We’ve been slacking on our Friday Mix Tapes of late, but fear not loyal HT readers – we think this week’s fantastic mix will make up for its recent absences.
With Jack White’s newest band, The Dead Weather, hitting up NYC’s Terminal 5 for shows over the next two nights, the ever busy guitarist turned drummer has decided to open
Whether or not you’re put off by the opening “Wilco (the song)” and its “Wilco will love you, baby!” chorus, at least the alt-rockers from Chicago are being honest—this album is undeniably a full band effort.
Five or six tunes into Friday night’s Jeff Tweedy solo concert at The Calvin Theatre in Northampton, I started to think we were catching Tweedy on a non-chatty night. Perhaps we would not receive the signature banter you come to expect from his solo shows.
The closest he had come to being witty was sneaking the word Northampton as a lyric change to the show-opening Spiders (Kidsmoke) which made the crowd erupt in applause. Afterward, Tweedy shrugged as if to say, “this is like shooting fish in a barrel”. But once the floodgates of banter opened they did not close for the next hour and the theme of the night was things Mr. Tweedy (that’s Jeff’s dad) had told him over the years. The anecdotes ranged from quirky to down-right fucked up…they were, [I paraphrase as this is all from memory]
#1, Commenting on the light at the Calvin Theater, he said it reminded him of something his Dad used to say (this is what started it off). He recalled what his father would say when they were leaving his older sister home alone for the evening. He would say, “OK, lock all the doors, here’s the number where we’re going….I don’t know why I’m telling you this, whoever would come and take you would let you go at the first street light anyway….”
#2, “Women. Hang ’em upside down in the shower and they all look alike”
#3, “Marry a woman that’s a little bit fat. That way, everywhere you grab, you’ll get something good.
#4, “Never back up further than you have to.”
#5, Describing one of the charity “living room” concerts he does in Chicago, at the end of the show his Dad called on his cell phone and Jeff’s wife picks up. Hands the phone over to Jeff who puts him on speaker phone even though he knows he shouldn’t.
Mr. Tweedy: Hey everyone
Crowd Assembled: Hi Mr. Tweedy
Mr. Tweedy: I’m naked!
Musically, the show was exactly what you would expect and that’s a talented songwriter performing stripped-down versions from his catalog. The number of albums from his discography that he hit was downright impressive. Every Wilco album (except Sky Blue Sky) was represented. Two of the four Uncle Tupelo discs made the setlist. Both volumes of Mermaid Avenue, (the records done with Billy Bragg), two tunes from each. Add one cover (Fake Plastic Trees), a track from his side-project Loose Furs (The Ruling Class), three tunes set to be released on Wilco’s new album in June, and even a track from the More Like The Moon EP made the cut (Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard).
READ ON for more from DaveO on Jeff Tweedy at the Calvin…
In the opening of the new Wilco DVD Ashes of American Flags, Jeff Tweedy, donning a cowboy hat in a Neil Young sort of way, leads his band through the title track during a soundcheck at Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa.
As the camera narrows in on Tweedy’s eyes, he stares out into an empty room looking more anxious than his status on the music scene would suggest. Although he is as established as any singer/songwriter of his generation, Tweedy still seems to have the eye of the tiger each night on stage and performs as if he’s still proving he’s worthy of a next gig.
In the span of that opening song, a tone of intimacy, both musically and visually, is set and lasts the duration of the film, the first-ever Wilco concert DVD. It’s hard to believe that a band as successful in the digital age as Wilco has waited so long to release a live DVD but it was well worth the wait.
READ ON for more of Luke’s thoughts on Ashes of American Flags…
While Ryan Adams‘ future performing live may currently up in the air, the prolific singer/songwriter celeb dating-blogger will release an iTunes exclusive EP in time for Valentine’s Day. The seven
It isn’t often that Wilco fans based in the Northeast get to see singer/guitarist Jeff Tweedy solo shows without having to fly somewhere, so there’s been all sorts of excitement
[youtube]8aBgJrtfyQs[/youtube] Fake Plastic Trees – 7 Worlds Collide with Ed O’Brien, Phil Selway, Jeff Tweedy & Johnny Marr
Playing to a sold out room that remained attentive and fun from the opening “Via Chicago” to the closing “The Late Greats,” Tweedy and his band mates were firing shots and killing moving targets all night long.
Wilco has always been Chicago’s home team. As the musical equivalent to the Cubs, we’ve watched them grow and survive some hard times, while composing some of their finest material in between. For the Riviera shows, they augmented a horn section, went through several different guitars, traversed through vast alt-country, blues, experimental, krautrock and rock/pop genres and rhapsodized the crowd by saving their best for last.
