Jeff Tweedy — 9 April 2019, New York, NY (The Town Hall)

[knotgreen]

Via Chicago

Remember the Mountain Bed

Bombs Above

Some Birds

White Wooden Cross

Bull Black Nova

Laminated Cat

Family Ghost

You’re Not Alone

Evergreen

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

Guaranteed

Having Been is No Way To Be

California Stars

Let’s Go Rain

Heavy Metal Drummer

From Far Away

Jesus, Etc.

The Late Greats

——————

Don’t Forget

A Shot in the Arm

Acuff-Rose

 

And so concludes Jeff’s two-night stand at The Town Hall. Night two saw Jeff a little more comfortable, due in part, perhaps, to a better behaved audience.

 

This isn’t to say that the audience didn’t speak up! Jeff recounted the bit of unsolicited advice he received during night one, when a woman suggested that he not wear the same outfit for both nights. On the topic of unsolicited advice, Jeff told a story of meeting R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe after a show, and Michael offered Jeff a bit of advice: try makeup.

 

Jeff’s back-and-forth with the audience, and his relationship with his audiences more generally, was probably the overarching theme of all of the show’s banter. In reply to one heckle, Jeff shared that for a recent magazine interview he was asked to create a pie chart that represents Americans. He estimated that about 30% of Americans are dead, and the rest of the pie... jealous.

 

Unrelated, I did spy a few familiar faces in the audience, including some VC’ers. Nels and Yuka Honda were in attendance, as was David Fricke. During night 1 I spied Yo la Tengo’s Ira and Georgia as well as Jesse Malin.

 

Unfortunately, my scribbled notes are looking a bit incoherent this morning, and so I’ll try to recount more of the banter as I think of things. Others are encouraged to chime in!

[rhino4evr]

What is “White wooden cross” ? Is that a new Wilco song?

[theashtraysays]

Bull Black Nova

 

 

Sweet.

[knotgreen]

Sweet.

A memorable rendition, too!

[bböp]

What is “White wooden cross” ? Is that a new Wilco song?

Jeff hasn’t said what it is yet, but Wilcoworld lists it as “new unreleased Wilco.”

[Yaz Rock]

Great shows, I enjoyed night 2's setlist a little more than night 1. There was some of the same exact banter (re; the story behind "Open Kimono", and the changed lyrics to another new song - Guaranteed, I think) two nights in a row, but Jeff did have one or two new stories tonight. One was about him no longer wearing the Stetson hat because he played a show in Texas and half the audience was wearing the same hat - copying his style   He also had some riffs on the crowd from night 1 which were funny (Paraphrasing: "Last night wome woman told me to not wear these clothes tonight. That I am wearing the same clothes is a big F*#k You to her."). Lol.

Contrary to popular Jeff Tweedy opinion, Wilco did not play Jesus Etc at Town Hall during their September 27-28, 2001 shows.

[knotgreen]

Contrary to popular Jeff Tweedy opinion, Wilco did not play Jesus Etc at Town Hall during their September 27-28, 2001 shows.

Was nice seeing you, Rob! Were you at those shows in 2001? I noticed a lack of Jesus etc on the setlists on setlist.fm, but I wonder if there’s a mistake there. (I’m not calling into question your memory!)

[remphish1]

What was the deep cut he cut to play Jesus

[Yaz Rock]

Nice to see you too, Tyler!

Yes, I was at both Town Hall shows in 2001 as well as the November 1999 show (my Wilco first!). I've had an audience recording of 9-27-01 all these years, (I might have 9-28 as well). Jesus Etc isn't on there, and I trust that the setlists on Wilco Base are relatively correct.

 

I remember at the time expecting that, well, they *had* to play Jesus Etc, right? And being surprised that they didn't. I guess it was just too soon and the lyrics too close to the tragedy..

Back to these two shows, interesting that everyone on the floor stood up for the encore night 1, but sat back down for the encore night 2, and that we all felt reluctant to sing along with Jeff - seemed like he would have welcomed more singing along.