Jeff Tweedy — 28 April 2018, Chicago, IL (Vic Theatre) [Benefit For Education; Night 2 of 2)

[bböp]

"When you perform/It's so intense/When the critics pan/I write in your defense..." Try coming up with those lyrics to The Lonely 1 right on cue while feeling a thousand sets of eyes on you seeing if you’ll come up with the right words. At Jeff’s annual benefit shows for education at the Vic Theatre, when it comes to audience participation, there might be some highlights and there might be some lowlights, but there’s rarely a dull moment.

 

All kidding aside, the audience — or at least the first 30 people in line — does play a key role in requesting the songs that comprise the setlist for that night’s show. That's part of the charm of these concerts that the Tweedys have been pulling together to benefit their community for almost 15 years now. The vibe of the shows has evolved somewhat over the years, and may do so again if the audience request format is modified (as has been possibly hinted at). But whatever happens moving forward, as long as Jeff is willing to put himself out there, to “make a fool of himself,” as he said last night, in my opinion, these will be events worth attending.

 

It's always amazing — to me, anyway — that someone with the depth of Jeff's catalog can basically find out what 30 songs he's expected to play in a given night a few hours before going out under the bright lights by himself with an acoustic guitar and, more often than not, delivering the goods. Repeating his joke disclaimer from Night 1 about the song requesters “hating him, hating you and hating America” and how “charity is supposed to be painful,” Jeff advised the rest of the sold-out crowd to buckle up and get some coffee.

 

Then he proceeded to plow through the first half of the show in workmanlike fashion, with nary a flubbed lyric. It was, perhaps, the kind of performance those of us who have attended these shows in the past might have come to expect from Night 2, after Jeff has had a chance to work out the performance kinks somewhat on Night 1. Highlights from the early portion of last night’s show included relatively rare solo performances of One Sunday Morning and When The Roses Bloom Again, as well as a delicate version of Bob Dylan’s 49^th Beard in which Jeff sang the first part of the song almost a capella with the light strumming of a single chord providing the sole accompaniment.

 

After a short mid-set run of relative rarities, Jeff thanked those who requested those songs, adding that “those are some deep cuts. I’m sure the bar appreciates those.” Another mid-set highlight, for me anyway, was the twofer of Kingpin and Acuff-Rose, with Jeff going right from the former into the latter with an especially deft segue.

 

The Q&A portion of these charity shows, with questions submitted by the song requesters, didn’t really come to much this year. Whether the questions weren’t as good or Jeff simply didn’t feel like tackling many of them, the entertainment potential of this aspect of the show wasn’t fully realized. One exception was a question Jeff chose to answer about the funniest thing his late father had ever said. Jeff proceeded to tell an anecdote about his sister, who had thick eyeglasses from a very young age, and how his dad had once said he wasn’t worried about anyone snatching her because they would probably just bring her right back. “So I’m pretty nice, relatively speaking,” Jeff deadpanned.

 

Other visits to Banter Corner involved a nightly check-in on his mobile phone to see if he received any mid-show text messages from his wife Susie, who proved that Jeff isn’t only the one in the family armed with a quick quip when he looked up to the opera box to his right thinking she might be up there. “I’m always over here, you idiot,” Susie said from the opposite box at stage left, perhaps only audible to those of us sitting on that side. Jeff then somehow digressed into a story about his father-in-law, who was in attendance, and his first dinner date with his wife. Susie’s dad apparently was at the meal as well, and asked at one point, “Jeff, do you like fudge?” That has apparently since been a running joke between Jeff and Susie.

 

Another funny bit of banter involving parents came when Jeff played Bull Black Nova for the second straight night for a certain VCer (ahem, theashtraysays a/k/a Vince) who always requests it. Jeff said of Vince that he “has a problem,” and that Vince reminded him of his father, who had a “monogamous” relationship with songs. Jeff then proceeded to relate how his dad would tend to listen to one song for months on end, including one by Mac Davis as well as Glen Campbell’s Southern Nights and Leo Sayer’s You Make Me Feel Like Dancing, and how Jeff later realized “that really damaged me.”

 

About 20 songs in, things hit a brief speed bump when Jeff attempted to play Random Name Generator, which he jokingly declared “a stupid song to request at an acoustic show,” and basically butchered it. Then came (I think the acoustic arrangement of) I’m Always In Love, which was nearly derailed by some persistent clappers, and the Lonely 1. And a couple songs later, the “denouement” with Hate It Here, which Jeff admitted he had forgotten to practice beforehand and suggested the audience help him with as he tentatively eased his way through.

 

But just as suddenly as things came off the rails a bit, Jeff regrouped and finished the show with a nice run of crowd pleasers, including We’ve Been Had, The Thanks I Get and Theologians. It was an interesting contrast to Night 1, which featured five new songs and a pair of rarely played covers. I agreed with the sentiments of a couple friends who said afterward that, for whatever reason, the crowd seemed much better overall on Night 2 than Night 1. Maybe there were just a few less yahoos or something, but the vibe seemed more positive overall.

 

So that’s another year of these benefit shows in the books, and as I previously mentioned, there wasn’t a dull moment. Obviously many of the folks who regularly check in on this forum were in attendance, and I hope they’ll chime in with some of their own memories and thoughts. I don’t know what the future holds for these shows that have long been a highlight of my concertgoing year, but I certainly hope they lose none of the spirit and heart that have always made them very special and enjoyable evenings.

 

Without further ado, here was the complete setlist, as played, for Night 2 of this year’s Benefit For Education shows at the Vic:

 

Spiders (Kidsmoke)

Fake Fur Coat

One Sunday Morning

Radio King

Hummingbird

You And I

Box Full Of Letters

Wait Up

new song-New Wave Theater

When The Roses Bloom Again

Bob Dylan's 49th Beard

Please Tell My Brother

I Can't Keep From Talking

Summer Teeth

Kingpin>

Acuff-Rose

On And On And On

New Moon

Bull Black Nova

Random Name Generator

I'm Always In Love

The Lonely 1

Jesus, etc.

Hate It Here

Give Back The Key To My Heart [Doug Sahm]

Candyfloss

We've Been Had

The Thanks I Get

Theologians

A Shot in the Arm

[worldrecordplayer]

“I’ve always wondered what a career ending show would be like. Here it is.”

 

Such a fun night. Summerteeth and On and On and On. Well worth the trip in from Boston.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Madcap]

They've talked about changing the format?

[bböp]

They've talked about changing the format?

Susie mentioned to the early birds yesterday when she came out to take requests this year that they *might* change it up moving forward. Perhaps someone else can elaborate on what she said, since I was down the line a bit and am not sure I caught everything she said. But that was the gist...

[Magnetized]

I’m not the fully observant reporter that Paul is but I was right there when Susie mentioned the possibility of a change in format. She announced, seemingly out of nowhere about midway through the first 30 requesters, that this might be the last year for this exact format. (She didn’t say the shows would continue at all for sure, but then again these shows are never promised in advance, and Jeff said a couple of reassuring things from the stage about seeing us next year.) She said if the shows continue they might not do them exactly this way again—they might make some tweaks. Then again, she said, maybe things will stay exactly the same. No promises, no threats, but Susie doesn’t make random pronouncements as a rule, so I for one paid attention. It seemed she was just trying to deliver the message that they were considering making changes in the future. She mentioned that they’ve followed the exact same format for 14 (?) years. I took her message as an invitation to fully soak up the singular experience of the night to come, knowing that things might possibly evolve in the future.

[Madcap]

Interesting. I’ve been going to these shows since 2007 and while I love that we get the deep cuts, Golden Smog, Loose Fur and Uncle Tupelo songs, I can appreciate Jeff maybe wanting to switch to a less *ahem* taxing format for him!

[Magnetized]

It is actually almost unbelievable what Jeff does at these shows. He doesn't have an inkling of what 30 songs he might be playing at 8:00pm until around 4:30 at the earliest. Then he has to narrow down and de-conflict song choices from around 55-60 songs (each person having submitted a first and second choice, with inevitably a few duplications), determine the set order, brush up on lyrics and music, and decide which guitars work for which songs. The mind reels at how much concentration that must take, and he always, always delivers. He knows these songs are meaningful to the requesters and I always get the sense that he tries to bring something special to each song. It's an amazing feat. 

[theashtraysays]

Well I'll certainly vouch for night 2 over night 1, at least in terms of the vibe.  Songs were obviously great both nights.

After the first 3 songs, specifically after One Sunday Morning, he recommended getting a coffee "every three or four beers" to endure the long show, saying that One Sunday morning was the shortest song he'd be playing this evening. 

I was really surprised at how badly he flubbed Hate It Here, as it's not that old and not all that absent from setlists lately.  But I suppose he didn't have a chance once he announced he had not even considered how he was gonna play it.  He did give a sheepish glance up to Sue's balcony for the "learned how to use the washing machine" line, which I believe is why she refers to that as the Liar Song.

One highlight for me was The Thanks I Get, which lifted all spirits with the "we can make it better" call and response.  Really sweet moment.

Hummingbird with harmonica was really cool, and New Wave Theater is shaping up to be a real winner. 

As far as the format (first 30 requests thingie) being changed... I suppose he could always go to a "greatest hits" format.  That would certainly shorten the shows.   But don't tell him I said that... and speaking of which - 

The award for Best Question For Jeff That Didn't Get Answered Or Even Acknowledged : "So enough about you... how's Glenn doing?"   

Another funny bit of banter involving parents came when Jeff played Bull Black Nova for the second straight night for a certain VCer (ahem, theashtraysays a/k/a Vince) who always requests it. Jeff said of Vince that he “has a problem,” and that Vince reminded him of his father, who had a “monogamous” relationship with songs. Jeff then proceeded to relate how his dad would tend to listen to one song for months on end, including one by Mac Davis as well as Glen Campbell’s Southern Nights and Leo Sayer’s You Make Me Feel Like Dancing, and how Jeff later realized “that really damaged me.”

You know, it's a real joy to get mentioned from the stage from your favorite artist, and the night 2 acknowledgement was way better than night 1. But it dawned on me after the show that when your musical hero (WHO IS ONLY 5 YEARS YOUNGER THAN YOU) says that you remind him of his father, that might not be a boost for your street cred.    

Great seeing everyone... great hanging out on the sidewalk... and my facebook had way more Vic-related posts than 45 topics all day today so the smile & glow hasn't worn off yet!! Still in the bubble...
 

[Dusty]

Yes, still in the bubble!!! My colleagues commented on how "at peace" I seemed today. I keep rereading the fantastic memories here and on other social media. My cheeks literally feel sore from smiling so much since Friday. I love this bubble!! And I love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love what Jeff is calling New Wave Theater (at least for now). I think it's pure brilliance. Perfection. I cannot wait to see how/when it and all the other new gems will be released!

[dagwave]

Triple Dang.