Sunday, 4pm I'm just waking up from a lazy afternoon nap, as I sit down at the 'puter a post goes up; "Wilco, New Haven, tonight, I have one extra ticket", huh, Susan's sick in bed and I haven't been to a show in what seems like ages. I go to the post and it's Jameson, my Mog buddy from Providence that I've never met face to face but have repeatedly promised each other that we'd hook up for a show sooner or later. So Jameson is trying to talk Cody into coming up from NY for the show and Cody has some lame ass excuse about how he's studying for school exams or something and I pipe in that I'd be interested if the ticket was still available. We agree to meet up in South County, about a 45 minute drive from here, and leave one car there, at 5:30... OK, I'm good at spontaneity. I arrive at the "Double D" and grab a large Milky Way with a shot of espresso; Jameson, Matt and his charming new bride come driving up like it was just meant to be. Everything's going like clockwork. We all hit it off immediately, Jameson's infectious smile and calm cool demeanor setting the tone for a fun filled evening. Matt roars down I 95 not letting up on the gas for nothin' or nobody, I found myself more than once applying pressure to the brake pedal in the back seat that wasn't there. We grab a quick bite at a great restaurant (I can't recall the name of the place), around the corner from the Shubert Theater with time to spare.
What I was afraid of being "nose bleed" seats turned out to afford a fantastic view, as the place isn't really all that big. The Shubert is another of those old gilded palaces saved and restored that we here in the Northeast are blessed with, my only regret with the venue is there is damn little leg room for this tall bony frame of mine to fit into.
John Doe was the warm up band; what they lacked in sound quality they overcame with a sort of Jerry Lee Jenny Lewis thing going on, a few solid covers, and then there was WILCO. I'm going to leave it to Jameson, being more familiar with Tweedy and Company, to give you the blow by blow but for me it was all just one long lovely symphony broken up only by Jeff's changing of guitars after every song and the missing keyboardist for the first few minutes of the encore. Thanks Jameson, (and Cody for not being able to make it)
Wilco's set list 1. Remember the Mountain Bed 2. California Stars 3. Company In My Back 4. Pot Kettle Black 5. Shot In the Arm 6. Radio Cure 7. You Are My Face 8. Side With the Seeds 9. Pick Up the Change 10. Hotel Arizona 11. Always In Love 12. Impossible Germany 13. Jesus, etc. 14. Misunderstood 15. Airline to Heaven 16. Theologians 17. Walken 18. I'm the Man Who Loves You 19. On and On and On Encore 20. Hate It Here 21. Heavy Metal Drummer 22. Red-Eyed and Blue 23. I Got You (At the End of the Century) 24. Monday 25. Outtasite (Outta Mind)
Eric Danton reviews the show here
Impossible Germany
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ps - WILCO will be performing on Saturday Night Live this Saturday 3/1/08
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Sounds like a great night. Glad you got to experience the joy that is Wilco. Great set too.
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WOOHOO!
Yeah, Bruce came thru for me after my fiance had to make a difficult game-time decision not to drive with us from Providence to New Haven. And Bruce stepped in! (He was a way better concert buddy, btw. Don't tell Jess!).
You gotta give me time for the full review, but I'll squeeze in a short one. Sunday night was my fourth Wilco show. And it was my first show with such an incredible vantage point. We were looking down (at, like, a 45 degree angle or so) at Tweedy & co. From a Wilco-nerd's standpoint, this was the first time that I could watch every member of the band clearly. Seeing John Stirrat and Pat Sansone interact, and the same for Jeff and Glenn Kotche, and, then, of course Nels vs. Jeff, Nels vs. Mikael, NELS VS. AMPLIFIER, sigh. god damn, god damn....
The last Wilco show I saw was fantastic, but my only regret was an extremely standard setlist. This show PROVED right out the gate that New Haven was not gonna be treated to that. An 8 minute Woody Guthrie "Remember The Mountain Bed" followed by "California Stars" graced the rafters of the Shubert and the left turns didn't end all night. Great show, appreciative crowd, groggy Monday-morning time-clockers (me!).
Thanks for coming Bruce! (he really IS as tall as he says!)
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oh wow. i am not, as Jameson awesomely puts it, a "Wilco-nerd" but i do love Mr. Tweedy & co. quite much and got a second-hand pre-concert giddiness through this post. not to mention, a second-hand mog meet giddiness to top it off. thanks, Bruce. (;
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Gald y'all had a good time..I probably should've gone,I got hardly any work done..
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Truth be told, I've never been a Wilco fan I've heard the buzz about them here and there which prompted me to seek them out and give them a listen. I admit I was looking for that instantaneous gut reaction that strikes you when you first hear great music and demands that you have to have everything by the creator of said gut reaction so perhaps I was expecting to much I certainly didn't "not" like them Maybe my expectations are too high ( hey, we're all waiting for that next great paradigm shift in the music world) Well, with all that being said, I've yet to experience Wilco live Perhaps that's what I need I certainly enjoyed this video more that I expected Thanks! (and sorry for the rant)
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You don't have to apologize for the rant, that's what we're here for;)
Wilco was an acquired taste for me; I wasn't very familiar with the 90's alt./indie scene writing it off as kid stuff until I really listened and found that I liked a lot of what I was hearing, thank Mog in large part for this.
Cody, your loss was my gain
Poe, I am now a bonafide Wilco nerd, there, I've said it
Matt, it was great, I got what I needed
J, the interaction between them was what made it sound symphonic for me, rarely have I heard a band that worked together as well as these guys did Sunday. "All you touch turns to lead" woohoo! (misunderstood lyrics)
Wilco - Misunderstood Schubert Theatre New Haven 2-24
[via FoxyTunes / Wilco]
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The audio on the above vid (in comment) is pretty wasted towards the end but good for most of it. The bells sounded so on!
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I was at the Shubert Theatre show as well....hope to put up a post shortly. Loved it!
npr.org is streaming the Wilco show live right now in D.C.
Check it out!
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i have seen them 8 times since 2000, they are the best band in america! bruce, it warms my heart that you and jameson got to connect and see wilco. this is the beauty of MOG in action. connecting real human beings together over a common bond of music, wahoo! nice you got a red-eyed and blue too
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Great post of your mog meet Bruce. I'm so jel! Not seen Wilco in person myself but I have seen a live web simulcast of their set from Lollapalooza & another from Coachella & both shows were amazing. Jameson seems like he'd be a fun concert buddy(far more fun than that Cody guy, [just kiddin' Cody, haha].
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Oh, man.....just watched that Misunderstood vid for the first time, and god damn.....
I must say, this is one of those songs in their catalog that just gets me.....it's Tweedy writing about the fallout in his relationship with Jay Farrar, and damn...the visceral knife-edge lyrics are so gut-wrenching.....like Dylan's "Don't Think Twice (It's Alright)". And, during the break in between the song before this one, and this song, I decided that I was gonna duck out for a beer. When I heard the chords begin (as I was jogging down a flight of stairs) you KNOW I was thinking "FUCK..." bet I managed to get back up to our seats in a matter of 3 minutes or so... In time for the climactic ending....
Bruce. Still haven't gotten those Shoe pic's from Julie... I'll send out another request!
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Got to get those shoes man...
G Mule coming up after thievery corp. :)
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or rather after this Wailer's clip from the other night, they're adding as much as they can to make up for glitches yesterday