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Jeff Tweedy — 14 March 2019, Tampa, FL (Tampa Theatre)


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OK, right from the top, I have a confession to make as it regards this show: In this age of (alleged) college admission fraud and hate attack hoaxes, I gamed the system. Now I don't think I'll face any indictments or serious consequences, but I plead guilty to casting multiple votes for a certain song in the request forum on Wilco's Web site. I just didn't expect my request gambit to actually work.

 

With Jeff pointing out the scant requests that had been received for the show the other night in Tallahassee, I decided to conduct an experiment and do something I almost never do, which is request a song. Though it crossed my mind that it would be Pi(e) Day and maybe I should vote for Pecan Pie, I thought that would be too obvious and Jeff usually doesn't like to kowtow to the easy option. So with dessert still in mind, I opted for something a little deeper but that he could still feasibly play (and has played this year, though not on this tour): Shakin' Sugar (aka Alone). As for the number of votes, I clicked four times because it would elevate it past just a single vote or two — since Jeff has joked that every song he wrote gets exactly one vote every night — but not stick out the way it would if I had stuffed the proverbial ballot box and voted for it like 25 times or something.

 

Lo and behold, about a third of the way through his set at the beautifully restored Tampa Theatre, Jeff said, "Here's a deep cut. Now let's see if I remember how to play it," and launched into a delightful performance of Shakin' Sugar (aka Alone). Sitting there in the darkness, I couldn't suppress a grin. Thanks, Jeff, for playing it!

 

The funny thing was that my request wasn't even the top one for the show. That honor went to the Golden Smog cut Lost Love, which Jeff played two songs prior when he first addressed the audience and joked about how "every song is designed to make one person happy. That seems like a fundamental flaw." Actually, that bit led to one of Jeff's longest Banter Corner visits of the night when he also gently chided a woman to his left for talking and saying that she would have to "stop that or people are going to get upset" and asked if anybody had seen the video of Aaron Lewis (the Staind frontman) going off on someone in his audience late last year. Jeff continued, "I used to feel like that when people talked at my shows, but then my wife got cancer. Don't worry, she's OK, but now (stuff like that) doesn't feel like nearly as big of a deal. It made me a lot less uptight about people talking." Then realizing that he himself had been talking for a while, he said, "OK, I need to steer this back into a show. It will go off the rails again."

 

That was almost a certainty, given the sometimes-weird dynamic between Jeff and the crowd. It's hard to describe, and I know I've said this before, but to me, it just seemed like the two were on different wavelengths at times. For instance, early on, there was such an abundance of hooting and hollering that at one point Jeff could only say, "Get it out," which of course prompted more. "I didn't know you had so much of it," Jeff continued. "What is happening?" Then there was the issue of clapping that continued to intensify throughout the show, causing Jeff to have to start and restart Let's Go Rain and then continuing (sometimes painfully so) during California Stars. "I see you've elected a few clappers," Jeff said drily at one point. After California Stars, knowing he was almost finished with his main set, he joked about the clapping, "I appreciate your tenacity. Let's just keep it going."

 

Some of Jeff's attempts at humor also didn't quite resonate with the audience perhaps quite as much as he had hoped. For instance, he tried to explain why he hasn't been wearing his trademark Stetson hat lately. Basically it's because, as he explained, that he was starting to see too many people come to shows wearing his hat and dressing like him and it was kind of freaking him out. He said he had told that story in Texas and the hat police had subsequently come out and tried to tell him that his hat was actually quite popular — it was an Open Road model, one that Lyndon Johnson was known for — and Jeff retorted that was he really expected to believe that people were coming to his shows trying to look like LBJ? Then he added a new joke about how he had tried to wear hats since he was very young so that he would be "grandfathered" into an excuse when he eventually developed a bald spot. But when that bit fell flat, he seemed like he lost some steam. "I thought we had a relationship," Jeff said. "I guess I'll just keep playing songs."

 

Especially toward the end of show, it seemed like things had loosened up to the point where people just felt comfortable yelling random things or excessively wooing. It didn't ruin the show, by any means, but I sensed that maybe Jeff started to realize that he was starting to lose control a bit and should start to wrap things up. Not that there weren't some amusing moments as result of the loosening-up of the audience. "It's our anniversary!" a loud voice bellowed from the balcony. "It's our anniversary?" Jeff replied. "I'm sorry I forgot." And when someone else asked if Jeff took requests, he said, "No. There's a protocol. Do you have internet connectivity?" When the guy said something about dial up (or possibly still having an AOL account), Jeff continued, "That's what they told me about Florida. A Floridian told me that."

 

From a musical standpoint — personal bias notwithstanding — it seemed like Jeff basically presented the show he wants to present right now. It was a set obviously shaped mostly by his Warm and Warmer material and some of his "greatest hits." It's always interesting, as someone who has been fortunate to see a lot of shows, to see what songs draw the strongest reaction from crowds night after night. While I would always like to have a little more variety, it helps you understand why some songs get played over and over. In Tampa, for instance, Jesus, etc., seemed to draw an especially positive response, even causing more than a few people to give it a standing ovation.

 

Nice to unexpectedly see a couple of familiar faces at the show, and also a quick shoutout to Mr. Heartbreak (who I got to briefly meet beforehand). I will say that the Tampa Theatre really is a lovely looking theater, designed to resemble a lush Mediterranean courtyard, if not the absolute best acoustically. The locals seem quite proud of it, and justifiably so, even if they act a bit bizarrely sometimes.

 

Here was the complete setlist, as played:

 

Via Chicago (w/harmonica)

Remember The Mountain Bed

Bombs Above

Some Birds

Lost Love

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

Family Ghost

Shakin' Sugar (aka Alone)

Having Been Is No Way To Be

Guaranteed

New Madrid

Impossible Germany

Hummingbird

I Know What It's Like

Jesus, etc.

Let's Go Rain

California Stars

Passenger Side

I'm The Man Who Loves You

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

Don't Forget

Misunderstood

Acuff-Rose

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So if I apply my AIR (alcoholically induced request) algorithm to hear 'Hell Is Chrome' for the first time after drawing a blank in c.50+ Wilco shows, do you think I'm in with a chance this summer?

 

Asking for a friend... 

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Chicanery.

 

Who would do such a thing? #potkettleblack

 

So if I apply my AIR (alcoholically induced request) algorithm to hear 'Hell Is Chrome' for the first time after drawing a blank in c.50+ Wilco shows, do you think I'm in with a chance this summer?

 

Asking for a friend... 

 

Yeah, sure. Why not? Actually, I have no idea. But Chris Thile did just get Jeff to do it on his Live From Here show not too long ago, so I guess there's as good a chance as anything. Watch it on the beer-fueled requests, though. :beer

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Thanks, bböp. "Always a fine report," in the words of George Carlin. And it was great to meet ya, after having read so many of these over the years.

 

It was a great show, and nice call on Shakin' Sugar. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that one. I have to confess as well: I might have voted for Lost Love on the request line. ;)

 

My buddy Don was the navigator to the show, and I have to tell a little story about my friendship with Don. He's a Tampa native, mid-60s, but lived in California for many, many years. And when I say California, I'm talking late 1960s to early 70s. Yes, he was IN it, back in the days when you could go to the Fillmore and see Jefferson Airplane, the Dead, etc. He still plays drums in a band, but never made it in a big way in the biz. Back in the day, he did play in a band that opened for another group whose drummer was a guy named Aynsley Dunbar. Some of you may know that name.

 

I turned Don onto Wilco back around 2005, and he loved it. He and I have driven as far as Atlanta (from Tampa) to see them. But he's also seen them in large crowd situations like the New Orleans Jazz Fest. Don is still a major road warrior when it comes to concerts. He went to Jeff's show with me last night, and tonight he's taking a friend to see Bob Seger...whom Don saw middling for MC5 back when his band was called The Bob Seger System. Yeah, he's one of those cool old dudes.

 

I write all this about Don as a segue into my take on the Jeff Tweedy crowds in Florida. I think a lot of us massive Wilco/Jeff fanatics forget that not everyone who goes to a Wilco or JT show is as much of a devotee us those of us on this board or in the Facebook group (which I follow but almost never even have time to read). Don is a great case in point. He's seen Wilco 7-8 times by now, maybe - which is a lot for a casual fan - but he's never seen Jeff solo. When I got the tickets, we still didn't know if it was 100% solo acoustic, or if Jeff would have players from the recent record. Don kept checking in - "Is there a band?" - because, as a drummer (and not THAT much of a lyrics guy), he's actually more into Glenn's contributions than those of the actual bandleader himself. Hard to believe, but true.

 

Don told me that he wouldn't have gone to an acoustic solo show if I hadn't gotten the tickets in advance of knowing. Not his thing. He's a full-band guy in general, and wasn't expecting much from the show. Especially in FL, where Wilco hasn't even played since 2015 (yes, you read right), and where Jeff had NEVER previously done any solo shows over all these years, I suspect that many attendees were casual Wilco fans, maybe a couple fanatics like me, and a few season ticket holders, as it were. I honestly think the lack of Wilco presence here for that many years probably hurt ticket sales.

 

That's the backdrop, from my POV. As bböp has already noted, there was some crowd weirdness here and there, but most of it was good-natured. I didn't hear anything confrontational. Heck, we had a couple next to us with a freaking baby...a tiny, tiny baby, which worried me before the show began! Thankfully, the infant only made one small noise the whole time, and momma promptly got up and went out with him or her. So, kudos to them. Felt like we all dodged a bullet there.

 

Jeff's performance was excellent, and although it could have been louder, I felt like the sound was dialed in...especially considering that the beautiful Tampa Theatre was built in 1926 as a movie theatre, not a music venue. As an aside, it's too bad Jeff couldn't draw a crowd large enough to fill Clearwater's Ruth Eckerd Hall. Built for opera, the sound is incredible, and I've seen Wilco, Steely Dan, Natalie Merchant, Buddy Guy, and many others there. It's a superb venue for music.

 

Of course, I was pleased to hear Lost Love, as I know it's not going to be played at a Wilco show, and I knew Jeff had played it at a few recent shows. The Shakin' Sugar breakout was a pleasant surprise, and I was also pleasantly surprised that Cali Stars made an appearance, as that hasn't been a given for a long time. The crowd did well, but was respectful, attempting to sing along without drowning Jeff out. I think the clappers were just enthusiastic and just forgot, or didn't hear him in the first place, when Jeff mentioned that clapping would throw him off. Drummer Don confirmed for me that this is especially true for performers, adding that he often plays in 4/4 but looks out at a crowd and sees people clapping a reggae beat. ("White people can't clap," he noted drily.)

 

It wasn't a perfect performance by any means - ITMWLY felt perfunctory to me, and Jeff actually stopped singing part of one song to comment on the clappers, which would seem unprofessional to most concertgoers - but the delivery of Via Chicago, Mountain Bed, Misunderstood and Acuff-Rose were all excellent highlights that more than made up for any low points.

 

Anyway, I felt it was a pretty effective setlist, and was also pleasantly surprised by the great crowd response to so much new material. I think some of the attendees knew the Warm material better than I did, which was impressive. Tampa is likely the only show I'll be able to catch on this run, and my experience last night made me feel grateful to be a transplant here, and not in, say, Ponte Vedra.

 

One final note: on the way out, Don told me he was pleasantly surprised by how much he enjoyed seeing Jeff solo. This is a pretty jaded concertgoer, a guy who saw people like the Stones, the Velvet Underground, and the Clash in their prime. For him to say the words "great show" for any acoustic performance is high praise indeed.

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Thank you! Gotta give bböp, and the show, most of the credit here.

 

Don't sell yourself short, man! Wish I'd had more of a chance to chat with Don and hear some of his stories. Nice to hear that he enjoyed the show (and still goes to so many shows)...

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Don't sell yourself short, man! Wish I'd had more of a chance to chat with Don and hear some of his stories. Nice to hear that he enjoyed the show (and still goes to so many shows)...

Nah, just trying to be humble.  ;)

Turns out Don was dealing w/ some low back pain from doing a bunch of yard work - which is why he didn't stick around while you and I were talking. He wanted to get to his seat. The joys of being a 60+ road warrior! 

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