Wilco — 9 September 2023, Cork, Ireland (Cork Opera House) [Sounds From A Safe Harbour Festival; Day 3 of 4]

[bböp]

[At the airport waiting to board my flight back to the USA, so not sure how far along I'll get on this recap now, but I'll finish it up later. Tatlock will likely be occupied with the ruggers through the weekend, so that should buy me enough time.] [Edit: It didn't even buy me enough time to get to my gate, since Tatlock is a maniac. Ah well, I will complete this when I get  back on U.S. soil...which I actually did and then somehow my additions disappeared in a computer calamity before I could save them. Alas. So here goes yet another attempt that no one will read.]

 

When I think back on this past few weeks of traveling to shows in Europe, the United Kingdom and Ireland,  I'll remember the older and newer friends that I got to reconnect and spend time with, the new places I am lucky to have gotten to visit, the heat (oh, the heat) and the general highs and lows of tour life. And if there's one song that will stick in my head from this time, it's definitely going to be "Let Go The Coat" by E.R. Jurken, which I literally just discovered was co-produced by Mark Greenberg at The Loft and which somehow came up in the house music mix at some point during almost every show on this run. If you know you know...take the medication, take the medication.

 

I'm not sure what this really has to do with tonight's tour-closing gig in Cork, except that the Jurken song echoed through the Cork Opera House right after Wilco capped its final performance of this European tour with a rousing version of Spiders (Kidsmoke) and received one more well-deserved ovation from an adoring crowd of about 1,600.

 

It was the culmination of a solid five weeks of touring, including rehearsals and travel, that saw Jeff and his bandmates complete the primary touring cycle, more or less, for Cruel Country — with Cousin set to come out in a few weeks — as well as continue to solidify a fanbase in Europe that seems to grow and become more devoted each time the band tours over here. That included three sold-out shows in Ireland, the last of which in Cork was part of the excellent, biennial Sounds From A Safe Harbour Festival and also served as the band's debut here.

 

Jeff acknowledged as much when he said, "So good to see you, finally." And before the start of the encore, he poked a little fun at the decidedly unstaid-looking, modernist venue, quipping, "Thanks for inviting us to your opera house. Do they really do opera here? Well, this is our opera." He continued, "Seriously, though, it's so sweet to be invited to places like this. We love being in your country. We love it in Cork, so thank you so much."

 

Now I'm not sure if Cork, which is Ireland's second-largest city, has the same relationship/rivalry with Dublin as, say, Chicago does with New York — the Second City and all that — but at least a couple of Jeff's other visits to Banter Corner during the course of the show had to do with (jokingly) pitting one city against the other. The first came about halfway through the show when Jeff thanked Cork and asked whether it was actually pronounced "cork" or "cairk." When some audience members attempted to answer his question, he replied, "Ah, I'm not gonna be able to pronounce it correctly. But it's not Dublin, right? That was so 24 hours ago." Jeff quickly admitted he was just kidding and falling back on the tried-and-true "show biz" practice in which a performer denigrates a previous audience to the current one to make them feel superior. "Everyone knows this," Jeff said. "But you're better than that. You don't need that."

 

Then later, while attempting to get more of the crowd to participate in clapping together, Jeff reverted back once again to those show-business tactics. "They weren't very good at clapping (in Dublin)," he told the Corkonians during The Late Greats. "So if you want to outshine them, I think it'd be a good way to show your superiority. What do I know?"

 

That was pretty much it for Jeff's commentary during the 2-hour, 3-minute show, other than poking a little fun at Nels in the aftermath of yet another huge ovation post-Impossible Germany. Other than that, Jeff and Co. pretty much let the music speak for itself. Perhaps the only setlist surprise was Via Chicago in the encore, played for the first time on the entire tour but not as a lead-in to the Many Worlds coda, as it almost exclusively has been since the release of Cruel Country, but rather as precursor to the show-closing Spiders. Of course it really shouldn't have been much of a surprise at all since Wilco/Jeff usually play it at the final show of a tour before heading home, but in this case, I just figured it was out of the rotation for now.

 

After such a frantic, sweaty show in Dublin the previous night, I have to admit that this Cork gig — which was added well after the rest of the European run was announced — seemed like it might be a bit of a letdown in some ways. But far from that, I think it was ultimately fun to end the run in a new place and with a relatviely fresh audience that mostly was seeing the band for the first time. In my mind, anyway, I guess Cork ended up being a sort-of encore show to the rest of the tour's main set, if you will.

 

And on a personal note, although the Cork show was the first one on this run when I was truly flying solo, without any good friends to hang out with beforehand or have a drink with afterward (which made the "it's good to be alone" line in Spiders particularly resonant), I didn't really feel alone. I was happy to glimpse at least a couple of familiar faces — you know who you are — and of course there's always Wilco's music, not to mention hearing those songs like Jurken's each night that served as a through line, reminding me of where I'd been, who I'd been with and how far I'd come to be here yet again.

 

Here was the complete setlist, as played, in Cork (the printed setlist I saw had Dawned On Me listed near the end of the main set, but it was scratched out prior to the show):

 

Hell Is Chrome

Handshake Drugs

Story To Tell

I Am My Mother

Cruel Country

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

Kamera

Side With The Seeds

Hummingbird

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

Random Name Generator

Misunderstood

Evicted

Impossible Germany

Jesus, etc.

California Stars

The Late Greats

Heavy Metal Drummer

A Shot In The Arm

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

Falling Apart (Right Now)

Via Chicago>

Spiders (Kidsmoke)

[Albert Tatlock]

30 minutes ago, bböp said:

Tatlock will likely be occupied with the ruggers through the weekend

 

Ta. Ha! Pre match nerves mean I'm up early. 

 

Thanks for some great tour reporting. Hope you enjoyed yourself as much as we all appreciate your work.

 

P.S. Only (public school) English use the term 'rugger'. For Welsh it's a definite no-no and liable to get you some funny looks in the pub, if not an outside-round-the-back beating. It's been good so far. Initial glee at an Englishman being sent off after 3 minutes last night gave way to a growing disappointment with the Pumas (still best kit in rugby after Cardiff RFC and old memories of seeing Hugo Porta play for the Barbarians against Cardiff run deep) until I was probably supporting England to some extent - the support the underdog gene always makes its present felt and anyone who is a fan has to admire the determination that saw then win in that situation. If we get out of our group we'll be playing one of them (unless Argentina loose again - maybe to Samoa or Japan if they don't get their act together) so the fact that neither were great (England did nothing in attack) is a positive. Fingers crossed for tonight. We are a team in transition - need things to start to click. a couple of hours before Scotland have a stern test against the Springboks.

[Albert Tatlock]

36 minutes ago, bböp said:

"Let Go The Coat" by E.R. Jurken

 

Current favourite coat song for me

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P0YpeMPZ9g

 

[Calexico]

Afternoon VCers. It's been many a year since I posted here. Just to confirm that it was a fantastic night in Cork. Jeff in nicely acerbic, funny form and the band...goodness, what a unit. Stunning playing from everyone involved. Good crowd vibes and a singalong to *that* part of Spiders. Wilco....still got it. 😊

[Marijn]

How did you (finally) find out the name of the song? Good ol’ Shazam? 😄

[jackpunch]

10 hours ago, Albert Tatlock said:

 

Ta. Ha! Pre match nerves mean I'm up early. 

 

Thanks for some great tour reporting. Hope you enjoyed yourself as much as we all appreciate your work.

 

P.S. Only (public school) English use the term 'rugger'. For Welsh it's a definite no-no and liable to get you some funny looks in the pub, if not an outside-round-the-back beating. It's been good so far. Initial glee at an Englishman being sent off after 3 minutes last night gave way to a growing disappointment with the Pumas (still best kit in rugby after Cardiff RFC and old memories of seeing Hugo Porta play for the Barbarians against Cardiff run deep) until I was probably supporting England to some extent - the support the underdog gene always makes its present felt and anyone who is a fan has to admire the determination that saw then win in that situation. If we get out of our group we'll be playing one of them (unless Argentina loose again - maybe to Samoa or Japan if they don't get their act together) so the fact that neither were great (England did nothing in attack) is a positive. Fingers crossed for tonight. We are a team in transition - need things to start to click. a couple of hours before Scotland have a stern test against the Springboks.

 

Wales have a sizeable test v Fiji. The South Pacific lads are marvellous to watch

[Albert Tatlock]

12 hours ago, jackpunch said:

 

Wales have a sizeable test v Fiji. The South Pacific lads are marvellous to watch

 

We made it by the skin of our teeth. Great match for the neutral too. I was encouraged by our display after the past year. Want to see Fiji get through though - they could well beat the Aussies.

[jackpunch]

1 hour ago, Albert Tatlock said:

 

We made it by the skin of our teeth. Great match for the neutral too. I was encouraged by our display after the past year. Want to see Fiji get through though - they could well beat the Aussies.

 

I hope so. Mind it'll be just like Wales to blow a gasket against Georgia

[Confusion Boats]

https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/artsandculture/arid-41223436.html#:~:text=They hit the stage at,wail out a guitar solo. 

[Albert Tatlock]

10 minutes ago, jackpunch said:

 

I hope so. Mind it'll be just like Wales to blow a gasket against Georgia

 LOL. The roller-coaster ride that is being Welsh . . .

[DickDarlington]

Was at Dublin and Cork and loved the gigs. A few thoughts:

-probably the best they’ve sounded, and that’s saying a lot. 
-weirdly I wasn’t mad about Nels solo in Impossible Germany in Dublin. Loved what he did in Cork. Just shows he never does the same thing twice. 
-poor Jeff and his hip, looks painful. 
- the fact they sold out 3 decent sized venues in Ireland says a lot. Hopefully they come back soon. 

-we said hello to Eric (tour manager) outside the Cork venue. He looked away and said nothing to us. I’d say he thought we were going to ask for a favour like getting something signed. 
-the heatwave meant very sweaty gigs, particularly in Cork. Ireland just doesn’t have the air con setup some U.S. venues probably have, but the band soldiered on. 
 

 

[bböp]

20 hours ago, Marijn said:

How did you (finally) find out the name of the song? Good ol’ Shazam? 😄

 

Yeah, my Soundhound failed but one of the Scots' Shazam did the trick. The lyrics don't appear to be online anywhere!