Jeff Tweedy — 27 April 2018, Chicago, IL (Vic Theatre) [Benefit for Education; Night 1 of 2)

[bböp]

As always, it's almost impossible to fully capture the feeling in the room for these annual benefit shows at the Vic that have become such a beloved tradition among the Wilco/Tweedy fanbase. They are (and have been) a combination of delight, awkwardness, comfort, curiosity, generosity, honesty, serendipity and probably 10 other things that I'm failing to think of as I somehow type these words through bleary eyes just before 5 a.m.

 

So that's a disclaimer of sorts, kind of like the one Jeff often puts on his own performance early on in the evening when he declares to the crowd that this show "is a slog." He goes on to explain for those that might not have attended one of these benefit shows before that the format is that the first 30 people in line pick the songs that he will play and "they don't care if it's a good show." In true deadpan Tweedy fashion, he tells the rest of the audience that "these people hate me, they hate you and they hate America. ... They just want to hear songs I don't remember writing, but this is why we do this. Because charity should be somewhat painful for you as well as me."

 

That's a joke, of course, but there is surely a small grain of truth in just about everything Jeff kvetches about on stage. For instance, on more than one occasion tonight, he mentioned how he felt like he had been up there for a really long time. Which is somewhat understandable when you remember the fact that he just came off a solo tour where he played a relatively concise 90-minute set each night.

 

The good thing about this year, one presumes, is that Jeff wouldn't have quite the struggle to shake off the performance rust as he has had in past years when the time rolls around for these charity shows. Typically, Night 1 can be a bit challenging for him when he hasn't played acoustic shows in some time. But that wouldn't be an issue this year, not that there weren't a few flubs here and there. But it definitely wasn't the case, as has occasionally been true, where he could barely get through songs. The only song he really seemed to struggle with was Country Disappeared, which he admitted he didn't know very well at the moment while adding that "the words are striking me (now) in a different way than when I wrote them."

 

Another good thing is that a number of the new songs Jeff has been playing out were requested, and I would say that he naturally seemed the most comfortable and invested when playing songs like New Wave Theater, Drawing From Memory and Don't Forget (song titles my own, and not necessarily the final ones). I could be mistaken, but I think we might have even heard the live debut Another new song apparently called Family Ghost (with a lyric that included, "I'm the family ghost you never leave behind") had only been played once before.

 

Other, um, interesting moments during the set came from the two covers Jeff decided to play, the Kinks' Waterloo Sunset and Doug Sahm's Who Were You Thinking Of. I have to say that the former could have featured a little bit more crowd participation during the "Sha la la" harmonies, but also was almost derailed by a very loud, off-key male voice that came in at the end when Jeff was trying to elicit said crowd participation. And the latter was a pretty funny rendition when Jeff admitted that he "butchered the lyrics, but you get the point (of the song), right?" and got some help from the audience on the "Was it a good-looking stranger or a close friend of mine?" line and declared that "this is a disgusting song."

 

The Mermaid Avenue deep cut Secret Of The Sea also proved to be fodder for Jeff, who declared that when he was cramming to relearn the song backstage before the show he realized that it was a "terrible" set of Woody Guthrie lyrics. "What's the secret of the sea?" Jeff said. "Is it about tuna fish?" Fortunately he decided to follow that song up with another Guthrie-penned number, the always-poignant At My Window Sad And Lonely.

 

There isn't all that much else to revisit from Banter Corner, unfortunately, with Jeff's Q&A interludes — in addition to song requests, early line waiters are also invited to submit questions — not really delivering the desired effect because Jeff glanced at the sheet of questions and declared that "I don't really like any of these questions." He did respond to one about how incarceration had changed him by recounting the story he has been telling on tour about how he and his touring party were detained for a time at the Canadian border because a member of said party had forgotten about a small amount of weed he had in his backpack. Jeff joked that they were detained long enough for him to think about what neck tattoos he might get and about getting a boyfriend. And a little later, there was a question about his forthcoming memoir that drew a response that basically amounted to how much Jeff remembered he hates writing books.

 

All joking (or not) aside, Jeff took a moment just before he left the stage to thank the audience for its generosity and to say how much these shows have meant to him and his family over the years. With the Tweedys' youngest son Sammy graduating high school this year, there has been some speculation about whether these charity shows, which I believe started out to help raise money for scholarships at the Tweedy boys' school, will continue. I hope they will, even if the beneficiary (or beneficiaries) change somewhat. For all the work that Jeff's wife, Susan, puts into organizing them and the slog that Jeff has to endure to pull them off, I know that these concerts mean a lot to a lot of people, so here's looking forward to Night 2 and hopefully many more nights still to come...

 

Here was the complete setlist, as played, for Night 1 of Jeff's 2018 Benefit For Education shows:

 

One Wing

new song-Having Been Is No Way To Be

How To Fight Loneliness

Hotel Arizona

Blasting Fonda

new song-Drawing From Memory

Locator

Sunken Treasure (w/harmonica)

Nope

Country Disappeared (started and restarted)

new song-Don't Forget

Bull Black Nova

One True Vine

Cry All Day

Ashes Of American Flags

new song-Family Ghost

Art Of Almost

I'll Fight

The Family Gardener

Reservations

Secret Of The Sea

At My Window Sad And Lonely

Ain't No Doubt About It

Waterloo Sunset [The Kinks]

new song-Let's Go Rain

Who Were You Thinking Of [Doug Sahm/Sir Douglas Quintet]

Heavy Metal Drummer

Handshake Drugs (w/harmonica)

Gun

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

I'm The Man Who Loves You

[Albert Tatlock]

More to come, but for now here was the complete setlist, as played, for Night 1 at the Vic:

 

Waterloo Sunset [The Kinks]

 

 

Ta (in advance). WS has been in my head a lot this past week and even listened to Ray Davies on Master Tapes yesterday. Would of liked to have heard that.

[u2roolz]

Family Ghost is on Setlist FM's set list for Kingston, Ontario on April 8th. I don't see any mention of it on that show's thread.

[bböp]

Family Ghost is on Setlist FM's set list for Kingston, Ontario on April 8th. I don't see any mention of it on that show's thread.

Yeah, thanks. I thought I remembered seeing it had been played in Canada somewhere, but couldn’t remember where. So I stand corrected about the live debut on that one.

[The Inside of Outside]

Looks/sounds like a lot of fun. What a ridiculously lovely set list. I love "Who Were You Thinking Of"!

[zspaul]

It's been a while since I've looked, anyone know where to find audience recording these days? bt.etree.org doesn't have much 2018s, I'd love to hear these benefit shows if recordings exist

[Jcamp]

 

Jeff Tweedy SuperDawg inspired concert tee, coupled with my local brewery's SuperDawg inspired bier!