Jeff Tweedy — 17 March 2019, Orlando, FL (Plaza Live)

[bböp]

You knew it had to happen at some point, that Jeff couldn't possibly play a week of shows in Florida without mentioning "Florida Man" at least once. And finally in Orlando, during the last show of the run, it happened. During a mid-set question-and-answer session in which he had already acknowledged that he still gets nervous on stage, Jeff responded to a comment about coming to the state more often by referencing the popular Twitter handle/Internet meme.

 

"Florida Man is a real thing," Jeff said. "There are some here tonight, and that's why I'm nervous."

 

Truth be told, those Florida Men (and Women) weren't much of a factor at Plaza Live — a relatively charmless concrete bunker of a venue that was turned into a makeshift theater of sorts with rows of uncomfortably small, attached folding chairs set up in several sections. Actually, Florida Kid probably had as big an effect on the show as anyone when a small child at the foot of the stage caught Jeff's attention about halfway through his set. Apparently the kid had been dispatched with a cardboard sign requesting Pecan Pie, or so I surmised from across the room.

 

"Is that a two-foot person?" Jeff said, spotting the kid and his sign. "Just because this is adorable, I guess I have to play this song. Anybody coming to future shows, don't get any ideas. Normally I don't encourage this kind of behavior." Then, dispatching Florida Kid to his seat, Jeff continued, "OK, you can go back (to your parents); you've done your job. Now I have to remember this stupid song." Afterward, he picked up his setlist from his side table and joked, "Now where was I? Back to my plan."

 

Despite a so-so crowd and venue, an argument could be made that this final show in Florida boasted the best setlist of the tour thus far. Pecan Pie, which Jeff unsurprisingly didn't remember perfectly, contributed to that. So did the live debut of a new song that I'm calling White Wooden Cross. Interestingly, I didn't get the impression that this was a song that was on the forthcoming Warmer record (though I could be wrong). I sometimes wonder what motivates Jeff to just suddenly play a new song he's never played before, but I'm always glad to be there when it happens — although it wreaks havoc on my setlist jotting. At any rate, this one started with the image of a "white wooden cross by the side of the road" and has the narrator wondering, "I don't know what would I do if white wooden cross meant I lost you." The other lyric I jotted down, which may be the chorus, was "Tell me no lies/Is it strange to live, or is it stranger to die?"

 

We also got a surprise (and quite welcome) performance of the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot-era rarity Cars Can't Escape, which was apparently the most-requested song of the evening. Jeff remarked, in part, "that song gets the most requests many times. I don't understand it." And it's also been nice to see the return of Laminated Cat, which Jeff has started playing again the past couple of nights.

 

As far as Banter Corner, Jeff didn't really venture there too much on his own. Almost all of his spontaneous banter — I'm not including things like his "regular" comments about how every song gets one request every night and his funny introduction to the Warmer song Guaranteed — came in response to random crowd chatter. For instance, early on, someone randomly shouted out, "Lounge Ax!" To which Jeff replied, "We haven't gotten to the point in the show where you're supposed to yell things at me yet. We'll get there." A few songs later, there was also the guy who proclaimed, "Best St. Patrick's Day ever!" To which Jeff replied, "I'm sorry. What a shitty life." The guy replied, "You have no idea." After a little more back-and-forth, Jeff finally got things back on track by saying, "It looks like I'm gonna have to speed up the show, guys. That's a shot fired." Maybe you had to be there...

 

I think that guy might've spurred Jeff's Florida Man comment later in the show, but overall the audience actually maybe tended to be a bit too reverent — or maybe just not interested in silly things like singing along. Despite Jeff's best efforts, things only reached a mild simmer during the attempted singalongs he has been playing toward the end of his recent sets. Maybe that had to do with this whole run being Jeff's first true solo performances in Florida, but Wilco has played Orlando at least a couple times over the past two decades (and judging by the setlists, the shows have been relatively good ones).

 

You wouldn't think Orlando would be the place for things like live debuts, rarities and relatively long sets — Jeff played 25 songs, the most on the tour so far — especially with a crowd that was awkward at times and not overwhelmingly participatory, but that's how these kinds of things often end up happening (see: Spokane 2018). Who knows why? Certainly not me.

 

Here was the complete setlist, as played:

 

Via Chicago (w/harmonica)

Bombs Above>

Some Birds

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

New Madrid

Cars Can't Escape

Hummingbird

Guaranteed

Impossible Germany

new song-White Wooden Cross (live debut)

Having Been Is No Way To Be

Pecan Pie

Family Ghost

Jesus, etc.

Laminated Cat (aka Not For The Season)

Passenger Side

I Know What It's Like

California Stars

Evergreen

Heavy Metal Drummer

Let's Go Rain

I'm The Man Who Loves You

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

Don't Forget

Misunderstood

Acuff-Rose

[bböp]

Also Jeff played a short — but pretty well attended — in-store at Orlando's Park Ave CDs earlier in the afternoon.

 

The setlist for that set, as played, was:

 

Bombs Above>

Some Birds

Baby Shark (fragment)

Guaranteed

Passenger Side

Don't Forget

[knotgreen]

Hey Paul, did Jeff say anything about White Wooden Cross? Referencing the track list posted on Bull Moose's site, it doesn't look like a Warmer track. 

As always, thanks for your reporting! I am counting down the days until Jeff's back in the Northeast!

[SarahC]

[Magnetized]

[chisoxjtrain]

I’m out of the loop. What is Baby Shark?

 

It is a scourge on humanity.

[SarahC]

I’m out of the loop. What is Baby Shark?

[Mr. Heartbreak]

It’s not bad. The “doo doo doo” part is reminiscent of Lou Reed in Walk on the Wild Side, no?

[Magnetized]

It’s not bad. The “doo doo doo” part is reminiscent of Lou Reed in Walk on the Wild Side, no?

No.

[Mr. Heartbreak]

No.

[bböp]

Hey Paul, did Jeff say anything about White Wooden Cross? Referencing the track list posted on Bull Moose's site, it doesn't look like a Warmer track. 

As always, thanks for your reporting! I am counting down the days until Jeff's back in the Northeast!

 

Sorry for the delay in responding. Been in transit and taking care of life stuff today. Anyway, Jeff didn't really say anything about White Wooden Cross (which, by the way, is the title I've given it, which usually turns out to be wrong). He just introduced it as "a new song," but I got the feeling that it wasn't one of the Warmer tunes. Otherwise, he probably would've just introduced it as such. This song didn't seem to be as direct or personal lyrically as the Warm/Warmer stuff, but that was just my initial impression after hearing the song once.

 

Jeff has played a couple of other "new" songs over the past six months or so — one in Spokane last fall that he called a work in progress — and another at the Planned Parenthood Valentine's Day benefit in Chicago that I'm not really sure what their provenance is. Could be stuff he's still working on, or who knows?

[TCP]

New Wilco song?

New Wilco song!

[bböp]

New Wilco song?

New Wilco song!

Maybe?

Maybe not!

 

(Haha. Anyway, for the record, I did just file my full report for this show above, with a few more details about this new song. Better late than never, right? )