Hidden Track

Words: Jimmy Coulas

With the exception of two arena shows at the U.I.C. Pavilion back in October to support Wilco (The Album), Wilco (The Band) hasn’t played a full show in the Chicagoland Area since the Riviera Residency in February of 2008. When this show at the Overture Center in Madison, WI was added to their seemingly never-ending touring schedule, I knew that I had to go because I wasn’t sure when they would return to their hometown of Chicago.

[All photos by Richie Wireman via WilcoWorld]

My favorite venue in Chicago to see Wilco is the stunning Auditorium Theatre. For a few years, Wilco called the Auditorium home, playing most of their hometown shows at the iconic venue. While the Overture Center is only a few years old and lacks the charm of the Auditorium, it is truly a beautiful venue and the acoustics are marvelous.

As the lights dimmed the band walked on stage to the Olympic March, which is fitting considering most of the shows on this tour are north of the border, and the band recently played an outdoor show in Vancouver for the Olympic’s. Wilco (The Song) kicked off the festivities with the band sounding very fresh and dialed in.

After the chaotic Bull Black Nova, the opening chords to You Are My Face resonated through the venue. The song explodes with a heavily distorted guitar riff by Jeff Tweedy and then once again calms down towards the end. As the song faded out, keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen and guitarist Pat Sansone added some lullaby like textures as if they were putting the song to sleep. READ ON for more from Jimmy on Wilco in Madison…

While this weekly feature is normally a good way to recap what touring bands were up to by way of choosing audio and video to embed for our readers, this week we’re also going to give you a recap of last week’s shenanigans involving the Disco Biscuits and this publication, Hidden Track.

At around 2PM last Thursday afternoon, Disco Biscuits bassist Marc Brownstein simply tweeted the URL www.planetanthem.com. With no real fanfare, tDB had launched a fun, and somewhat hilarious, pre-order site for their first studio release in eight years, Planet Anthem. While some of the items available for purchase were pretty standard (i.e. signed CD’s, a copy of the CD plus entry to the record release shows at the TLA in Philly), some were much more interesting (i.e. for $500 you and four friends get to sing the “Oooooooo” part of tDB epic Basis For A Day at Camp Bisco or $250 to get the Disco Biscuits to remix a song for you).

At 2:40pm EST, I sent ScottyB an email to ask a) if he had seen the Pre-Order page and b) if this situation was ripe for satire. With a little help from tDB guru Matt Quinn we went live with a B List at 5pm titled 10 Rejected Planet Anthem Pre-Order Items.

The post was well received with a few of our readers joining in on the comment section to offer up their own entries of funny would-be pre-order items. I also got a couple of emails from friends saying they enjoyed the piece and we were all happy with the way it went. Fast forward to 8:06am the following morning when I got a text message informing me that a number of the jokes listed in our B List had magically appeared on the actual pre-order page! While some of the Hidden-Track inspired items have been purchased, fans still haven’t been able to pool together the $1 million to get tDB to make their triumphant return to the Pacific Northwest.

READ ON for more on this highlight in Hidden Track history and for LWS selections from tDB, Trey, Wilco, George Clinton & P-Funk and MMW…

As Mike Gordon’s solo band prepares to take the road for an eight-show tour next week starting at Revolution Hall in Troy, NY; the bassist has announced the release of a blockbuster show from his last tour with the five-piece band, 10/03/2009 from the Town Ballroom in Buffalo, on CD and as a download (in both MP3 and FLAC formats) at LivePhish.com.

This two-disc set contains tight versions of Mike’s latest and greatest tunes (Can’t Stand Still, Spiral), gems from his first few albums (Beltless Buckler, Dig Further Down), a Phish tune (Meat) and a slew of well-played, re-invented covers (Cities, Takin’ It To The Street, 15 Step). Cactus remixed this release himself from the group’s multi-track recordings.

We’ve got five copies of the CD to giveaway to our listeners as well as a grand prize of a pair of tickets to a March show of your choice. To enter, simply leave a comment below with your name, age, hometown and a song that you think the Mike Gordon Band should cover. All entries must be received by 11:59PM on March 3. We will pick one entry at random to win the tickets and then five entries at random to win the CD. We’ll only accept one entry per person.

READ ON for the tracklist of Mike Gordon’s latest release…

Our friends at HeadCount have teamed up with untz masters the Disco Biscuits for a benefit concert and volunteer initiative called Bisco Power Mission with the goal of outfitting a