Jeff Tweedy —7 August 2016, Happy Valley, OR (Pendarvis Farm) [Pickathon]

[bböp]

Man, I really have to get some sleep. These Pickathon late nights that go past 2 a.m. are doing a serious number on my ability to recharge the proverbial batteries. But before I turn in, I feel compelled to at least write a few words by way of trying to recap Jeff's second (and final) solo performance at the festival.

Of course, by the wee hours of the morning, Jeff was long gone from Pendarvis Farm and probably resting comfortably in a hotel bed somewhere. However, before he left, he turned in a delightful 68-minute set of songs on the much-adored Woods stage that is arguably the most distinctive at Pickathon. It's an intimate space in the middle of a forest with the stage framed by tree branches that have seemingly been woven together to form a support structure. Given that kind of setting, it would have been difficult for it not to have been a memorable evening.

Nevertheless, Jeff had his work cut out for him by having to follow the dance mania incited by Dan Deacon and then the crowd-pleasing grooves of Cory Henry and the Funk Apostles. He did this with just a few acoustic guitars, none of which were even plugged in (only two microphones picked up Jeff's voice and guitar, as has been his preference of late).

Jeff acknowledged that he felt a bit badly about coming on after Henry and the Funk Apostles because that band had seemed to make everyone so happy and had closed its set by getting the crowd to chant "Everything's gonna be all right." Jeff said his music's message, at least in part, was that "it's gonna be OK, but not all right." He joked that he should've have told the audience to leave if it didn't want to be brought down.

Most of the material from Banter Corner, though, centered around clarifying or backing off comments Jeff had made the previous night. So for instance, he talked about how he had been "doing a bit" in which he tried to mimic Donald Trump's speech cadence; Jeff said he couldn't get it out of his head how someone could talk that way. So his bit basically involved saying how he had the best songs, was the best guitar player, and everybody told him so. But then he apparently saw a review of the previous night's show that (of course) featured the headline "Jeff Tweedy: I Have The Best Songs."

He also mentioned briefly that he hadn't really meant what he said about disliking the new singer — or pope — of the Swedish heavy metal band Ghost. He simply preferred the first "pope," and then briefly mused about whether the band sent up a puff of white smoke every time it got a new pope (which happens when a new Pope, the religious kind, is elected). "If they had a sense of humor, they would," said Jeff of Ghost, whose T-shirt he fortunately wasn't wearing for a second consecutive show.

One other noteworthy bit of banter involved the more than a few children who made their way to the front row, as they had the night before. Looking to his right, Jeff pointed at a group of kids (who may or may not have been some of the same ones in the front on Night 1) and said they were better behaved than the children from the earlier show. "Those kids last night were jerks," Jeff joked. Of course he then launched into the Schmilco track Normal American Kids.

As far as the music, we got one more live debut of a song from the forthcoming Wilco Schmilco (and two Schmilco songs total) after Jeff debuted three the previous night. Judging by these first listens to the new songs, I think Schmilco is going to be quite enjoyable for a lot of folks. Jeff's songwriting has certainly evolved over the years, but I think this might be one of his best collections of lyrics in a while. And in addition to the new material, Jeff played an entirely different set from the previous night, one that included some nice surprises such as Someday Soon, Reservations and Laminated Cat.

Anyway, enough for now from this fatigued festivalgoer. Here was the complete setlist, as played (Jeff once again had a setlist of sorts at his feet, but it's unclear how much he actually stuck to it or whether it was just a list of songs he wanted to get to; also, there was no encore):

Via Chicago (with harmonica)
One Wing
Remember The Mountain Bed
Normal American Kids
Someday Soon
Radio King
Where Do I Begin (started and restarted)
We Aren't The World (Safety Girl) (live debut)
Born Alone
Reservations
Forget The Flowers
We've Been Had
In A Future Age
Kamera
The Late Greats
Laminated Cat (aka Not For The Season)
Gun

[knotgreen]

Sounds like you saw two great solo shows. Thanks, as always, for the review. I missed the stream & am hopeful that some videos surface on YouTube.

[Albert Tatlock]

Nice to see Reservations there. Ta for the review!