more raucous crowd also comes the occasional moron, with one person who thought it was his job to provide a running commentary after each song about whether he liked said song, which Jeff promptly shut down at one point calling him out for his 'general assholery', upon which said heckler questioned the validity of said word, which Jeff again shutdown to much laughter from the crowd. Pro tip - don't heckle Jeff, you'll never win! There was also the occasional talking during some of the songs (the slower Tweedy ones especially), and a few annoying photos taken with flash during Jeff's solo set, but overall everyone was pretty well behaved.

Some great singing from the crowd during Jeff's solo set, quiet when it needed to be and loud at other times when warranted. You could see Jeff was really happy, and thanked the crowd for singing along. It's so much easier to sing along with a standing up crowd than when you're all seated in plush seats. Well, it is for us Aussies anyway!

So we got to the encore and I knew Jeff was having a great time when this time the entire printed encore got played, including the previously skipped Give Back The Key to My Heart, and we got both Bowie covers, despite there being no Courtney Barnett tonight (sorry Pitchfork). Jody Stephens (of Big Star fame), and Luther Russell, who were supporting under their new band Those Pretty Wrongs, then came out and joined the band for California Stars, Jody on tamborine, and Luther playing keys. I really enjoyed their set as well, great acoustic guitar pop harmonies, which personally I can't get enough of. And to top it off, they're the nicest people you could ever meet. The Bowie covers then closed the night, and Jeff and band nailed them. Five Years in particular was really powerful, with the big crescendo of belting out 'Five Years' being particularly effective. And Queen Bitch was such a fun way to close the night. RIP Bowie.

As a bit of a precursor to this show, let me explain how my day went leading up to this night: I flew up from Melbourne for this show with my girlfriend, and I booked us on a 12pm flight up to Sydney. Purely coincidental, we got to check in and there's the whole Tweedy family a few rows in front of us in the line. I was wearing my 2016 Todos Santos t-shirt at that point, which according to my girlfriend Jeff certainly saw and looked me up and down. I was feeling too awkward at that point to really look back! And as I'm a Virgin Australia (the airline we were on) club member, we then went into the lounge, and who else should also be there, but the Tweedy clan. We let them be and sat in a different part of the lounge. And then at the boarding gate the entire Tweedy crew was there. It was a little surreal! 

Cut now to after the show, and I hung around afterwards and managed to get Jeff to sign a few things and got a photo with him which was really cool. And then a few of us got a taxi back to the city to our respective hotels, and who should be driving alongside us, but the Tweedy van. We waved as they went past, and Spencer gave a friendly wave back to us. It was such a surreal awesome night!

So that's now the end of my 3 Tweedy shows in 3 days, all quite unique experiences in their own way. Sydney was definitely my favourite of the 3, just because of the better crowd interaction and you knew Jeff was enjoying himself more. But they were all awesome. Now I just hope it doesn't take Wilco 4-5 years to get back to Australia!

 

Here's video I recorded of Queen Bitch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CatoaRCZD4M

[Wise Enough]

thanks Eckythump!! I feel like I was there vicariously. Ha so far 3/3 shows have had young kids at them. They must think we take our kids everywhere.

 

Yeah I'm worried this counts as a wilco tour and we will have to wait several more years before they tour again!

[theashtraysays]

Great recap, and sounds like a fantastic run of shows down there.  Thanks for the report!

[lost highway]

Have they ever performed Please Don't Let Me Be So Understood before this?

[eckythump]

Have they ever performed Please Don't Let Me Be So Understood before this?

 

According to this link http://www.setlist.fm/stats/jeff-tweedy-3bd698b4.html it was played 6 times in 2014, so these latest performances take the total to 8 times. Not exactly a setlist regular

[Fritz]

According to this link http://www.setlist.fm/stats/jeff-tweedy-3bd698b4.html it was played 6 times in 2014, so these latest performances take the total to 8 times. Not exactly a setlist regular

 

I got so excited when it started because for a split second I thought it was something from Star Wars. Not sure why.

 

Still, it was an absolute pleasure to hear. I always skip it when I'm listening to the record because it just doesn't seem to fit for me. Hearing it last night, though, was pure elation.

 

I'll add to the comments above...there was so much joy in the room. Jeff and the band were very obviously enjoying it a lot. Lots of on stage laughter smiles and good times. Waaaay too much banter to report. Conversations and exchanges going on everywhere. Promises from Jeff that "when Trump becomes president" he and the other members of Wilco and Tweedy will all come down to live in Australia. Huge cheers for this of course but followed by, "It ain't gonna happen" (meaning Trump).

 

I think the solo set was longer. I didn't want it to end. Someone called out for One Sunday Morning and Jeff laughed saying that on acoustic guitar it sounded all the same. He then started playing it to big cheers! Didn't persist, though. I think he was tempted. 

 

The energy of the band set was huge. Give Back The Key To My Heart, although a downer in subject matter, was all smiles and good feelings.

 

Two Bowie covers to finish was just as good as Wilco finishing with two Big Star covers (Thank You, Friends & In The Street) when they played the very same venue a number of years ago.

 

To watch Jody Stephens sing Way Out West was a gift I never thought I'd receive in this lifetime. Bliss. I'll go along to see them (Those Pretty Wrongs) play tonight at Petersham Bowling Club.

 

It's been a big week. Meeniyan and Sydney for Tweedy and now Those Pretty Wrongs tonight. Then the carnival leaves town and we wait down here for another album, another tour. God bless 'em all!

[The Inside of Outside]

To watch Jody Stephens sing Way Out West was a gift I never thought I'd receive in this lifetime. Bliss. I'll go along to see them (Those Pretty Wrongs) play tonight at Petersham Bowling Club.

 

 

That is so cool. I love Way Out West. There is something very heartfelt in the vocals on those old Big Star songs, o matter who was singing them. So authentic.