Jeff Tweedy 11/13/2005: Calvin Theater, Northampton, MA (SHOW REVIEW)

Midway through Jeff Tweedy’s solo acoustic show at the Calvin Theater in Northampton, MA, the Wilco front-man couldn’t help himself but ask the crowd perhaps the continually most debated question amongst his fans: What is your favorite Wilco album?

“How may people’s favorite is Summerteeth?” Tweedy asked, following a version of the album’s “ELT.” A medium size roar ensued. What about A.M.? Another mid-sized cheer. And the well-dispersed claps continued through Being ThereYankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born, all garnering medium responses. In his own boy next door charm, Tweedy responded, “sounds like it’s pretty even across the board. Pretty consistent work Mr. Tweedy.”

With a trove of Wilco originals and Uncle Tupelo classics, alongside Loose Fur, Golden Smog and Minus 5 material, Tweedy’s song book evokes reasonable arguments about what era is the strongest. On his first full length solo tour in close to five years, the Northampton performance showcased work from all eras – from the early days of Uncle Tupelo – “Gun” and “Black Eye” – to yet to be released songs from the upcoming Loose Fur album (side project with Jim O’Rourke and Glen Kotche) mixed together with rarely played Wilco classics.

But it was Tweedy’s candid humor and harmless delivery that made the intimate show with his six different guitars special. From joking about playing a town with a large gay population just after a string of shows at Christian colleges, to substituting the names of Massachusetts area bands in the song “Heavy Metal Drummer,” Tweedy played the role of the folky jokester during his in-between song narratives. There was even playful improvisation during “Heavy Metal Drummer,” where Tweedy substituted “playing Kiss covers, beautiful and stoned” with, “playing Boston covers.” After a ribbing boo from the crowd, he repeated the fill in the blank ending verse with Modern Lovers, Dinosaur Jr., Miracle Legion, Throwing Muses and Aerosmith covers, until he ran out of Massachusetts area bands to name drop.

Highlights included a new un-named Loose Fur tune about “whistling Jesus” that was dressed in a catchy 70’s folk rock harmony in the vain of Jim Croce of John Sebastian. After singing the lines “turn your frown upside down,” Tweedy apologized for using the cliched line, admitting “I’m sorry about that line, it sounds like a Hallmark card my sister would send me.” Later he humbly apologized again for playing three songs in the same key, which he admits he tries to avoid doing, asking the crowd, “does it really make a difference?”

Aside from the laughs, which increased as Tweedy made himself more comfortable with the crowd, the words of his songs spoke for themselves in stellar versions of “Sunken Treasure,” Every Little Thing” and “(Was I) In Your Dreams.” There was even crowd participation in “Summer Teeth” and “Heavy Metal Drummer” as the audience served as backup singers with gusty “ooohs” and “ahhh’s.”

Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche, who opened the show with a forty-five minute set of his post-rock percussion explorations joined Tweedy on drums for the eight song second encore. Strong versions of “Not For The Season,” Far, Far Away” and “War on War” made the one-two Tweedy/Kotche punch concluded the evening in true 1/3 Wilco fashion.

After joking about Kotche kissing his “guns” before playing and shitting in his pants the prior night, Tweedy paid respect to the rest of his band-mates by not playing “Via Chicago,” because as he mentioned, “the version on Kicking Television ( live Wilco album to be released on November 15th) is too damn good. However, Wilco fans learned after this Massachusetts solo performance that Jeff Tweedy is doing just fine on his own.

Setlist

Sunken Treasure, Airline To Heaven, Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard, Please Tell My Brother, Remember The Mountain Bed, Summer Teeth, (Was I) In Your Dreams, new Loose Fur song [Whistling Jesus?], Blasting Fonda, Gun, I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, Wait Up, ELT, Heavy Metal Drummer

Encore 1

My Words, Someone Else’s Song, I Can’t Keep From Talking, John Wesley Harding, Black Eye

Encore 2

Not For The Season/Laminated Cat [w/Glenn Kotche on drums], You Were Wrong [w/Glenn], Forget The Flowers (w/Glenn],Far, Far Away [w/Glenn], War on War [w/Glenn], A Shot in the Arm [w/Glenn], I’m The Man Who Loves You [w/Glenn], The Late Greats [w/Glenn]

 

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