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Wilco — 10 September 2016, San Francisco, CA (The Fillmore) [Night 4 of 5]


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From where I stand, it's no small feat for a band to successfully pull off the balancing act of a five-night residency — particularly when that band is one like Wilco that has a new record to promote but also a devoted fanbase that expects to hear a variety of songs each night, from crowd pleasers to deep cuts. In coming up with a setlist, you have to change things up enough to satisfy those going to every show but you also can't necessarily make any one night vastly unique relative to another, lest you alienate fans who might only be able to attend one show.

 

I bring this up because while I wouldn't personally choose tonight's show as my favorite of the run or the one I would attend if I could only go to one, I understand that it might have been someone else's top choice. Certainly it was a show that seemed geared in many ways toward a Saturday night audience — for better and worse. On the plus side, Jeff was arguably as chatty as he has been thus far in this Fillmore run. :lol

 

Among the gems from Banter Corner on Night 4:

 

*After a big ovation for Nels after Impossible Germany, Jeff declared before the next song, Happiness, that he might've made "a miscalculation" with the setlist. It's always a good idea to follow (the song with) the biggest round of applause with the most hateful, bile-filled screed," he said. "But we'll try it. It's never stopped us before."

 

*Reflecting on his amusing, upper-octave "Can't get any closer to you...now" outro vocal on Too Far Apart, Jeff deadpanned, "I think I nailed that one. Next time Nels does an album of jazz classics, I'm gonna to be the singer. I want to croon."

 

*Unprompted, before launching into Locator, Jeff told the crowd that he "doesn't see why people think the cover art (of Wilco Schmilco) doesn't match the music. They're both very depressingly funny."

 

*Responding to some audience members yelling requests near the end of the main set, Jeff quipped, "We've got a tight little program for you. We have a lot of songs, so you're going to have to come back to hear the ones you want to hear. That's how Wilco sucks you in."

 

*Just before the end of the main set, Jeff reiterated that the band had really enjoyed the Fillmore audience(s) and then uttered this groaner: "I don't know about Rice-A-Roni, but you're a real San Francisco treat." That drew a couple of wah-wah, sad trombone-esque sounds from Pat on the keyboard, to which Jeff then jokingly accused Pat of having all cued up for when he started to talk.

 

And there definitely were at least a few more moments of Jeffspeak that are somewhat difficult to summarize here, but also provided some measure of humor and/or interaction.

 

Musically speaking, the show did feature some songs I haven't heard played in quite a while (Poor Places, Too Far Apart, Either Way) but also some that I thought didn't fare as well with the band's current stripped-down setup (At Least That's What You Said, Kamera). On Kamera, Jeff remarked that the performance might have been the closest the band had gotten to that song sounding like it did on the record...though that wasn't necessarily a good thing. Meanwhile, the show-closing Spiders didn't feature the frenetic double-time tempo that had given it such urgency earlier in the run; instead Glenn and the band opted to play it at a more typical pace this time. :ermm

 

For his part, Nels seemed not to be having the best show from a technical standpoint. It started from the first song, Normal American Kids, when one of his strings broke in the song's waning moments, popping and causing Jeff to glance over. Later Nels seemed to be having trouble with one of his pedals on Dawned On Me and Hummingbird.

 

Heavy Metal Drummer was one song that might have improved (or at least sounded slightly different) with the stripped-down stage setup and gear, forcing Glenn to play the intro manually instead of relying on a sample, as usual. But to me anyway, and I don't blame the band for this, but it seemed like Jeff and Co. were the most present and engaged when playing songs from Wilco Schmilco.

 

Ultimately, this seemed like a performance geared a bit more heavily toward the band's so-called "hits" (and the new album, of course). Maybe you liked that, maybe you didn't, but at the very least, I think it helps a bit to think about and try to understand how a show like this fits into the grand scheme of a five-night stand. :yes

 

Here was the complete setlist as played for Night 4 (just got a quick glance at the printed setlist, but it didn't appear there were any changes):

 

Normal American Kids^

If I Ever Was A Child

Cry All Day

She's A Jar

Kamera

The Joke Explained

Misunderstood

Either Way

At Least That's What You Said

Impossible Germany

Happiness

Nope

Poor Places

Too Far Apart

Someone To Lose

Locator

Dawned On Me

Heavy Metal Drummer

Hummingbird

We Aren't The World (Safety Girl)

The Late Greats

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

More...

Random Name Generator

Walken

I'm The Man Who Loves You

I'm A Wheel

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

Jesus, etc.

Spiders (Kidsmoke) (electric arrangement)

 

^ — Jeff Tweedy and Nels Cline only

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Dang, it suddenly got quiet.

 

Being (t)here on the east coast and unable to procure tix, I thank you, Paul (and everyone else) for your takes on the Fillmore run.  I literally wake up each day and read immediately. I shouldn't be ashamed, and I'm not (ya'll see what i did there, ummm- hmmm), Truly appreciate the effort to report back consistently with great detail, especially for a non Facebook guy. Well done! Enjoy the last night.

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