bböp Posted June 27 Share Posted June 27 Because of travel and the heat, etc., it’s probably gonna take me a minute to come up with something lucid (as if I ever do) about tonight’s show that was not an “Evening With…” performance, as it turned out. This wasn’t a festival in the normal sense of the word, either; more like one in a summer series of concerts at the Montjuïc cultural complex known as the Poble Espanyol. This was the same location of Wilco’s Barcelona tour stop just over three years ago, though the setup was much different this time around on account of being part of the Alma Festival series. Whereas back in 2022, the show simply took place in the main square of the sprawling Poble Espanyol, tonight there was a completely different entrance that led to a separate area with a smaller stage that featured a band that played earlier (not sure whether I should technically call them a support act or not because it was just so separate from the main stage area) as well as booths with drink and food options. Then when the doors officially opened for the stage area where Wilco played, you had make your way down a long interior “street” and finally into the PE’s central square, where there was a big festival stage setup and barricades separating those who had purchased “front of stage” tickets versus from those with regular tickets and other tiers. By the time Jeff and Co. took the stage promptly at 10 p.m., it had already been quite a long day for everyone — especially given the heat wave that is gripping Spain at the moment. I think that as much as anything accounted for a Barcelona audience that seemed, I would say, a bit more subdued that you would otherwise normally expect. I can’t speak for anyone else, but between the draining heat/humidity and the stage setup being much less intimate than I remember from the show three years ago, it was hard to really feel as strong a connection with the band as I would have liked. Another factor to this gig kind of having a “professional show” vibe to it was the way the band just kind of proceeded through its set without much chatter by Jeff at all and then, by the end, almost feeling rushed. Those two things probably went hand in hand, with the band seemingly needing to be done by the stroke of midnight (which it was exactly). Jeff said as much at the start of the encore when he told the crowd, “We don’t have much time. We’re gonna get these last (few) songs in.” The printed setlist I glimpsed had both Falling Apart (Right Now) and Monday listed as part of the encore, but both were crossed out and apparently cut for time. Despite the time crunch, we did get Spiders (Kidsmoke) to close out the main set. But even during the “ba-ba bada ba-ba-bada-dada…” climax, Jeff didn’t really draw things out as much as usual. This was one of the few moments when the audience seemed to overcome its collective lethargy. “I don’t need to tell you what to do,” Jeff said by way of encouragement. “You invented this.” But just as soon as some momentum seemed to finally be building, the song quickly ended, the band left the stage and the expected “Oeeeee oee oee…” Barça cheers never really came together. Those “Oee oee” chants were pretty much only heard briefly following Impossible Germany, when the crowd gave Nels his due. I had forgotten that he missed the show here three years ago after remaining in COVID quarantine following a positive test earlier on that tour, so it had been a good while since IG had been performed in Barcelona proper. It was something that Jeff mentioned right away, noting that “we brought Nels this time.” Even with Nels in the fold, however, the overall energy level just wasn’t quite up to the high standards set by previous Barcelona audiences. I’m sure there are a number of reasons for that, from the unrelenting heat just wearing everyone down to maybe just a general aging of the fanbase or perhaps even a sense that it hadn’t been that long since Wilco’s most recent visit. And from the band’s end of things, it might just have reached that point in a tour where you have a slight dip in momentum; every night can’t be transcendent, as much as you try to remain consistent. As I mentioned earlier, Jeff hardly paid any noteworthy visits to Banter Corner and when he did, it was basically to reiterate how much he and his bandmates enjoy visiting Barcelona (like a lot of Americans do — and, as always, there were more than a few in attendance tonight). “How nice…what a lovely night,” Jeff said about halfway through the show. We’ve been (to this venue) before. We missed it.” And then near the end of the night, he once again simply expressed a simple message of gratitude: “You really are our favorite place, so thank you very much.” In the end, I really just have to put this one in the “professional show” category. Which means that it was a perfectly solid gig. If you hadn’t seen the band before, or hadn’t seen a show this year, you almost certainly would have walked away feeling like you had gotten your money’s worth and been happy to have spent a night outside in a lovely city seeing a really good band. Sometimes that’s good enough, right? Here was the complete setlist, as played (as mentioned, Falling Apart (Right Now) and Monday were on the printed setlist in the encore but weren't played): Company In My Back Evicted Handshake Drugs Side With The Seeds i Am Trying To Break Your Heart If I Ever Was A Child Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull Via Chicago One Wing Hummingbird Quiet Amplifier Either Way Meant To Be Box Full Of Letters Annihilation Jesus, etc. Impossible Germany Heavy Metal Drummer Spiders (Kidsmoke) ————————————— California Stars Walken I Got You (At The End Of The Century) 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Albert Tatlock Posted June 27 Share Posted June 27 A preemptive (cas)ta(net). Predictions for 40+ degree heat in southern Spain in a day or so. Stay safe! 1 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.