Jeff Tweedy — 30 October 2024, Menlo Park, CA (Guild Theatre) [Night 3 of 3]

[bböp]

For those of you following along at home, and I realize that number is probably in the low teens at this point, I offer at last this account of the final performance on Jeff's October solo jaunt across these United States. If you'll recall in my previous recap of the penultimate show on the tour, I suggested that for as ideal a venue as the Guild Theatre might have seemed, its intimacy and acoustics could sometimes lead to a too-sterile atmosphere that isn't the sort I prefer for this kind of show. Well...a corollary to that theory is that the venue can also fall victim to a particular kind of audience member (or members) who can easily "take over" the room simply by being loud and overly boisterous.

 

And you guessed it, that's kind of what happened on Night 3 in Menlo Park. Even better (note sarcasm), I had a direct view of the primary show hijacker — henceforth, the Hijacker — because he was sitting literally right in front of me. Fantastic! (Anybody remember the infamous Mayor of Cedar Rapids' daughter show of 2011, by chance?)

 

So it didn't take long for The Hijacker and others to unfortunately make their presence known. Four songs, to be precise. I'm pretty sure it was during Some Birds when the guy sitting in the row of chairs right in front of the primary general admission standing area — and right in front of me — decided to stand up. No one else in this row of chairs had stood either of the previous two shows, mind you, but I thought, "OK, he's a little enthusiastic," which frankly would have been welcome on Nights 1 and 2. But then he began bellowing things like "Go Cubs!" and stuff about how Jeff should play "Graceland" and how "Graceland is in Chicago," and I think we started to sense we might be in for a long night. It didn't help that a few other people in other parts of the room decided to also chime with their own inner monologues to the effect of: "Go Maroons! Belleville!" “Blue-Eyed Soul” and "Play something in B-minor!"

 

"What the fuck is happening here?" Jeff responded. "Do you not know who you paid to see? This feels like when someone asked me if I had a comb." That caused the Hijacker to start mumbling some more nonsense at Jeff about how, "You have great hair, young man." (He kept calling Jeff "young man" over the course of the show for some reason.) Jeff shook his head at the continuing stream of comments, quipping, "Geez, times are tough all over." A bit later, Jeff asked how many people had attended either of the previous shows at the Guild. More than a few responded in the affirmative, to which Jeff deadpanned, "I'm sensing a different energy in this room."

 

It's hard to even fully convey the full picture of the Hijacker. He was a middle-aged bald guy who would stand up and sit down intermittently, filming extended portions of the show very shakily on his phone while his right arm was frequently aloft making some kind of gesture like a fist or rock horns. He was clearly a bit tipsy and/or high — he would get up and go get himself another beer at least a couple of times during the show, somehow not getting cut off — but not so much that he stumbled while walking or slurred his words. Jeff handled him quite well overall, but the Hijacker's behavior clearly influenced what songs Jeff would play, at least for a while.

 

After dusting off the somber new tune Ain't It Shame in response to another exchange with the guy — basically the Hijacker said "nice hairstyle" and Jeff replied, "I think you said that already — and everybody knows" — Jeff explained his strategy to the rest of the audience. "I'm gonna keep playing these kinds of songs," Jeff said. "I'm just trying to squash this one guy's enthusiasm. Here, I've got another one..." Then he launched into Everlasting Everything and the opening lyric, "Everything alive must die..." drew a hearty chuckle from some in the crowd. After returning from one of his beer runs, after Jeff had played another couple of quiet numbers, the Hijacker inexplicably yelled out, "Go Niners!" causing more groans from other audience members. To which Jeff finally replied with more than a hint of exasperation, "Is he gonna go to sleep soon?" (Sadly, he did not.)

 

So there was that little drama playing out over the course of the show — and I admit I even glanced at my phone at one point to see what time it was and wondered how Jeff would get through the rest of his set — but it wasn't the only one. Another little running "joke" involved another guy who persistently yelled out for Jeff to play something in the key of B-minor. It even got to the point where Jeff finally tried to grant his wish, playing How To Fight Loneliness, but afterward still struggled to understand the key request. "It's like 'What's your favorite song? Oh, I bet you don't know what key it's in,'" Jeff said. "I've never seen that before."

 

It was largely a head-scratching kind of night. Jeff had yet more entertaining visits to Banter Corner that I don't even have time to recount here, but I'll just mention one in which he gave himself a little pat on the back — and the audience some gentle shade — for not having repeated any songs from the previous two nights. He would go on to only repeat Lou Reed Was My Babysitter (as well as playing An Empty Corner two of the three nights). "I haven't played a single song I played the other two nights, so hooray for me," Jeff said. "You guys got the dregs. You got the bullshit songs. Get your tickets earlier next time."

 

It wouldn't be an accurate recap if the Hijacker didn't rear his dumb head one more time, however. Near the end of the set, Jeff finally picked up the 12-string guitar he had on stage with him, started Pot Kettle Black and of course had an almost immediate lyric flub — which he cursed himself for routinely making and explained that was why he never plays that one — and some of us tried to help him out with the right words. Would you believe the Hijacker actually had the nerve to turn around at that point and shush me for singing too loudly? Yep, that actually happened (I gave him the finger). Fortunately for us all, a couple of songs later Jeff invited support act Elizabeth Moen and her duo partner Gus Martini out for the traditional tour-ending collaboration. It was, naturally, on the song California Stars and despite the fact that they had apparently only gotten word of this invitation a few hours prior, Moen and Martini certainly did fine on backing vocals and sent us on our separate ways with a fond memory — allowing us to cast the Hijacker out of our minds for the most part. Phew!

 

Here was the complete setlist, as played, for Night 3:

 

Infinite Surprise

new song-This Is How It Ends

Tired Of Taking It Out On You

Some Birds

Sunlight Ends

Evergreen

Company In My Back

new song-Ain't It A Shame

Everlasting Everything

Opaline

How To Fight Loneliness

One Wing

Even I Can See

Guaranteed

Via Chicago (w/harmonica)

Either Way

Annihilation

Hummingbird

Lou Reed Was My Babysitter

Pot Kettle Black

Falling Apart (Right Now)

California Stars (w/Elizabeth Moen and Gus Martini on backing vocals)

[bböp]

Finally finished this one! OK, carry on.

[Albert Tatlock]

Ta, young man.

[Ghost Of Bob Cumming]

'Young man' made me laugh too

 

Thanks - as always - bböp

[Brian F.]

Yikes. Kind of puts me in mind of the "I'll Fight" guy who's always at Largo but much, much worse. Thanks for recapping and, in the process, making sure that I do not feel any regret for not making the trip up north for these shows.

[tinnitus photography]

Goons. they are everywhere.