Wilco — 17 June 2022, Zeebrugge, Belgium (Zeebrugge Beach) [Live Is Live Festival; Day 1 of 3]

[bböp]

Due to a slightly late start, some hideous Friday rush-hour traffic getting out of Brussels and the disorganized parking/entrance situation at the event itself, my comrade and I unfortunately arrived at the inaugural Live Is Live festival in the Belgian coast town of Zeebrugge only in time to catch the last couple of songs by the popular Belgian band dEUS. Fortunately that meant that a good chunk of the crowd, at least in the premium "frontstage" area," cleared out for the next band, Wilco, and we were able to secure good spots close to the stage.

 

Not that this was a particularly intimate event or anything, given that the stage was at least eight feet high with two huge video screens flanking it and the barricade set back a good 10 feet. We were lucky that the band set up close to the lip of the stage, or it might have been difficult to see Glenn at all. And just so you get the full sense of it, this whole setup was on the Zeebrugge beach (though oddly enough, you couldn't really see any water), which meant traipsing through heaps of sand. Fun!

 

Anyway, Wilco gave it 100 percent as the de facto support act for The National, which was headlining the first night of the festival (and incidentally, it wasn't really even a festival in the sense that there was just the one stage, so it was just more of an extended show with a five-band bill). "Thanks for listening to us," Jeff said near the end of the show in one of his only visits to Banter Corner. "Have fun with The National later. We go way back." (By the way, the mutual respect between the two American bands was reciprocated early in The National's set as well, when frontman Matt Berninger dedicated Mistaken For Strangers to Wilco, who he called "heroes to us, and one of the reasons we started (our) band.")

 

Between the always-effective opener of A Shot In The Arm and the early, well, shot in the arm provided by Handshake Drugs, that helped to balance the inclusion of new Cruel Country material like Story To Tell and I Am My Mother that might otherwise be a tough sell for a "festival" crowd. Then the middle of the set was just one guitar workout after another, as Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull went into Impossible Germany, which segued into At Least That's What You Said and finally concluded with the Via Chicago>Many Worlds coda pairing.

 

Phew...that's a pretty great guitar-focused sequence right there, if you ask me! And it was a treat to hear Pat's playing, in particular, on a nice-sounding PA system. His playing really drives a lot of the Cruel Country material, and I enjoyed getting to hear some of the sounds he was making come through the mix especially clearly.

 

But far from being done, Jeff and his bandmates finished out the set with the "rock songs, etc." encore that wasn't actually an encore. You knew once they started into Red-Eyed And Blue — and incidentally, Jeff sang the original lyric of "some drugs we can afford/on the way" instead of how he has usually sung it in recent years as "some drugs we can afford/not to take," which I'm sure exactly no one noticed — that I Got You and probably Outtasite would follow. But we also got the added bonus of I'm A Wheel, which they certainly didn't have to do. I'm not sure they had an exact defined set time, but they wound up playing 101 minutes in all...so a bit longer than the 90 for which we presumed they would be allotted.

 

Before I forget, a few nerdy guitar things that I noticed for the first time that probably very few care about. On I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, for example, Nels played some sort of thin resonator-type guitar that I hadn't seen him use on that song before, while Jeff used one of his rubber-bridge guitars throughout the length of Via Chicago and the ensuing Many Worlds coda. Oh, and on California Stars, Pat didn't use his banjitar for some reason — even though they soundchecked it earlier; instead, he played his solo on keyboard.

 

And that's more or less all I've got to report from the beach in Belgium (whilst I'm still emptying the sand out of my shoes and the cuffs of my jeans). It was a pretty fun way to spend a Friday afternoon/evening once we got there, and while I wouldn't necessarily want to trudge to concerts on a beach all the time, there is something quite pleasant about breathing in the sea air on a warm summer day every once in a while. Let's just not make a habit out of it, OK?

 

Here was the complete setlist, as played (didn't see a printed list, so can't say if there were any changes/omissions):

 

A Shot In The Arm

Story To Tell

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

I Am My Mother

Cruel Country

Handshake Drugs

Hummingbird

All Across The World

Love Is Everywhere (Beware)

War On War

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

Impossible Germany

At Least That's What You Said

Via Chicago>

Many Worlds (coda only)

Jesus, etc.

A Lifetime To Find

California Stars

Falling Apart (Right Now)

Red-Eyed And Blue>

I Got You (At The End Of The Century)>

Outtasite (Outta Mind)

I'm A Wheel

[Albert Tatlock]

Ca plane pour toi?

 

Ta

[bböp]

1 hour ago, Albert Tatlock said:

Ca plane pour toi?

 

Ta

More like Ça Chunnel pour moi (which costs more than a plane and you have to get there nearly as early, so what’s the point?)! 

[Albert Tatlock]

1 hour ago, bböp said:

More like Ça Chunnel pour moi (which costs more than a plane and you have to get there nearly as early, so what’s the point?)! 

The view?

 

Well there is trouble at the airports with staff shortages after not ramping up again after covid and the summer holiday rush, so you might have sidestepped bedlam. And speaking of sidesteps. RIP Phil Bennett

 

 

[Albert Tatlock]

On 6/18/2022 at 6:52 AM, bböp said:

that's a pretty great guitar-focused sequence right there, if you ask me!

 

Dear Bbop,

Was that a pretty great guitar-focused segment?

Your ardent admirer,

Albert.

 

P.S. Ta

[bböp]

3 hours ago, Albert Tatlock said:

 

Dear Bbop,

Was that a pretty great guitar-focused segment?

You ardent admirer,

Albert.

 

P.S. Ta

 

Did I repeat that bit? I have decided that I shall, in the future, simply begin composing my correspondence here with a "My Dearest Albert..." salutation since you are the only one who deigns to reply anyway. Ta.