Wilco — 28 August 2023, Utrecht, The Netherlands (TivoliVredenburg [Ronda]) [Night 2 of 2]

[bböp]

With this pair of shows in Utrecht being the lone two-night stand of this European tour, there was at least some conjecture among some of the people attending both gigs about exactly what to expect. I seemed to remember there being something about no repeated songs at some point in the fine print of a tour dates advert/listing — perhaps when ticket sales for the Sunday/Monday shows had been a bit sluggish? — and some of my colleagues recalled reading a similar promise on the TivoliVredenburg Web site.

 

So after we successfully negotiated a rather disorganized queue, followed a few locals through a “secret” door into the Ronda venue and secured our spots at the front, all there was to do (after watching another delightful support set by Courtney Marie Andrews) was wait for the lights to go down on Night 2 and see what Jeff and his Wilco bandmates had up their collective sleeves. When the band began to play the opening chords to Hell Is Chrome — which, coincidentally, was one of the songs my front-row mate most wanted to hear and which I pooh-poohed as being unlikely — things looked extremely promising for a set with some real rarities. It was the first time Wilco had played the song in more than four years, since a handful of performances in 2019; before that, it hadn't been since one of the Winter Residency shows in 2014.

 

We knew by the third song of the set, when Jeff began strumming the plaintive intro to I Am My Mother and followed it up as usual with Cruel Country, that this wouldn't be a completely fresh batch of songs relative to Night 1. But since we were never really sure what had been promised (or promised and reneged, or just a figment of our imaginations), it wasn't really all that disappointing to hear some tunes that have become recent setlist staples — and there were still a few surprises yet to come.

 

"How many of you were here last night?"  Jeff asked the audience in his first real comments of the evening, to a smattering of applause. "OK, not too many. We tried to change it up a little bit." When one fan subsequently yelled out, "We love you, Wilco!" Jeff replied, "Doja Cat says she doesn't love people who say they love her...just one of the many ways we're not alike."

 

One repeat that I didn't mind hearing came in the encore when, for the second straight night, Andrews joined Wilco on vocals. She has sung the song with the band at least a handful of times now, but tonight she seemed to finally hit her comfort zone with it. She took the second verse on her own, and it was nice to see her smile as she finally nailed the tricky cadences of the lyrics as well as watched her bandmates Sean Mullins and Taylor Zachry join on shakers behind Glenn for presumably the first time. Then Jeff invited Andrews to stay for one more song, and the two of them sang a nice duet on You And I.

 

A couple of people pointed out to me afterward that Jeff, who had been relatively chatty on Night 1, seemed like he might have been a bit talked out on Night 2. True, he didn't gab with the audience nearly as frequently as he did the previous night. But that might have also been a product of a somewhat more sedate Monday night crowd as well. There just weren't as many people yelling random things for Jeff to react to.

 

One funny moment came after Jeff, as he had the night before, back introduced Evicted by saying it was a song off an album that's coming out next month. A guy loudly stated that the album was called Cousin, I guess indicating he knew that fact. "That's right, Cousin," Jeff said. "Are you my fact-checking cuz?" It was almost the exactly the same back-and-forth that Jeff had with a guy the night before, standing in nearly the same spot, causing Jeff to ask if it was indeed the same guy. The Night 2 guy then shared that he hadn't been at the previous night's show, but had in fact been watching The Bear. The "conversation" continued somewhat awkwardly until Jeff finally put it to bed by joking, "Well, I'm glad we had time to have this talk. It's been very cheerful." You probably had to be there.

 

Other than that, the visits to Banter Corner were pretty minimal. Midway through the set, Jeff did briefly mention the Utrechtian local chant again — see previous show recap — and thanked the audience for inviting the band to come back again. "We love it here, even if we do have some post-traumatic stress from a night seven years ago," Jeff said. "But it's getting better." And there was a Jeff-Nels interaction I didn't completely get when Jeff pointed in Nels' direction after Impossible Germany (as he usually does) to honor Nels' solo and Nels came over and gave Jeff a sweet little hug. Then Jeff said something to Nels about not knowing "that was your middle name," and Nels responding it was on his passport. I feel like I missed part of that conversation.

 

Anyway, despite about half the set being the same as Night 1 and shattering our (probably delusional) expectations about there being no repeats, this was still a fun night that saw some fantastic renditions of songs we don't always get to hear anymore like I'll Fight and Side With The Seeds. And you know, when you get a Monday on Monday to close things out, especially with an Outtasite (Outta Mind) tacked on as it should be, you can't ever walk out on a down note. So viva Utrecht, or rather "Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..."

 

Here was the complete setlist, as played, for Night 2 (didn't get a look at a printed list, so can't say if there were any changes/omissions):

 

Hell Is Chrome

Story To Tell

I Am My Mother

Cruel Country

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

Kamera

I'll Fight

Side With The Seeds

Hummingbird

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

Random Name Generator

Misunderstood

Love Is Everywhere (Beware)

Impossible Germany

Jesus, etc.

Evicted

The Late Greats

Dawned On Me

A Shot In The Arm

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

Falling Apart (Right Now)

California Stars (w/Courtney Marie Andrews on vocals and Sean Mullins and Taylor Zachry on percussion)

You And I (w/Courtney Marie Andrews on vocals)

Monday>

Outtasite (Outta Mind)

[Albert Tatlock]

Tuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.

 

[Marijn]

The Jeff-Nels interaction you mentioned actually started before the song, with Jeff hitting a completely different (rather false) opening chord and teasingly telling Nels “I changed that song… just now”. Then, after the song, someone in the audience yelled “NELS F’ING CLINE!”, hence the middle name joke.

 

Regarding your first paragraph, the TivoliVredenburg website (still) notes: “Let op: Wilco speelt op deze avonden twee verschillende sets!”, which translated as “Please note: Wilco will be playing two different sets on these nights”. In hindsight technically correct, of course, but it did result in a somewhat tame and sedated crowd.
 

Anyway, great to see that the Wilco extended family enjoyed their stay in Utrecht – which in my humble opinion is a way more pleasant city compared to the tourist hellhole that Amsterdam has become in recent years (“A different city”, Pat told me with a telling grin, when I catched him early in the morning on a stroll by the canal). But be forewarned, never call Utrecht a “lovely little town” in front of her residents, or you might actually end up with some (friendly) “boooooooos” instead of “uuuuuuuuus” – go ask Courtney Marie 😄

[bböp]

3 hours ago, Marijn said:

The Jeff-Nels interaction you mentioned actually started before the song, with Jeff hitting a completely different (rather false) opening chord and teasingly telling Nels “I changed that song… just now”. Then, after the song, someone in the audience yelled “NELS F’ING CLINE!”, hence the middle name joke.

 

Regarding your first paragraph, the TivoliVredenburg website (still) notes: “Let op: Wilco speelt op deze avonden twee verschillende sets!”, which translated as “Please note: Wilco will be playing two different sets on these nights”. In hindsight technically correct, of course, but it did result in a somewhat tame and sedated crowd.
 

Anyway, great to see that the Wilco extended family enjoyed their stay in Utrecht – which in my humble opinion is a way more superior city compared to the tourist hellhole that Amsterdam has become in recent years. But be forewarned, never call Utrecht a “lovely little town” in front of her residents, or you might actually end up with some (friendly) “boooooooos” instead of “uuuuuuuuus” – go ask Courtney Marie 😄

Ah, right! Thanks for filling in the blanks for me there. And to bring it kinda full circle, Nels’ actual middle name is Courtney! 

[50footqueenie]

I have applied for a refund under the British trade’s description act. I was promised two different shows and only got one and a half.  But HELL IS CHROME FFS!! So I’m happy.

[!goose!]

On 8/29/2023 at 10:18 AM, bböp said:

With this pair of shows in Utrecht being the lone two-night stand of this European tour, there was at least some conjecture among some of the people attending both gigs about exactly what to expect. I seemed to remember there being something about no repeated songs at some point in the fine print of a tour dates advert/listing — perhaps when ticket sales for the Sunday/Monday shows had been a bit sluggish? — and some of my colleagues recalled reading a similar promise on the TivoliVredenburg Web site.

 

So after we successfully negotiated a rather disorganized queue, followed a few locals through a “secret” door into the Ronda venue and secured our spots at the front, all there was to do (after watching another delightful support set by Courtney Marie Andrews) was wait for the lights to go down on Night 2 and see what Jeff and his Wilco bandmates had up their collective sleeves. When the band began to play the opening chords to Hell Is Chrome — which, coincidentally, was one of the songs my front-row mate most wanted to hear and which I pooh-poohed as being unlikely — things looked extremely promising for a set with some real rarities. It was the first time Wilco had played the song in more than four years, since a handful of performances in 2019; before that, it hadn't been since one of the Winter Residency shows in 2014.

 

We knew by the third song of the set, when Jeff began strumming the plaintive intro to I Am My Mother and followed it up as usual with Cruel Country, that this wouldn't be a completely fresh batch of songs relative to Night 1. But since we were never really sure what had been promised (or promised and reneged, or just a figment of our imaginations), it wasn't really all that disappointing to hear some tunes that have become recent setlist staples — and there were still a few surprises yet to come.

 

"How many of you were here last night?"  Jeff asked the audience in his first real comments of the evening, to a smattering of applause. "OK, not too many. We tried to change it up a little bit." When one fan subsequently yelled out, "We love you, Wilco!" Jeff replied, "Doja Cat says she doesn't love people who say they love her...just one of the many ways we're not alike."

 

One repeat that I didn't mind hearing came in the encore when, for the second straight night, Andrews joined Wilco on vocals. She has sung the song with the band at least a handful of times now, but tonight she seemed to finally hit her comfort zone with it. She took the second verse on her own, and it was nice to see her smile as she finally nailed the tricky cadences of the lyrics as well as watched her bandmates Sean Mullins and Taylor Zachry join on shakers behind Glenn for presumably the first time. Then Jeff invited Andrews to stay for one more song, and the two of them sang a nice duet on You And I.

 

A couple of people pointed out to me afterward that Jeff, who had been relatively chatty on Night 1, seemed like he might have been a bit talked out on Night 2. True, he didn't gab with the audience nearly as frequently as he did the previous night. But that might have also been a product of a somewhat more sedate Monday night crowd as well. There just weren't as many people yelling random things for Jeff to react to.

 

One funny moment came after Jeff, as he had the night before, back introduced Evicted by saying it was a song off an album that's coming out next month. A guy loudly stated that the album was called Cousin, I guess indicating he knew that fact. "That's right, Cousin," Jeff said. "Are you my fact-checking cuz?" It was almost the exactly the same back-and-forth that Jeff had with a guy the night before, standing in nearly the same spot, causing Jeff to ask if it was indeed the same guy. The Night 2 guy then shared that he hadn't been at the previous night's show, but had in fact been watching The Bear. The "conversation" continued somewhat awkwardly until Jeff finally put it to bed by joking, "Well, I'm glad we had time to have this talk. It's been very cheerful." You probably had to be there.

 

Other than that, the visits to Banter Corner were pretty minimal. Midway through the set, Jeff did briefly mention the Utrechtian local chant again — see previous show recap — and thanked the audience for inviting the band to come back again. "We love it here, even if we do have some post-traumatic stress from a night seven years ago," Jeff said. "But it's getting better." And there was a Jeff-Nels interaction I didn't completely get when Jeff pointed in Nels' direction after Impossible Germany (as he usually does) to honor Nels' solo and Nels came over and gave Jeff a sweet little hug. Then Jeff said something to Nels about not knowing "that was your middle name," and Nels responding it was on his passport. I feel like I missed part of that conversation.

 

Anyway, despite about half the set being the same as Night 1 and shattering our (probably delusional) expectations about there being no repeats, this was still a fun night that saw some fantastic renditions of songs we don't always get to hear anymore like I'll Fight and Side With The Seeds. And you know, when you get a Monday on Monday to close things out, especially with an Outtasite (Outta Mind) tacked on as it should be, you can't ever walk out on a down note. So viva Utrecht, or rather "Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..."

 

Here was the complete setlist, as played, for Night 2 (didn't get a look at a printed list, so can't say if there were any changes/omissions):

 

Hell Is Chrome

Story To Tell

I Am My Mother

Cruel Country

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

Kamera

I'll Fight

Side With The Seeds

Hummingbird

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

Random Name Generator

Misunderstood

Love Is Everywhere (Beware)

Impossible Germany

Jesus, etc.

Evicted

The Late Greats

Dawned On Me

A Shot In The Arm

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

Falling Apart (Right Now)

California Stars (w/Courtney Marie Andrews on vocals and Sean Mullins and Taylor Zachry on percussion)

You And I (w/Courtney Marie Andrews on vocals)

Monday>

Outtasite (Outta Mind)

What was so delusional about those of us who bought tickets, took time off work, purchased flights, hotel rooms, and ubers to expect the band to deliver on thier promise? What trouble would it have been for them to play two completely different sets? Bait and switch. 

[calvino]

57 minutes ago, !goose! said:

What was so delusional about those of us who bought tickets, took time off work, purchased flights, hotel rooms, and ubers to expect the band to deliver on thier promise? What trouble would it have been for them to play two completely different sets? Bait and switch. 

 

Yeah I can see your beef. The venue page stated as such. Wonder where the disconnect came from: the promotor, venue's webpage,  and/or Wilco.

 

https://www.tivolivredenburg.nl/agenda/wilco-27-08-2023/

 

(I had to google translate it to English)

 

Quote

Indie rock band around Jeff Tweedy plays different sets for two evenings

 

Please note: Wilco will play two different sets on these evenings!

 

[50footqueenie]

Strictly speaking they did play two different sets. The word that was missing was ‘completely’ 😬

[calvino]

Yeah I guess. But man, I would have read that as two completely different sets -- otherwise why even put it on the webpage. 

[!goose!]

4 hours ago, calvino said:

Yeah I guess. But man, I would have read that as two completely different sets -- otherwise why even put it on the webpage. 

Wilcoworld advertised "no repeats".  You will always get two different sets with a two night stand. There was no confusing literature when I bought those tickets.