Jeff Tweedy — 29 October 2024, Menlo Park, CA (Guild Theatre) [Night 2 of 3]

[bböp]

Let me just say up top that I think I finally put my finger on why I've felt slightly uneasy, or at least not quite at home, since first setting foot in the Guild Theatre a couple of nights ago. And it's not the reserved seat/general admission standing situation I mentioned in my recap of Night 1. Those of us who bought GA tickets and wound up standing behind the five rows of seats on the main floor had a great view and even if we wanted to be closer to the stage or thought we would be, there really wasn't too much to complain about on that front.

 

So what's the issue with a room I've seen more than a few people cite as a new favorite in the area? After all, it's nice and clean (having just reopened in 2022 after a $35 million renovation), quite intimate (between 200 and 500, depending on setup) and has pristine sound (anchored by a Meyer Sound PA system). It sounds antithetical that such a venue might not be preferred for a relatively quiet acoustic show like Jeff's, but that intimacy and sound quality can create what I'll call a singing-versus-silence conflict in which apparently any noise — from quiet singing along to whispering to sounds from the bar — is amplified and gets under some people's skin. To me, it's led to a kind of underlying tension that has made some fearful of making any kind of sound whatsoever and magnified the difference between those who like to enjoy a show by participating (appropriately, of course) and those who would rather the performance be more of a recital, whether because they're trying to record it or just don't care to hear anything but the performer.

 

Now I will readily admit that I fall on the side of singing and crowd participation in general (again, appropriately of course), so if you don't, we can agree to disagree. But there have definitely been some uptight people over the first two nights of this three-night run who have made those of us who might like to participate a bit feel like we've somehow done something wrong. Such as the older gentleman seated in one of the rows of chairs who turned around and hissed, "Who's singing?" at a group of us GA standers before getting up and moving over to an empty seat a little further down the row. Whether that was aimed at me or somebody else, I don't know. But it made for kind of a sterile vibe at times, which was a bummer.

 

Jeff may have even sensed as much as the show went on, as he remarked after a mini singalong broke out during New Madrid. "Nice to hear you sing along, even though I didn't ask for it," he said. "I hear a lot of things when the room's this quiet. It's disconcerting." Near the end of the show, when he tried to get the crowd to join him on the woo/growl part during Lou Reed Was My Babysitter, the first attempt was so lame that he had to pause, shake his head and remark in part, "That was pathetic. ... Get the defibrillators out."

 

Fortunately Jeff's visits to Banter Corner were amusingly cringeworthy tonight, despite the fact that he said almost nothing at all for nearly the first half of the show, which included the surprising On And On And On (for the first time on this run) and new song Now And Then (which I noticed included the lyric, "I let it play all the way through Train In Vain..."). When he finally did start chatting, Jeff explained his initial reticence as an attempt to strike a balance with the first night's show. "I talked a lot last night," Jeff said. "And I think I've already played as many songs as I played last night, so I'm just gonna talk the rest of the night so we don't cheat last night's audience out of anything. ... Some people say it doesn't matter, and they're right."

 

But as Jeff continued, he said he had tried to think of some different stories to tell tonight and that led to, well, a tale about when he "shit my pants." The story Jeff told basically involved a time in the early days of Wilco's touring history when the band played at a university gymnasium and Jeff went outside for one more smoke before the show. As Jeff explained it, in those days of smoking and drug taking, often when you would have one more cigarette, you would have to take a shit. But Jeff couldn''t get back into the facility in time, apparently, and wound up shitting himself. Just then a group of fans spotted him and approached for a quick chat and a picture, which he obliged despite the awkward situation. "So some of you might a picture of me with shit in my pants," Jeff deadpanned. "Anytime you see a picture of me from back in the day, think about that. It's possible."

 

It wouldn't be the last bodily function Jeff would discuss, much to the chagrin of some in the audience. He completed a trifecta of sorts when he had guitar tech Ashwin bring out his water bottle so he could take a swig. He told the crowd that he almost never drank anything on stage because it usually made him have to pee immediately. OK, peeing...check. Then Jeff decided to complete the Bodily Function Banter by sharing that he was currently "on a medication that makes my belches smell like sewage. If you smell something that's almost ungodly, that's me." And burping...check.

 

I can't remember if it was this, uh, spurt or another that caused Jeff to say that if his wife had been there right then, she would have asked if he was having an episode — a line Tweedy Show viewers are well acquainted with — but in any case, he had a couple more extended trips to Banter Corner. One was a version of the extended story he has been telling before An Empty Corner, which I think he sensed was getting a bit unwieldy, especially in the same venue for the second night in a row. But he addressed one heckler by saying in part that he felt compelled to give every audience the same amount every show. And of course, he almost immediately contradicted himself after that same audience member (I think?) requested Sunken Treasure in an annoying fashion. "Are you coming tomorrow night?" Jeff asked. "If you aren't, then I'm gonna play it then. That's how I roll. That's how I manage the crowds."

 

Ultimately, Jeff has been remarkably consistent on this tour in the show he puts on night in and night out. And yet he still manages to surprise, too, both in terms of his banter and the selection of songs he makes (he did, for example, grant an audience request for Natural Disaster, and followed it up with a nice 12-string performance of Cousin deep cut A Bowl And A Pudding). It will be interesting to see what the final night of the tour has in store tomorrow, and here's hoping the audience is a cool one. I don't expect everyone to feel the same way I do about participation and the like, but a little less uptightness would be welcome.

 

Here was the complete setlist for Night 2 in Menlo Park, as played:

 

The Universe

On And On And On

Guess Again

Ambulance

new song-Now And Then

Don't Forget

Radio King

Evicted

Should've Been In Love

Natural Disaster

A Bowl And A Pudding

Orphan

new song-Enough

An Empty Corner

Please Tell My Brother

New Madrid

You And I

Jesus, etc.

Lou Reed Was My Babysitter

Laminated Cat aka Not For The Season

A Lifetime To Find

[nalafej]

Residencies are the best. Love the swaps! Look forward to hearing more about the show....

[Albert Tatlock]

On 10/30/2024 at 12:14 PM, bböp said:

fearful of making any kind of sound whatsoever

I can understand how your quill on parchment scratchings must have made you nervous of repercussions.

 

On 10/30/2024 at 12:14 PM, bböp said:

wrap this up

Scroll secure in leather cylinder. Check.

 

Ta. 

[nalafej]

On 10/30/2024 at 7:14 AM, bböp said:

Fortunately Jeff's visits to Banter Corner were amusingly cringeworthy tonight

 

Jeff wound up shitting himself. 

 

He completed a trifecta of sorts when he told the crowd that he almost never drank anything on stage because it usually made him have to pee.

 

Then Jeff decided to complete the Bodily Function Banter by sharing that he was currently "on a medication that makes my belches smell like sewage.

 

These solo shows have felt like Jeff was rehearsing material for his new book so this trifecta certainly has me more prepared for a stinky 4th book.

[bböp]

8 hours ago, Albert Tatlock said:

Scroll secure in leather cylinder. Check.

 

Ta. 

 

Once again your dedication to my blather has haunted me since I finally managed to finish this one. But I had to pull the scroll out of its cylinder to do so, thus accounting for any amendment from your previous quotation(s).