Wilco — 22 October 2021, Las Vegas, NV (Brooklyn Bowl)

[bböp]

[Really have no time or energy to come up with anything super witty right now, so I guess what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas...for now.]

 

When a band like Wilco plays a place like Las Vegas, sometimes you just have to surrender to the ridiculousness of it all. I mean, with everything going on in Sin City on a "regular" weekend, I'm sure a working band that has been around for the better part of three decades and achieved moderate acclaim would probably tend to get lost in the shuffle. But on a busy weekend like this — the massive Electric Daisy Carnival, a Las Vegas Golden Knights home game, a Las Vegas Raiders home game, Lady Gaga in the midst of her residency and the world's largest pool tournament were among the goings-on in town — well, you figured the likelihood of Wilco making more than a tiny splash on the cultural landscape was probably unlikely.

 

Add to that the festival-like atmosphere on the Linq Promenade (the outdoor mall-esque street where the Brooklyn Bowl venue is located), which features activities such as zip-lining and a massive ferris wheel, and you just sort of wondered a) does anyone here even know who Wilco is; b ) who could possibly be going to the show; and c) how would the reception be in a market the band was playing for the first time in more than 12 years?

 

As you might have expected, the Brooklyn Bowl was far from sold out. I think the capacity of the Vegas offshoot of the chain that has locations in New York and Nashville is around 2,000 and by my admittedly rough estimate, it might have been a little over half full. As with the other locations, there are bowling alleys adjacent to the music room and one question I had was whether people would actually be bowling during the show. Fortunately, the band had the pull to nip that in the bud as Jeff explained about a third of the way through Wilco's set when he first checked in with the audience and apologized to anyone who might have wanted to bowl a few frames.

 

"We're a bunch of artsy fucking dudes, and that just didn't seem like a good idea," Jeff said after Love Is Everywhere (Beware).

 

It was one of the few visits to Banter Corner by Jeff throughout the set, but the adjoining Antics Avenue made up for that somewhat. Not sure if anyone else caught it, but a few of the band members started to do "The End"-style intro on Jesus, etc. for a second or two, which was amusing, and of course they later did the full version on Heavy Metal Drummer as they often have throughout this few months of touring. We also got the rare riff ending on the main set-closing Theologians, which is always welcome and which Jeff even seemed to do with a little extra gusto before leaving for the encore break, not to mention several little amusing bits with Glenn — including one moment where someone in the audience complimented him and Jeff relayed the message and Glenn broke into an adorable smile and sort of hugged his heart. And we also got a couple full windmills by Pat on the show-closing Outtasite (Outta Mind), which has been pretty rare this tour, actually — the windmills, not Outtasite.

 

I think part of what made the show a little better than it probably deserved to be was just the music room itself, which offered those who got relatively close a pretty generous view and a sense of intimacy because of a low stage and the band being set up close to the audience — and pretty excellent sound, to boot. So for instance, to cite one example, we could hear Jeff perfectly when he caught a mistake with one of his pedals just before starting Born Alone and saying to Pat, "Ooh, that was close...wrong setting."

 

About the only quibble I could make with the show was what appeared to be a missed opportunity in not playing Casino Queen in Las Vegas. I guess that one just wasn't in the cards — wink, wink...I'll see myself out — this time for whatever reason. Jeff and his bandmates did play it the last time they were in town, in 2009 at the venue formerly known as The Joint (at the former Hard Rock Hotel), but they also skipped it during their first Vegas headlining show at House Of Blues in 2002 so it's not always a given. It seems like the only times that song has been played recently has been in St. Louis in honor of Jeff's late father, who always loved that song.

 

Speaking of favorite songs, one other funny moment came following Forget The Flowers when someone stated that was "my favorite" loud enough for Jeff to hear. And of course Jeff had to chime in, quipping in part, "I won't be hurt if you leave, then," which is part of the joke he sometimes makes about how he would know when to end the show if everyone in a given audience left after the song they most wanted to hear until there was nobody left.

 

Anyway, here's hoping it won't be another dozen years before the band gets back to Vegas. Although they're still unlikely to make much of a ripple in the massive pond of entertainment options that is this city, I think there is at least some niche appetite for bands like Wilco there, enough locals and/or folks in town to make doing a show worthwhile and maybe finally a decent room for them to play. I know I, for one, would enjoy a return visit in spite of — or because of? — the sheer sensory overload of it all. Yolo, right?

 

Here was Wilco's complete setlist, as played (didn't get a look at a printed setlist tonight, so can't say if there were any changes/omissions):

 

Bright Leaves

A Shot In The Arm

Random Name Generator

Wishful Thinking

War On War

One And A Half Stars

At Least That's What You Said

Bull Black Nova

Love Is Everywhere (Beware)

Pot Kettle Black

Impossible Germany

Misunderstood

Forget The Flowers

Box Full Of Letters

Hummingbird        

Everyone Hides

Born Alone

Jesus, etc.

Hate It Here

Theologians

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

The Late Greats

California Stars

Heavy Metal Drummer

I'm The Man Who Loves You

Outtasite (Outta Mind)

[Brock Landers]

One of the greatest nights of my life.  Only my third time seeing them(since becoming a fan in early 2005) so I don't have a lot to go on.  I started crying halfway through Pot Kettle Black.  

 

Spiders would have been awesome, but you can't always get what you want.  I thought the crowd was surprisingly good.

[bböp]

1 hour ago, Brock Landers said:

I thought the crowd was surprisingly good.

I heard there were three dummies in the front who were really making spectacles of themselves (hopefully in a good way).😉

[nalafej]

This show really had no business being good but just landed so solidly. Very small and new bowling alley clearly not ready to host serious artists judging by the blown taps by the time Jesus Etc rolled around. 
 

We can’t complain about this setlist. They are changing up to a significant degree, they played deep YHF & Ghost cuts and I actually thought they weren’t going to play IATTBYH, HMD or I’m the Man which would have been nuts (and appreciated) but the latter two were welcome in the encore. 
 

loved the comments about Wilco in Vegas: ‘The Hit’ especially since our hero and rail riding friend partook in the Rod show the evening prior.  

and, everybody, listen: Vince is right. BBN absolutely slayed. I was hoping for a NovaCat but it was all good. 
 

other random observations- 1. Mikael was just so solid on Wishful Thinking. Not sure I’ve ever heard him that far up in the mix?? 2. Wilco’s merch table is really pathetic. What’s up with that? I go to shows at 100 person venues and the headliners have stronger offerings. 3. I love it when pat gets his due. Fun to watch him count off Born Alone and take his role on for BFoL. 4. How can you not play Casino Queen in Las Vegas?????
 

 

[Paddy McVegas]

Bright Leaves is a horrible choice for a show opener. 

[bböp]

12 hours ago, nalafej said:

loved the comments about Wilco in Vegas: ‘The Hit’ especially since our hero and rail riding friend partook in the Rod show the evening prior.  

 

Not sure if you're referring to me here, but it was Manilow! Sorry I missed you IRL at the show.

 

12 hours ago, nalafej said:

4. How can you not play Casino Queen in Las Vegas?????

 

Yeah, that was my initial thought, too. I thought for sure we'd get that one tonight, but I guess they did skip it one other time in Vegas as well (see my post above, which has now been updated).

[Albert Tatlock]

Ta.

 

P.S. Digging your rhinestone clobber.

[DiamondClaw]

22 hours ago, nalafej said:

How can you not play Casino Queen in Las Vegas?????

...or "Kingpin" in a bowling alley?!

[unifiedtheory]

Relieved to hear for all who attended that Wilco were able to 86 the bowling during the show. My last pre-pandemic show was the Jayhawks at Brooklyn Bowl in BK and the show was punctuated by the clatter of pins and rolling balls and the exclamations of bowlers. You can make the menu fancy and the food pricey and decorate it with all the reclaimed midway carnival clowns you want, but there's no way to disguise the fact that you're watching a band in a bowling alley when ACTUAL BOWLING is going on. In NYC, which fortunately has no lack of similarly-sized venues, I'd only venture to see another show at BB if it's a band I love and they're not playing anywhere else in or near the city.

 

Thanks for the report as always, bböp!

[Brian F.]

15 hours ago, unifiedtheory said:

Relieved to hear for all who attended that Wilco were able to 86 the bowling during the show.

 

Waiting in line for the Palladium show on Saturday, Pat came by and told us, "Some bands have the power to get them to shut down the bowling, and we're one of those bands," which I thought was hilarious coming from him.  He also exaggeratedly mimed bowling which, again, just slayed us.  We told him they should have let people bowl and just integrate the noise into some of the more cacophonous tracks in the set.

[unifiedtheory]

That's awesome. Now I'm picturing Pat doing his windmill move while holding a bowling ball.

 

5 hours ago, Brian F. said:

Waiting in line for the Palladium show on Saturday, Pat came by and told us, "Some bands have the power to get them to shut down the bowling, and we're one of those bands," which I thought was hilarious coming from him.  He also exaggeratedly mimed bowling which, again, just slayed us.