Wilco, nudie-suits, and what effin' good is a meet-and-greet pass?
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Artist:
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Album:
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Track:hate it here (live)
So I got to see Wilco last night. While it was against my better judgement and against my bank account to do so, it will be a night that I won't soon forget.
Matt and I had talked about this show for a long time. All spring and summer, in fact. With all of the shows and all of the vacations that were to be squeezed in this summer, a little Wilco show in the Berkshires was probably not gonna make it onto the itinerary. You see, Matt and I have been alums of Wilco's for a couple of years. He met his wife at that Agganis Arena show in '05, days after I had broken up with my (now) fiance. He had found love and I had lost love with Wilco that summer. We were both at the Pines last summer, the day after my engagement to Jess, and at New Haven this February. I want Matt to know that it was a complete accident how I got to meet Jeff Tweedy after the free show I saw at Tanglewood.
A week and a half ago I was reading a blog post about the Newport Folk Festival on a great blog site, Ryan's Smashing Life. He had written a post on the previous day announcing a Wilco ticket giveaway, courtesy of his site, and Wilco's band management. I thought it would be worth a go, so I emailed him, as instructed. And then I forgot about it. Well, Monday morning I got an email from Ryan.
Can you make this show tomorrow?
Ryan
I replied. I knew that if Jess and I couldn't swing it, then maybe Matt and Jules could. Ryan emailed me back and told me that a set of lawn tickets would be waiting for me at Will Call.
We left Providence an hour late. 5:30. That sucked but traffic was a bitch. When we got into the car and set the gps, our estimated arrival time to western Mass was 7:47. OUCH. Showtime was 6:30. I put some pedals to metals and didn't look back. We were sacrificing Andrew Bird, but we might catch the start of Tweedy and Co. Might.
After stopping on the turnpike for a five minute break, we limped into Lenox, Mass at 10 minutes till eight. I walked up to the ticket window and the ticketing guy said he recognized my name, pulled a thin white envelope and handed it to me.
"Enjoy the show", he said earnestly.
"You know I will", I replied, with even greater earnest.
As I hurriedly handed our tickets to the woman manning the entrance gate, she said, "I think they must be waiting for you...they've been ringing the bells for a few minutes, now. So get to your seats, they're about to start."
"Thanks", I said, not knowing where I was going. "These are lawn seats, right?"
She looked at my ticket again, and said, "No. B15 is a box seat. They're pretty nice tickets."
Our seats were not lawn seats. They were right behind the soundboard in the absolute perfect location for sound, and visually WAY better than the lawn....
When we got to our seats, the lights went out and the show began. Wilco came out, dressed in the Nudie suits that they wore at this years' landmark Lollapalooza show in Chcago. Not a soul sat down the entire night.
A few songs in, they brought out their horn section, the "Total Pro Horns", which would allow them to play a bunch of songs off of Summerteeth that they reall can't play normally.
Comments (19)
The complete setlist was as follows:
Either Way
Hummingbird
Remember The Mountain Bed
Muzzle of Bees
You Are My Face
Impossible Germany
IATTBYH
A Shot in the Arm
What Light (w/Total Pros horns)
California Stars (w/TPs)
Pieholden Suite (w/TPs)
Handshake Drugs
Pot Kettle Black
Summer Teeth
Jesus, etc.
Poor Places>
Spiders (Kidsmoke)
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Can't Stand It (w/TPs)
Hate It Here (w/TPs)
Walken (w/TPs)
I'm The Man Who Loves You (w/TPs)
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The Late Greats (w/TPs)
Heavy Metal Drummer
Monday (w/TPs)>
Outtasite (Outta Mind) (w/TPs)
I'm A Wheel
The encores were the sickest Wilco I've ever seen. A complete rock show. Nudie suits, horns, Pat Sansone's Townshend-impressions. Hands down 100 percent energy. Nobody wanted the show to end, but when the lights went out it was time to go.
While people filed out, we sat. Talked Wilco. Caught our breath. The very nice security woman who was standing next to us, turned and asked inquisitively, "Do you guys have a meet-and-greet pass, too?" We said, "Um, no? Can we get one?" But alas, she just chuckled and we knew that we weren't THAT cool. No meet and greets for us tonight.
So Jess always accuses me of ambling. I'm always walking very slowly wherever I go. Well, as we were walking towards the exits, I decided to amble off the beaten path and wound up at the tour buses about 10 minutes after the show ended. A few minutes after getting there, Jeff Tweedy left the venue and entered his bus, then he came out and started talking with the 20 or so people milling around the area. He signed some stuff, some girl's Converse All-stars, somebody gave him a sock monkey, yeah a sock monkey. A pregnant woman wanted her unborn to meet Jeff. One guy was having a reaction to mushrooms or something (at Wilco, dude?) and Jeff had to tell him to chill the fuck out....
.....I got a signature and a picture. I got to throw my arm around Tweedy. How cool. Cue Marsha Brady :"I'm never washing this cheek again". Well, things were getting pretty hectic pretty quick and Jeff was about to make an exit so we were Audi. Great show capped off with a nice personal meet-and-greet with Jeff Tweedy. Who needs a meet-and-greet pass? Jeff just skipped out on that anyway.
Thanks to Ryan's Smashing Life and Wilco's Management for gifting me such a great night. I'll never forget it.
wow, wow, wow..........and you suck. Man, I looked at the song list and it was like, "They played that? THEN THEY PLAYED THAT!?!?!" Then the icing on the cake, a picture with Jeff, you are a lucky man
Summer Teeth I feel is their best album to date. One of my all time favrites. Pretty sweet!
DOOD
NO REALLY....DOOD
tell me about it, bro! I'm still riding a high. Here's my lady and Jeff. I'm a little worried about her...... haha.
ahhh no need to worry
COUGH COUGH
ACK
freaking awesome!
awesome concert review! you totally scored!
as for meet and greets - i had one for the last Yeah Yeah Yeahs show I saw in SF. It just meant we were allowed to hang out in the balcony with other "special" people until the band felt ready to join us. the 3 Ys eventually came out and we spent some time with each. But having the pass only got us into the room, it didn't guarantee the band would talk to us. luckily, we didn't need introductions and ended up spending quality time with Nick Z.
The passes themselves don't offer any more access than what you found on your own. nice work agent Jameson!
Cool tune, great post!
you should be *j*... After seeing Jeff & co at Virgin - I am in the same Tweedy worship boat - then again - I have been for some time now !!!
Be wise and worry ;)
Everything sounds very cool.
You have the 3 things that always puzzle me in concerts in the US: how early they begin, the fact that you have seats, and the fact that musicians sometimes come out and hang out with their fans.
Going to see Mr. Tweedy and Co. this weekend. So excited!!!
Hey Hey!! Sorry for the delayed post. Been super busy but this is FRIGGIN AWESOME!
And how great was that show? Those guys really are bringing it these days. I'm seeing them at Outside Lands and can't wait.
hopefully I'll get to meet Tweedy. Would also love to meet Nels too.
Can't wait!!
Nice post too. Very glad you were able to go.
What a great post Jameson.
I signed Uncle Tupelo to Rockville Records when Jeff was maybe 19 years old or so. Jeff has been authentic, moody, funny and kind for as long as I've known him (a long time!). I have never felt more proud of any of the artists I've worked with then Jeff (I LOVE the music he makes and he's got heart). Plus, I really loved this post!
Ironically, I also signed the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Interscope (odd coincidence). Those "meet & greet" things are never any fun for artists. They're usually tired from traveling and performing and then have to go pretend to be friends w/ people they don't know. I'm glad Nick was gracious, because he's another one who is the real deal and a gentleman to boot.
Now if somebody posts something about meeting Josh Homme (and not getting a black eye from it), I'll be almost completely "represented!"
The photos are very cool. A great story Jameson.
I think you were name-dropped in Greg Kot's book..... It's great to meet you! Thanks for the comment, Debbie!
Yep, me and Jeff Pachman who also worked for Rockville and then handled the label after I left (right before the band's third record was released) are mentioned in Kot's book. Although, for some reason he never contacted me for any of the early daze stories. I'd been given the band's demo from a sales person at Dutch East India and called Tony Margerita who worked at a record store at the time. BTW- it almost never happens that bands are loyal to the people who start out with them. I think Wilco, REM and U2 may be about the only three bands who are still with their original management. We decided I would come see the band in Louisville so I could check in w/ Big Wheel which was a post Squirrel Bait band also on the label. I spent my own money to make the trip because Rockville didn't have the budget to fly employees around and I would spend money on an adventure over paying the rent any day! There were about 5 people in the club the night Uncle Tupelo played and 3 of them were there to play pool. But the band was great. Jeff Pachman and I decided to bring them to NYC to play during the New Music Seminar (anyone remember that?). Once again, they played late night shows on shit stages and played their hearts out. I brought the band to the attention of Paul Kolderie and Sean Slade who produced "No Depression" for almost no money. We recorded AND marketed that record on a budget of about 5K. And actually when the re-mastered version came out years ago, I thought "dear god, I don't ever remembering having this record mastered!" I don't think I knew what mastering a record was back then. Once the first CD came out that band worked their butts off. They toured relentlessly in an old broken down red van, slept on floors all over the country and never complained about bad tours for no money. They really were the real deal, all they wanted to do was play music. I guess anything to get out of Belleville and East St. Louis! I left after turning Peter Buck and John Keane onto the band for record #3. I decided to go bum around Guatemala for a while and "find myself"- oh to be young! When I returned I was offered a job as a scout for EMI Records and Unclie Tupelo were being courted by Sire. The rest is history...
So yeah, I name drop and am name dropped and I guess that's the way it goes when you grow up in Rock & Roll! It's all good though, the memoir is gonna be great- :-)
can't wait to see them this sunday!