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Jeff Tweedy — 12 March 2019, Tallahassee, FL (The Moon)


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Here's the thing about tertiary markets and live music: Sometimes you get a better, more satisfying show than in a major city because the venue is smaller and/or more unique and because the audience is enthusiastic and grateful to the performer for venturing to their area. And then sometimes, to paraphrase an old pal of mine, Tallahassee on a Tuesday night is exactly what you expect it to be.

Personally, I had relatively high hopes for the Moon — insert your favorite moon pun here — from having seen Wilco perform there nearly 13 years ago to the day. I remember it being just a surprisingly fun show that both started and ended with songs from the Sky Blue Sky sessions when that record wouldn't even be out for another year, and thinking how cool it was to have been there. (Apparently Uncle Tupelo might have also played a show there...in the 90s! [inside joke to anyone at the show last night].) Anyway, the Moon is certainly an odd sort of venue, kind of like the Park West in Chicago if anyone's ever been there. Basically it's an events space tucked behind a strip mall that can be rented out for concerts or wedding receptions or probably just about anything else.

At any rate, Jeff's solo show at the Moon almost was an afterthought from the start. It was a late add to the Florida itinerary, quietly announced after the other dates were already on sale. That might have accounted for part of the lackluster ticket sales; from what I heard, they only sold about 250-300 advance tickets. And as previously mentioned, it was Tallahassee on a Tuesday night.

The room was, perhaps not surprisingly, pretty dead from a sound standpoint. I doubt it was created with acoustics in mind. Not that it was the worst-sounding venue in which I've ever seen a show, by any stretch, but at the same time, there probably never was going to be a rousing crowd singalong in that place because sound just did not seem to travel well. And of course, the makeup of the crowd itself probably precluded much participation anyway; it was one of the less spirited crowds I can remember in a while, despite Jeff's best efforts on songs such as Let's Go Rain and California Stars.

With Jeff seeking a way to connect with an audience that wasn't really giving him a lot in return — when Jeff remarked that "we're still getting to know each other, " one guy yelled out, "This is a great second date!" To which Jeff replied, "This is not a relationship that's gonna work out," — we got what I dubbed in my own mind as Confessional Tweedy. (There was just plenty of awkward back-and-forth between Jeff and various audience members all night, including one woman yelling "You're hot," which I don't remember happening too often recently and Jeff joking that he would be "processing that for the whole (rest of the) evening," and Jeff likening himself to Jeb Bush and his infamous "Please clap," episode at one point when he said he felt like he was basically asking for applause. And then a brief flareup with a guy in the encore who I think had yelled out "Black-Eyed Peas" earlier and then decided it was a good idea to yell, "Wheels on the Bus" as another request and Jeff saying that "I liked it better when you were quiet," and the guy coming right back at Jeff with, "I liked it when you were," to which Jeff reacted with a mocking 'Ooh,' and just finished out the show.)

Anyway, what I mean by Confessional Tweedy that is he actually just started talking more and sharing little tidbits that I haven't heard him actually verbalize before. So for instance, in announcing the forthcoming Warmer record, Jeff admitted that Warm and Warmer could have been one release but he "got sick of putting out double records and people saying 'That could have have been a great single record.' Because when you put out anything, people are gonna say stuff about it." (Incidentally, I wouldn't be surprised to see Warm and Warmer packaged as a double release or two-volume set at some point.) And in introducing the Warmer track Guaranteed, he said he was going to play a song his wife hates but which he thought was "really sweet." Then he conceded that he had initially had a nicer line in the first verse than ended up actually going in the finished song, which drew a nice laugh when it was revealed. Jeff said the first verse initially was, "We've been through a lot, me and you, hospitals and bars/I know how it hurts/I'm a piece of work/And you're a work of art." But when he sang the song, the lyric emerged as, "...I know how it hurts/ I'm a piece of work/And you're no walk in the park."

Jeff also talked about how his voice is currently a bit raspier than usual — he has had a beverage on stage with him lately and even sipped from it during the show, which is very unusual for him — and talked about how it came about because of a recent steroid treatment for a rash. After he finished the treatment, he woke up and felt like he "must have really blown out my voice," and that the steroids must have done something to his throat and "I can't shake it." Of course he used this occasion to recycle his bit about how the audiences early in the tour had gotten really amazing performances because he was doped up, but that now people were getting to see "the real me" and how there wouldn't be any asterisks next to these shows. From my perspective, it's not as bad a condition as I've ever seen Jeff's voice in, but you can tell that he isn't feeling 100 percent either.

And yet despite everything, Jeff still turned in a very solid performance — he really only had one minor "flub" on Acuff-Rose, singing "Play me a song..." instead of "Name me a song..." — and even treated the audience to the live debut of another Warmer track, the quiet Sick Server, which seems to be another personal song whose first verse talks about how "When I left my home/I moved down the street/I never went back there/Unless I needed to eat/Or someplace quiet/When I couldn't sleep," and then moves into a sort of meditative mode with a chorus that goes, "Time passes slow/Before it goes too fast/Dream with me darling/Now the moment has passed."

Musically, of course, that was the highlight for me. Really all of the Warm and Warmer songs because, unsurprisingly, those seem to be the ones in which Jeff is most invested. But he tried to balance the newer tunes out with some of his better-known songs, showing off an extremely scant list of requests early on in the set and joking that he wasn't even going to play some of those. He engaged in his usual bit about how every song he's ever written always gets exactly one request per show and how there's no consensus and how he wishes everyone in the audience would just meet up in the parking lot beforehand to figure out which song they collectively wanted to hear.

This being Tallahassee, a woman who may or may not have been a local immediately responded to Jeff's banter about the short request list submitted via Wilco's Web site, by quipping that "Tallahassee is new to the Internet." Jeff replied, "That sounds like a diss." That led to a variety of people yelling out various requests, including the Black-Eyed Peas guy. One of the loudest voices in this request scrum came from a guy who bellowed out, "Via Chicago."

Which Jeff had already played, just two songs earlier. Of course he had.

Here was the complete setlist, as played:

Via Chicago (w/harmonica)
Remember The Mountain Bed
Sick Server (live debut)
Bombs Above
Some Birds
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
Impossible Germany
Family Ghost
New Madrid
Having Been Is No Way To Be
Hummingbird
I Know What It's Like
Jesus, etc.
Guaranteed
Let's Go Rain
Passenger Side
California Stars
Evergreen
I'm The Man Who Loves You
---------------------------------
Don't Forget
Misunderstood
Acuff-Rose

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I was at that Wilco show at The Moon. Fun is a perfect descriptor. One of my favorites. I certainly hope Tampa makes a good connection. The Wilco show at Tampa Theatre in 2003 (I think) was outstanding.

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I was also at that Wilco show in 2006 at the Moon and it was really something special. I had just moved to Tallahassee at that time and I remember not being able to talk any of my coworkers into coming to the show with me—what’s Wilco?

 

In addition to the setlist surprises, it had some memorable crowd interaction involving a guy in dreadlocks who was standing near me. There was some back and forth between him and Jeff, and Jeff made some remark about how he always has problems with guys in dreadlocks. Clearly this was said in jest, but the guy left in a huff and his friends yelled at Jeff about insulting their pal. Jeff responded that he was just kidding and that the guy should relax and enjoy being made a part of the show. Ultimately, as I recall, the guy did come back, but this became a “thing” for a good chunk of the show. I thought it was funny, but sometimes I think Jeff assumes that audiences are savvier than they in fact are. It’s a sweet compliment that isn’t necessarily deserved. So it appears that the Moon, for all its idiosyncrasies, inspires Jeff to deliver a unique concert experience.

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Man, I hope a day off has given him a much needed rest and some attitude adjustment. The first couple FL reviews have given me a sense of trepidation I've never had prior to a Wilco-related show.

 

The Tampa Theatre, like I pointed out in one of these threads, is a beautiful 1920s jewel that locals are justifiably proud to have saved as a historical landmark. If Jeff comes in and says something like, "This is a really weird place," I think we'll be in for a long night. 

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