Touchy Farm
Wilco
The Forum
May 5 & 6, 2010
It’s quite a shock to look at the last blog post I contributed, and notice that it was penned several months ago. Since I started this vehicle for my rants and random musings back in 2006, I don’t think it’s suffered such a long hiatus. I met a guy at Emory who held a very secure job there, and just happened to paint for fun in his spare time. He commented that he actually needed the stress and the angst of his day job to feed his creative outlet. I’m not so sure that the stress and angst of my own job has evaporated to the point that I haven’t been able to write, I just haven’t had the inclination or ability to, for a while. As I said in the last blog post I wrote, blogging is essentially an indulgent activity. People blog because they assume someone out there will care enough to read what they’ve written.
Anyone who’s read this particular blog would think it’s predictable for me to come out of the woodwork in the wake of Wilco’s two shows in Melbourne last week. For a long time, when I first started going to live shows, I would scurry home and try to write everything down in my diary, so as to never forget what transpired. I certainly don’t keep a diary these days, but I suppose this vehicle has taken its place (along with the notepad that’s sitting next to me right now), in an attempt to retain as much of the detail of the night(s) as possible. It’s also nice to flex the brain muscles in a work-unrelated way, making it a kind of private pleasure, slightly wrong as that sounds.
I was a fan of Wilco’s before I left for the U.S., but became so much more enamoured with them whilst I was over there. Listening to them easily helped to prevent me from losing the plot when I was at my most miserable, lonely and homesick over several months during that tenure. A few years ago, the person who I have to thank for getting me to sit down and listen to these guys, commented on how beautiful Jeff Tweedy’s voice is. Somehow, irrespective of what Jeff's singing about, he makes it easy to identify with him, and like I've said before, it can also break your heart listening to him. Both Wednesday and Thursday night’s shows were each an emotional roller coaster, ranging from ballads ("It's Just That Simple", "California Stars", "When You Wake Up Feeling Old", "You And I") to pure rock ("Bull Black Nova", "Monday", "I Got You", "Kicking Television", "Misunderstood"), and buoyant pop ("The Late Greats", "Hoodoo Voodoo", "Hummingbird", "Pot Kettle Black") to the freakish Nels Cline’s soaring guitar ("Impossible Germany", "At Least That's What You Said", "Less Than You Think"). It was pretty clear the band have figured out that lots of people attend both shows. “Who was here last night?” asked Jeff a few songs into the second show. Only a few hands must have gone up, since he commented, “Well, I was here.” To their credit, there were probably only about half a dozen songs common to both nights, with the band rolling out one glorious tune after another. Like the recorded message said at the beginning of each show, punters were more than welcome to yell out requests, even though there was no guarantee they would be honoured. The guy screaming for "I'm A Wheel" got his wish, but the girl who requested Mount Reservations only managed to score an admonishment from Jeff. “Yes, you’re right, it is a beautiful song, but we still won’t play it. You should also make sure you get the name right before yelling it out.”
Thursday night was also the second time I’ve been to a show where someone in the crowd has responded with an ardent shout of “thank you” to the band. I felt like doing the same. On both nights, "Jesus Etc." was almost entirely sung by the crowd – I know that as musicians, bands like Wilco who have a huge reputation for their corker live shows, obviously want to get the songs right, do them justice, and produce a tight show with no technical glitches. I hope they also realise just how happy they can make people, and although the night for them is probably one of hundreds they'll spend on the road, for many fans out there it's an evening they'll long remember.
The Forum
May 5 & 6, 2010
It’s quite a shock to look at the last blog post I contributed, and notice that it was penned several months ago. Since I started this vehicle for my rants and random musings back in 2006, I don’t think it’s suffered such a long hiatus. I met a guy at Emory who held a very secure job there, and just happened to paint for fun in his spare time. He commented that he actually needed the stress and the angst of his day job to feed his creative outlet. I’m not so sure that the stress and angst of my own job has evaporated to the point that I haven’t been able to write, I just haven’t had the inclination or ability to, for a while. As I said in the last blog post I wrote, blogging is essentially an indulgent activity. People blog because they assume someone out there will care enough to read what they’ve written.
Anyone who’s read this particular blog would think it’s predictable for me to come out of the woodwork in the wake of Wilco’s two shows in Melbourne last week. For a long time, when I first started going to live shows, I would scurry home and try to write everything down in my diary, so as to never forget what transpired. I certainly don’t keep a diary these days, but I suppose this vehicle has taken its place (along with the notepad that’s sitting next to me right now), in an attempt to retain as much of the detail of the night(s) as possible. It’s also nice to flex the brain muscles in a work-unrelated way, making it a kind of private pleasure, slightly wrong as that sounds.
I was a fan of Wilco’s before I left for the U.S., but became so much more enamoured with them whilst I was over there. Listening to them easily helped to prevent me from losing the plot when I was at my most miserable, lonely and homesick over several months during that tenure. A few years ago, the person who I have to thank for getting me to sit down and listen to these guys, commented on how beautiful Jeff Tweedy’s voice is. Somehow, irrespective of what Jeff's singing about, he makes it easy to identify with him, and like I've said before, it can also break your heart listening to him. Both Wednesday and Thursday night’s shows were each an emotional roller coaster, ranging from ballads ("It's Just That Simple", "California Stars", "When You Wake Up Feeling Old", "You And I") to pure rock ("Bull Black Nova", "Monday", "I Got You", "Kicking Television", "Misunderstood"), and buoyant pop ("The Late Greats", "Hoodoo Voodoo", "Hummingbird", "Pot Kettle Black") to the freakish Nels Cline’s soaring guitar ("Impossible Germany", "At Least That's What You Said", "Less Than You Think"). It was pretty clear the band have figured out that lots of people attend both shows. “Who was here last night?” asked Jeff a few songs into the second show. Only a few hands must have gone up, since he commented, “Well, I was here.” To their credit, there were probably only about half a dozen songs common to both nights, with the band rolling out one glorious tune after another. Like the recorded message said at the beginning of each show, punters were more than welcome to yell out requests, even though there was no guarantee they would be honoured. The guy screaming for "I'm A Wheel" got his wish, but the girl who requested Mount Reservations only managed to score an admonishment from Jeff. “Yes, you’re right, it is a beautiful song, but we still won’t play it. You should also make sure you get the name right before yelling it out.”
Thursday night was also the second time I’ve been to a show where someone in the crowd has responded with an ardent shout of “thank you” to the band. I felt like doing the same. On both nights, "Jesus Etc." was almost entirely sung by the crowd – I know that as musicians, bands like Wilco who have a huge reputation for their corker live shows, obviously want to get the songs right, do them justice, and produce a tight show with no technical glitches. I hope they also realise just how happy they can make people, and although the night for them is probably one of hundreds they'll spend on the road, for many fans out there it's an evening they'll long remember.
posted by yossarian | 5:16 PM
3 Comments:
I knew May 5th and 6th would bring you out of the woodwork yossarian! Good review. I ventured out on Thursday and it was a great night, especially Jesus Etc. Not being familiar with all their material, was the set list derived more so from their newer stuff? There didn't seem to be too many songs I recognised.
hiya jonno! good to hear you enjoyed yourself last thursday - it was definitely a mixed bag in terms of the material they covered. i've got no idea where any of the encore stuff was from, but i did recognise a lot of songs from older albums like Being There and Summerteeth, as well as from Mermaid Avenue (Wilco plus Billy Bragg putting Woody Guthrie lyrics to music). i really like how with these guys, you don't necessarily have to know every song to enjoy the show, and to appreciate how good they are. they'll always leave a strong impression!
@ Jonno: i was wondering which of the nights you ended up going. I saw the wed night show and although from the sound of things they played their more familiar stuff wed night, i agree with yossarian that you dont have to know all their stuff to enjoy a wilco show - they just are that good!
@yossarian: it took me a while to cotton on to the possibilty that you would have written this up - once again a very nice review :D i really wish i got to catch thurs night too (no less for the chance to have heard "laminated cat" song). Who knows when theyll come down to australia again?
btw: i was really impressed with liam finn too.
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