Wow, wow, wow. Wilco provided an amazing concert experience last night for several hundred mostly hardcore fans at the Aronoff Center (I say "mostly" because one woman in front of me spent the entire show texting on her phone and occasionally yawning). It was more than just a great band playing great songs (though that was a huge part of it). Here our the Top 10 reasons why last night's show rocked my world.
10) The Lights
There's been some criticisms lately over Wilco's decision to sell a handful of songs to Volkswagen for an ad campaign. If it enables the band to provide such a complete and flawless stage presentation, I say more power to them (lord knows they're not making a ton from CD sales). The person who ran the lights deserves honorary membership in the band for his or her own performance — the lights weren't Arena Rock overwhelming and there wasn't any pyro or anything, just tasteful, dramatic lighting that enhanced and played off the music splendidly. From slow, perfectly-timed fade outs to fireworks-like bombast, it was the best unassuming light show I've seen since Beulah's last tour.
9) The Sound
Because the band makes their living on the road (essentially), they reward their fans by making sure that the sound is perfect. No exception last night. And the Aronoff's great acoustics didn't hurt.
8) The Venue
The aforementioned acoustics would have been enough, but the Aronoff is just a beautiful room in which to see a concert. I loved looking up and seeing the "Queen's Luxury Boxes" on the sides — though instead of just rattling their jewelry, everyone in the boxes was rocking out. While a private box would have been fun, there really isn't a bad seat in the house at the Aronoff. And the staff was about the friendliest I've ever encountered at a "concert" venue (of course, the Aronoff is mostly known for Broadway productions, plays and more "cultured" affairs, but the staff didn't flinch with the change of crowd).
7) The Crowd
Because Wilco's music mixes old-school Americana, new-school Indie Rock, powerhouse Roots Rock and Avant Garde twists and turns, they appeal to a wide range of fans. So the age make-up of the crowd was pretty diverse — if Dad likes Dylan and Son likes Sigur Ros, chances are their tastes converge in Wilco. And this was a crowd mostly well-schooled in Wilcology — nearly ever "old song" was sung along to by the masses in full voice. And the audience was extremely well-behaved — I'm sure there were a few, but I didn't see any of the token "too-drunk" people stumbling around sloppily. After what Jeff Tweedy called an "Altamont" experience the night before, it seemed to be refreshing for him too.
6) The "New Songs"
Usually, no matter how great a new album is, if it has been released within a month of a band's show, when that band hits the "new songs" hard and heavy, it usually means "bathroom/beer break." The band's set was remarkably balanced, as they rewarded serious fans with an endless string of "classics," instead of just playing the new album and a couple of oldies. But Wilco fans are loving ones and, while the energy did go down ever so slightly, most remained entranced when tunes from the new album were played (to be honest, many probably had illegal copies of the record months ago). I personally have been hitting the band's latest record, Sky Blue Sky, extra hard the past two weeks and my initial "meh" has turned into hardcore love. The Dylan-y "What Light" was especially transcendent.
5) The Noise
They brought it! Wilco have kind of faded in and out
of avant experimentalism over the course of their last several albums
and, for last night's show, they sneaked in a few extra slices of
out-there noise-outs, extending jams (which, for me, was the only
downer — a couple of times they took things to "indulgent Jam
band" level) and getting their inner freak-out on often. A revelation
for me — frontman Jeff Tweedy can go toe-to-toe with experimental
guitar superstar Nils Cline (who was, as always, stunning) when it
comes to free-form, impulsive guitar eruptions. Their side-by-side
guitar duels were like one of those Ralph Machio/Steve Vai axe
battles from that awful movie Crossroads — if David Lynch had directed it.
4) The Surprises
I told a friend after the show, "I laughed, I
cried, I even got scared." The "frightening" part came during "Via
Chicago," a song from their Pop masterpiece Summer Teeth, which
they pimped out with a few new extras. Mid-song there was a crackle
that seemed to suggest that the whole stage (the lights, the speakers,
everything) was about to collapse. The crackle turned into a furious
explosion of light and sound, as Tweedy somehow managed to keep the
song going beneath the chaos with his acoustic and voice. Then the
band all would come back together on a dime. It was an amazing live
"remix" that was a show highlight.
3) The Funny
I have seen Wilco on tours behind every record since A.M. and, with the possible exception of a "last night of the tour" blow-out at the old Ripley's club in Clifton while promoting Being There (where
the whole band got blitzed and seemingly played every song they knew — covers
included — with drunken abandon), I've never seen Tweedy so
congenial, happy, playful and hysterically funny. Tweedy would
spontaneously riff on just about anything. He had fun with the crowd
after they booed Davenport, Iowa, the first stop (Cincy was the second)
on this leg of touring. "Boo?! Oh, I suppose we should have started the
tour in Cincinnati?," he teased. When he took off his guitar for a
number to play Bono-frontman, he did a little tongue and cheek "running
man" dance. And then, of course, there was …
2) The Owl!
At one point, Tweedy glanced around the stage and
said, "Has anyone seen an owl?" He explained that they wanted some kind
of cool backdrop for the tour and what they came up with was … a white macramé owl about the size of an adult cat. The owl dropped from the
ceiling Spinal Tap-style, amidst smoke and flickering lights. Even the
band members were rolling in laughter (which made me wonder if
Davenport got "the owl" treatment). My friend suggested we go follow them on tour and make tiny souvenir owls to sell outside after the show for $20. We'd make a mint!
1) The Band
Just amazing. Besides the wealth of creativity and
stunning chops, each member brings some element of personality to the
songs on stage. I admit there are some Wilco songs that I don't like
much, but even those have little parts or melodies that I
absolutely love. There isn't much gimmickry to the band (except the
owl, of course) — it all comes through the music. They know the power
of a good, hard left-turn in a song, coming from out of nowhere to keep
their audience on their toes. To me, they are like Ken Griffey Jr. —
far from the end of their career and already a lock for the Hall of
Fame (the Rock & Roll one, in Wilco's case). And I am far from a
Wilco "fanatic" (I don't know every song, I have no B-sides, etc.).
They are one of the few bands who I actually like seeing live more than
listening to their records (though I adore most of those as well). If you love
music, no matter what your tastes, and you haven't seen them, next time
they roll through, just go. Last night was the best Wilco show I've ever seen and one of the best overall concerts I've seen in ages.
(photo: Frank W. Ockenfels; courtesy wilcoworld.net)
— Mike Breen
I attended the Davenport show and thought I'd let you know that we did not have the same Owl experience. For ours, it was on the stage already, but Jeff did randomly bring it up after a few songs and share their idea of having a stage covered in macramé.
Great review, you highlighted many of my favorite things about Wilco shows. Sounds like this tour has started out with a bang, I hope everyone finds a show near them!
Posted by: Bethony | June 15, 2007 at 03:12 PM
HA! Thanks Bethony — mystery solved! Hey, if you check this again, Jeff talked about how, about 3/4s of the way through the set, the Davenport show turned into Altamont and that there was blood, fighting and such. I think he may have been joking/exaggerating, but I was just curious if there was some kind of big tussle in the crowd there? That just doesn't seem like a Wilco crowd to me.
Posted by: Breen | June 15, 2007 at 03:46 PM
Sadly, he was not joking. A big fight broke out in the area of the third row on the left side (which was about 3 rows directly in front of me). I have no idea what it was about, but it involved around 10 people and you could see their fists just flying into one another and their clothes being ripped off. Nels noticed it first and stopped playing and tried yelling at the group. When Jeff realized what was going on, he started calling for security, but they were nowhere to be found. A poor usher, who appeared to be at least 60, was the only one trying to break it up for several minutes. Finally some men came from the back and started dragging people out. Their clothes were still off and their faces were bloody.
When the fight was over, Jeff yelled out "Never let the bastards win!" and went on with the rest of the encore.
I had never seen anything like that at a Wilco show, or any concert for that matter.
Posted by: Bethony | June 15, 2007 at 04:25 PM
Great review, Mike. I'll add one more: Glenn Kotche. He was the only thing I liked about the 2002 Columbus show (we ran into you there, too) that featured Wilco's weakest lineup with Jeff playing all of the leads. Yeesh.
Kotche is indie rock's Stewart Copeland: he's melodic and energetic, and you can tell he's having a blast while playing his ass off. With a lesser drummer, Wilco isn't half as interesting to me.
One thing that stood out out to me last night is that I don't really enjoy most of Tweedy's songs in the traditional way, where I want to sing along or maybe play them on acoustic at home. They're more interesting to me as settings for the band to play great together. I told Sean this, and he agreed, saying that Tweedy seems more like a composer than a songwriter. I think is why I, too, like the band better live than on record.
Great time!
Posted by: Dave P | June 15, 2007 at 04:26 PM
P.S. I saw this note about the Davenport scuffle on an email list:
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There was a scuffle during the encore, a fight broke out along the side of the theater and the band all went over to the edge of the stage, looked concerned and called for security, so that kind of broke the good mood of the band (and the crowd) I think for a bit and probably shortened the time they had to play maybe one or two more songs.
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Posted by: Dave P | June 15, 2007 at 04:29 PM