Jeff Tweedy — 1 April 2019, Ann Arbor, MI (Michigan Theater)

[bböp]

What do you get when you combine, among other things, a couple of guitars that stubbornly refuse to stay in tune, a female admirer who doesn't know when to shut up and a very Midwestern Monday night audience? Happy (or perhaps more accurately, not-so-happy) April Fool's Day, Jeff!

 

Turns out that all of the factors that amounted to a de facto pranking of Jeff didn't seem to make him very comfortable on stage and that, in turn, didn't make for one of his better outings on this recent run of solo performances in support of Warm and the soon-to-be released Warmer. Not that the show started on an inauspicious note or anything. Rather, it began the way most of these shows have — that is, with the same quintet of songs and a focused Jeff rolling through them before finally addressing the audience before I Am Trying To Break Your Heart.

 

"How are you?" Jeff asked the not-sold-out Michigan Theater crowd, and was promptly met with a variety of random shouts, woos and the like. "It's early (for that kind of reaction)." When someone inquired as to how he was doing, Jeff promptly quipped, "I'm OK. It takes a special kind of performer for an audience to want to check in on them. I'm fantastic. That what you need to hear, I guess."

 

At that point, I would say that things were looking up as far as Jeff's performance. He turned in a strong version of IATTBYH, even going off mike to sing the "Disposable dixie cup drinker" coda in a powerful voice, and followed that up in short order by bringing out the larger Gibson (I believe it's a J-45) that he has been using on Bull Black Nova and Laminated Cat and playing those two songs intensely with the requisite guitar flourishes that send ripples through most crowds. We also got to hear the relative rarity I'll Fight, which Jeff identified as the most-requested song of the night — via the requests taken on Wilco's Web site — with 53. But Jeff put an asterisk on the request, as it were, saying that he was "pretty sure there's just someone who's good at computers. ... I'll bet you a million dollars there aren't actually 53 (different) people who are going to be happy to hear this song."

 

But things unfortunately kind of went downhill from that point, sparked first by Jeff's inability to get a couple of guitars to stay in tune the way he wanted. Despite joking that the song he was about to play, New Madrid, didn't require an in-tune instrument, Jeff nonetheless got a bit frustrated as he tried to tune up for it. He tried switching out guitars a couple times, if memory serves, and his tour manager even made a rare appearance on stage during the show when he swapped out phones on Jeff's side table. (I'm pretty sure Jeff uses some sort of smartphone tuning app, at least at times.)

 

Then there was the woman fairly close to the stage to Jeff's right who took advantage of some of the longer-than-usual lulls between songs, caused in part by the tuning issues, to express her fondness for Jeff. That happens at a lot of shows and Jeff usually acknowledges the person, thanks them and then they've had their moment. But this lady just didn't know when to quit, going from expressing her affection to being downright creepy by constantly saying Jeff's name and trying to engage him in conversation. This happened maybe four or five times, and even when it became clear that it was making Jeff uncomfortable — I believe he even gently tried to urge her to "be quiet" — she kept on trying to engage him. I think she may have even made an unusual sound or something during a song; I didn't hear it, but apparently Jeff did because afterward he said something about how it "scared me. I'm really skittish up here sometimes." He turned it into a funny story about the previous night's show in Columbus and how someone had put their coat in the aisle and how "it looked like ET and it scared the shit out of me." A bit later on, as Jeff was joking about how it was about that point in the show when "people realize I'm not gonna play the song they want to hear," the admirer lady tried to engage Jeff again and he responded by half-jokingly turning away from her side of the room and also letting out some fake sobs as if to say, "Please stop."

 

It's hard to describe, but at some point during this stretch, you could just sense that the vibe of the show had changed. Well, maybe most of the audience couldn't tell, but I've seen that look before when Jeff goes from feeling comfortable and in a good state of mind to kind of seeming like he just wants to finish up and get off stage as quickly as he can. Sometimes an audience can help salvage things when they get to this point by participating, at Jeff's urging, and sending some energy back his way. But as previously mentioned, this was just a relatively Midwestern (that is, stoic), Monday-night type of crowd that didn't really deliver enough of that energy — to cite just two examples, the Let's Go Rain singalong was particularly tepid, and on Misunderstood's "if you still love rock 'n' roll..." line, it was the first time in a long time that I didn't hear a single hoot or holler in response — to re-establish that connection with Jeff. As a result, the show just kind of proceeded toward its expected conclusion and, soon enough, Jeff waved goodnight and the house lights went up.

 

So that was sort of disappointing to realize that the show would end on a fairly routine note, and at least a couple of songs shorter than many of the other shows on this Warm run. But that didn't mean there weren't a couple of amusing visits to Banter Corner over the course of the evening. One came before Jeff played Family Ghost, which he was about to introduce as being from Warmer before a guy beat him to the punch. "Thanks for spoiling it," Jeff joked. "Is your name Josh? There was an asshole at the show last night who needed me to know it was his birthday. Nobody gives a shit about your birthday. Is anybody here having a birthday tonight? We're all getting old, so fuck you and your birthday."

 

Jeff also dealt with a couple of shouted-out requests in pretty amusing fashion. One guy yelled out for Simple Twist Of Fate, which prompted Jeff to reply, "I've written about 3000 songs, and you're gonna scream Dylan songs at me?" (though he quickly conceded that number might be a "slight" overestimate). And later on, when another guy yelled for Spiders, Jeff immediately gave a bluntly honest reply: "Not gonna play that one tonight. I'm not gonna lie to you. See ya later."

 

Sometimes I wish that Jeff could be that honest all the time. There's usually at least a grain of truth to virtually everything he says on stage, but more often than not, that truth is obscured by a sarcastic tone or some measure of self deprecation. Or Jeff just backs off truly calling a spade a spade in the spirit of empathy. There are times, though, when you wish he would just put someone like that creepy woman who threatened to derail the show in their place. I don't know if that alone would have redeemed his performance, but I doubt anyone who heard those awkward exchanges would have thought that he wasn't justified.

 

Here was the complete setlist, as played, in Ann Arbor:

 

Via Chicago (w/harmonica)

Remember The Mountain Bed

Bombs Above

Some Birds

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

Having Been Is No Way To Be

Bull Black Nova

Laminated Cat (aka Not For The Season)

Family Ghost

I'll Fight

New Madrid

The Ruling Class

Guaranteed

I Know What It's Like

Jesus, etc.

Let's Go Rain

Heavy Metal Drummer

I'm The Man Who Loves You

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

Don't Forget

Misunderstood

Acuff-Rose

[Dusty]

Such a great recap so far, Paul! I still can’t get over that female admirer who didn’t know when to shut up. Grrr...

I wonder why her companion didn’t tell her to shut the fuck up!!

[Suki]

Thanks for the recap -- I'm looking forward to the rest of it!  It sounds like it might have been good that I sat a lot farther back than normal due to some Ticketmaster pre-sale problems.  I couldn't hear the female admirer; just Jeff's comments to her.  Two friends of mine who I never would have pegged as Wilco fans went to the show.  They went because one of them thought she had seen Jeff before and that it would be an alt-country show.  Turns out she was mistaken and had never seen him and knew nothing about him.  Fortunately they both enjoyed the show a lot and they decided he reminded them of Neil Young.  I guess that's a compliment??

[bböp]

Such a great recap so far, Paul! I still can’t get over that female admirer who didn’t know when to shut up. Grrr...

I wonder why her companion didn’t tell her to shut the fuck up!!

 

Thanks, and sorry to leave things half-finished there! I was in transit this morning and didn't really have a chance to finished writing my post until just now.

[Dusty]

Absolutely spot on abt.sensing the vibe of the show had changed. You could feel it and see it.

Also, perfectly stated abt. the audience not re-establishing the connection with Jeff during Misunderstood...was really bizarre. Loved reading the finished post!!

[worldrecordplayer]

Any comments on Buck Meek? He's opening in Boston, I'm not familiar with him. 

[dmfresco]

Are there any recordings from this show for trade or download?  I agree with the reviews above, that female fan was pretty annoying.  We were probably about a dozen rows behind them and it was a distraction. I found the 2018 Royal Oak, MI show for download.  Pretty good audience recording.