Wilco — 3 October 2017, Irving, TX (Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory)

[bböp]

On a rainy, stormy night in the Dallas metroplex, Wilco closed out its Texas tour-within-a-tour by once again exceeding expectations. Mine anyway, which I have to admit weren't that high. Of all of the venues on the Texas run, this one was probably the one I was looking forward to the least, even though I hadn't been there before — and since it's apparently quite new, I'm guessing that the vast majority of my fellow show attendees hadn't either.

 

Imagine if they took a typical Live Nation amphitheater and put it into a giant airplane hangar and you might come close to envisioning what the Toyota Music Factory is like. Or sliced off part of an arena and crammed it into said hangar (with a back door that apparently opens up into a lawn space). It's not that it was the worst venue I've ever been to, but from its generic name to the 'grey concrete everywhere' design motif to the generally soulless vibe of the place, I can't say I'll be rushing back anytime soon. At its best, I would say it's a venue to be tolerated rather than enjoyed.

 

To the credit of Jeff and his bandmates, though, they overcame the setting by being pretty engaging almost from the start. Jeff checked in with the crowd about six songs in, asking if everyone was comfortable and, after another song, if the sound was OK. He explained that it had been a while since the band had played in "an arena-style environment." When someone yelled out, "Let the healing begin," Jeff replied by saying, "The healing has begun; that's why we're all here. You don't need a tragedy for a musical concert to be a healing experience. ... There's a lot of healing to be done, and I don't we're going to be able to do it all tonight. We're gonna try, but you're also gonna have to do it after we leave."

 

More banter ensued in short order when Jeff once again addressed the sitting/standing issue that often seems to come up at these reserved-seating shows. "I'm not sure how to read this, but I think it's OK," he said before starting Pot Kettle Black. "A happy medium has been reached between the standers and the sitters, it seems like. We don't need more to divide us. Stop it." A few songs later, Jeff apologized to the crowd "if I influenced you to stand for a stretch of very sad songs. Last night in San Antonio, a guy fell asleep during that stretch. In the third row. He looked like Jesus. I thought it was a good sign if someone could relax enough in a public space to fall asleep — after what happened the other night. I might take a nap right here."

 

A few songs later, Jeff asked if anyone had come to see the band at the legendary Dallas venue Sons of Hermann Hall, where Wilco played twice in 1995. When a few cheers went up, Jeff scoffed. "No way," he said. But Jeff did dedicate the ensuing Box Full Of Letters to the man who had booked the band at Sons for some of its earliest area gigs, Mike Snider. "Like a bad penny, he keeps showing up," Jeff said. I thought that was a sweet thing to do.

 

Not long after that, however, Jeff made the odd request of asking the audience to boo him and the band for a minute — saying that was how he envisioned things going in his dreams, or something like that — and many people were more than happy to oblige. The louder the booing got, the more Jeff seemed to embrace it. It was a theme that would persist through the final third of the 2-hour, 28-minute set. The booing got pretty loud, for example, when Jeff said this would be the band's last show in Texas for a while. "The whole time we've spent in your state has been fantastic," he said. "We'll come back as soon as we can. We have some business to take care of. It's top secret."

 

One of the funniest visits to Banter Corner in quite some time came near the end of the show, in the second encore, when someone close to the front apparently yelled for She's A Jar. Jeff was mock incredulous. "She's A Jar at this point in the show? Are you crazy? Go home and put on some headphones, maybe smoke a doobie, and listen to this song about domestic violence. Way to read the room, dude." :lol

 

I'm sure I'm not recapping this completely right, but Jeff actually went on from there and joked about how he was getting into this insulting-the-audience mentality. And then he said something about how "everyone should go buy our T-shirt at the merch stand on the way out. All profits go to us," Jeff said. (It was possibly a callback to the previous night in San Antonio when he derided an older man's shirt and he later covered it up with a Wilco T-shirt and Jeff then joked that he hated everyone's shirt). All the while this was going on, I'm pretty sure the rest of the band was cracking up behind Jeff, with Glenn delaying the start of the next song until Jeff finally looked back at him and said, "Come on, Ringo...we don't have all night."

 

Musically speaking, the cover of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' The Waiting to start the first encore was the most dramatic change to the setlist and a highlight of the show. Unfortunately, the band had a bit of a rough start with the song. As Jeff subsequently explained, he didn't want to mess it up so he had the lyrics at his feet but of course the second they started to play it, the sheet with the first verse blew over. So the performance of the song took some time to hit its stride, but I'm sure that the vast majority of the audience — a number of whom were wearing Petty T-shirts — appreciated the gesture. "Thanks, Tom," Jeff said sarcastically, about the lyric sheet blowing over just when it did. And then, sincerely, "We're gonna miss him, for sure." (Incidentally, the house music before and after the show the last couple of nights has been all Petty.)

 

As the late songwriting legend himself once sang, it's time to move on. It's sad for me to bid farewell to Texas, but I can say that each show has been pretty memorable in its own way. Grudgingly, I'll even admit that the Toyota Music Factory was far from as grim as I initially feared. The sound was quite solid, though I'm not sure whether that's more due to the talents of front-of-house wizard Stan than the acoustics of the venue (I suspect the former). Nevertheless Jeff has clearly been letting his hair down of late, both metaphorically and literally — no more braids, folks, at least not the past few nights — and I think the shows have benefited from that.

 

Here was the complete setlist, as played (the order of the first and second encores was switched on the printed setlist, and Mountain Bed was listed in the slot where Forget The Flowers was played):

 

Cry All Day

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart>

Art Of Almost

Pickled Ginger

Side With The Seeds

If I Ever Was A Child

Handshake Drugs

Misunderstood (hootenanny arrangement — Nels on lap steel, Pat on banjitar, John on 12-string acoustic)

Someone To Lose

Pot Kettle Black

Via Chicago

Bull Black Nova (acoustic/electric hybrid arrangement)

Reservations

Impossible Germany

Forget The Flowers

California Stars

Box Full Of Letters

Theologians

Heavy Metal Drummer>

I'm The Man Who Loves You

Hummingbird

The Late Greats

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

The Waiting [Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers]

Monday>

Outtasite (Outta Mind)

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

Random Name Generator

Jesus, etc.

Locator>

Spiders (Kidsmoke) (electric arrangement)

[downisthenewup]

Here's The Waiting

[ViaNewOrleans]

Cool.  Thanks for the link.

[Heart full of holes]

Here's The Waiting

Nice!  I hope we get this in Atlanta and/or Ashville.  Thanks for the link.

[downisthenewup]

Nice!  I hope we get this in Atlanta and/or Ashville.  Thanks for the link.

I'm hoping to hear it in Birmingham!

[jhuml1]

Jeff apologized for flubbing the first verse because his sheet with the lyrics blew over right as he was about to start singing. He looked up, shook his fist, and gave a sarcastic "Thanks, Tom!"

[Jus10000]

It was an awesome show! Pretty new venue; I thought the sound was great. Jeff was pretty chipper. Does anyone have a bootleg to share?

[ditty]

Here's The Waiting

 

Musically speaking, the cover of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' The Waiting to start the first encore was the most dramatic change to the setlist and a highlight of the show.

 

Great tribute! Thanks for the details and link.

[jhuml1]

There's a photo of the setlist on Instagram that has Remember The Mountain Bed in place of Forget The Flowers.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZ0hMmUl0z-/

[jhuml1]

I was surprised at how unprepared this venue was in some respects. It just opened about a month ago, and they had to move or reschedule about a week's worth of shows when they missed their original opening date. To get to the entrance, we had to walk from the parking garage on the east side along the north side of the building, and as we went we had to weave among pieces of rebar, sandbags, and giant holes in the ground, all while it was pouring rain. It seemed very unsafe. Then when we got in, after our tickets were scanned we were told that our tickets were being upgraded. We had row J seats in 103, and we got upgraded to row C in section 100! Apparently when the tickets went on sale the venue wasn't really sure what their arrangement of seats (looked like removable folding chairs) on the floor was going to look like. Unfortunately our new seats were right next to some talkers who talked through the whole show. Scum of the earth. Anyway, I was just surprised that even a month after opening there was still work being done on the building. Those issues aside, the band was great!

[bböp]

There's a photo of the setlist on Instagram that has Remember The Mountain Bed in place of Forget The Flowers.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZ0hMmUl0z-/

 

Thanks for the info. That would have been kind of a weird choice in that venue, at that point in the set. Way to read the room, dude...indeed.

[jhuml1]

Thanks for the info. That would have been kind of a weird choice in that venue, at that point in the set. Way to read the room, dude...indeed.

 

That "way to read the room, dude" line from Jeff was hilarious.

[DoctorDetroit8]

Here's The Waiting

 

 

Thanks for taking this. Wilco just posted another fan-shot video on their Facebook page, but yours is in HD, which is nice. The band isn't coming back to my area for several months, so this is probably the only way I'll be able to see them perform it. Thanks again,

[Magnetized]

There's a photo of the setlist on Instagram that has Remember The Mountain Bed in place of Forget The Flowers.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZ0hMmUl0z-/

Ooh, that’s exciting. I’ve been requesting Mountain Bed for Asheville on the website, because it’s a mountain town. This gives me hope they might do it!

[Albert Tatlock]

Thanks for a nice run of reports. Some banter bounty there indeed.