Jeff Tweedy — 20 September 2018, Madison, WI (Overture Center for the Arts [Capitol Theater])

[bböp]

One observation I can offer having just seen several of Jeff's recent solo shows in Europe is that no matter if Jeff has played in a city before or is playing there for the first time, there remains a certain level of formality between artist and audience. For better or worse, when he takes the stage, he is typically afforded the courtesy of performing the songs he wants to perform, addressing the crowd when he is ready to and so forth. It's relatively rare (and usually an indication of the presence of Americans) that requests would be shouted and conversations would be attempted, at least from the beginning of a given set.

 

I don't mean to sound like I'm being overly critical of one or the other when I contrast that sort of audience with a predominantly American audience in a market like Madison in which Jeff has played many times, dating back to the start of his career. In some sense, it's only natural to expect that the latter would come to a show and behave more irreverently and with a certain level of familiarity.

 

For many people, that is maybe the prime appeal of a Jeff solo show — the informality that often manifests itself in funny banter, a brief interaction or a granted request. But on some level, there must remain in place a certain level of artifice of a performance or else the sheer vulnerability of putting oneself out there, alone, with an acoustic guitar, minimal amplification and some new songs might end up being too much to overcome.

 

So it was that two songs into his set tonight at the Capitol Theater — the smaller of two primary music rooms inside the sprawling Overture Center for the Arts — Jeff reached a turning point when a few audience members began to yell out and Jeff joked that "I'm not ready to talk to you yet," and later commented on how good the acoustics of the room must be because "I can hear everything you're saying, (and) I don't want to." One particularly excitable (dare I say, spazzy?) man in the second row center threatened to derail the show when he loudly demanded that Jeff play a couple of songs because he had done them the night before. The unsolicited comment came in a tone that was cringe-worthy, yet it was delivered complete unabashedly.

 

A few songs later, the same guy attempted to engage in a running conversation of sorts with Jeff, who finally had to ask in a somewhat exasperated tone, "What is going on? I think we've reached a level of casualness that's not conducive to show business." Jeff added that he understood that he looked like a pretty nice guy up there on stage who you might feel like you can have a chat with, but that "I'm trying to do my art, man." A bit later, Jeff also joked that "I have plenty of songs about murder, even if you don't think they're about murder."

 

Fortunately, the aforementioned man calmed down somewhat as the show went on and Jeff was able to get through the rest of his set without many other incidents. Though awkward crowd interactions provided the bulk of his visit to Banter Corner on this night, Jeff did have a couple of other amusing bits, including introducing New Madrid as an old Uncle Tupelo song "that could've been written yesterday, not because it's relevant but because so little time was put into it." (Incidentally, he has used the same line recently about We've Been Had.)

 

Jeff also told an amusing story about the first time Uncle Tupelo played Madison — he thought it was at a club called O'Cayz Corral — and how they asked who was opening the show. The owner apparently hadn't thought to book an opening act, so he yelled over at the man (Chuck?) sweeping the floor and asked him if still played in a band and would they want to open that night. So they did, according to Jeff, by playing a bunch of Jimi Hendrix covers. "They probably blew us off the stage," Jeff said.

 

The other noteworthy chatter from Jeff came while introducing a "new" song, Let's Go Rain, as being about the Biblical story of Noah's Ark. "Every time I read that story, I think how much fucking worse could it have been back then (compared with now)," Jeff said, adding that he is no scholar of the Bible but encouraging the audience to sing along nonetheless.

 

In the end, it was a night that could have gone off the proverbial rails early on but perhaps was another testament — if you'll forgive the Biblical pun — to how far Jeff has come as a solo performer. He clearly is sensitive to audience dynamics like any good artist, and manages them, but almost never allows a rogue member of a crowd to distract or discourage him from putting forth the best possible effort for the rest of said crowd. And kudos to him for that.

 

Here was the complete setlist, as played for Madison (again, I'm designating any songs that haven't been officially released yet as "new song," even if Jeff has been playing them for the better part of a year):

 

new song-Bombs Above

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

New Madrid

new song-New Wave Theater

new song-Evergreen

Hummingbird

Bull Black Nova

Laminated Cat (aka Not For The Season)

new song-Family Ghost

Dawned On Me

Passenger Side

We've Been Had (started and restarted)

Impossible Germany

new song-Let's Go Rain (aka Noah's Flood)

Jesus, etc.

Locator

I'm The Man Who Loves You

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

I'm Always In Love

On And On And On

California Stars

Misunderstood

Acuff-Rose

[KevinG]

I sat in the balcony and was extremely worried when the drunk woman behind me kept screaming Jeff Tweedy during the break.  She was the woman who actually prompted the "I'm not ready to talk to yet" line.  Luckily she calmed down and was quite for most of the show.  

 

It is true Madison Tweedy shows tend to be more rowdy and causal then other places I have seen Jeff.  Which is not a bad thing.  Jeff really plays the crowd well and did is expertly last night.  He will engage with them at the right moments and playful chastise them enough so that show goes on in the manner he wants.  Other than my nervousness in the beginning I never felt the show was going to go sideways.  After years of touring, he played the crowd as well as he played his guitar.  Jeff reminded me of the cool uncle who is babysitting and lets the kids get away with just enough, but still gets them to bed on time with their teeth brushed.  

 

With that being said, the new songs sound great and I am interested to hear what they will sound like as finished pieces.  For the first time seeing Jeff solo (which have a dozen or so times), I really missed the band, especially Nels in Impossible Germany.  His solo in that song has always been a highlight, I am not sure what I expected, but I was kinda disappointed.

 

I noticed he had a harmonica set up on a little table but never played it.  Which makes me wonder how much of the setlist is in flux and changes based upon the audience.  During the I am not ready to talk to you bit, he did say something about he only has 2 happy song and he already played one.  Also the line about playing more songs about murder (shortly after Bull Black Nova), because they are all about murder now was amusing too.  All in all a serviceable show.  Not great, but fun and I had a good time.  

 

As a side note, anyone remember seeing Wilco in the late 90s early 2000s and would count the "Nothings" in Misunderstood and then checking to see if you got what everyone else did on here on VC.  I found myself absent mindlessly sounting last night. I got 10.    

[thinmyheart]

Nice (and charitable) write up. The “spazzy” guy (and his wife) went with friends of mine and I can at least offer that they were genuinely excited to be there, though they could have found a less obtrusive way to express their enthusiasm. 

 

That first half-hour gave me a little dilemma: I was just a couple of seats too far away to quietly say “tone it down,” but as I was sitting front row I didn't want to pull out my phone to text my friend. Fortunately, there was a professional on stage to quiet them down:)

 

One amusing side note. Madison recently experienced some flooding and during Jeff’s into to “Let's Go Rain,” he offered a subtle phrasing that clearly alluded to both the Biblical Flood and to recent events . . . “spazzy guy” didn’t get it and said something along the lines of “and it flooded here as well.” Jeff offered a polite but withering response along the lines of “yeah, I know, I just said that.”

 

Delightful show, very much helped by my friend and I presenting our back of the room tickets to an usher who then asked "I'm going to put you in the front row, are you okay with that?" (there were five empty seats down there, so I think they wanted to fill them up). I wasn't even sure I could make the show until a few hours before. At some point, I had the distinct thought, "I'm six feet away from Jeff Tweedy singing 'Passenger Side,'" this is what happiness feels like."

[Preferred B]

Very nice recap, P. I really enjoyed this show and Milwaukee the night before. It felt like it had been a long Wilco/Jeff drought, so it was nice to ... soak up the rain in the company of friends. It was very cool hearing so many new songs over both nights. 2018 has been a hard year for my family, so many of the songs - older as well as new - had a particular resonance.