the Date: Tuesday March 30, 2010
the Venue: Music Center at Strathmore (Bethesda, MD)
(Photo credit to Kyle Gustafson and the folks at Click Track)
Wilco played an absolutely amazing 37-song, 3-hour long, non-stop rock show. It was beautiful.
I’ve been a huge fan of Wilco for years. The band, made up of Jeff Tweedy (vocals, guitar), John Stirratt (bass), Nels Cline (guitar), Glenn Kotche (drums), Pat Sansone (multi-instrumentalist), and Mikael Jorgensen (keyboard), is based in Chicago so I guess I kind of look at them as fellow Midwesterners … and for that alone, they ROCK.
Jeff joked midway through the show that “the motto for this tour is ‘Leave Them Wanting Less’ … when you leave here tonight, you will be very full.” No kidding! The show was presented in three mini-sets: an all out electric rock show … to an intimate, almost acoustic set (where the band gathered to the front of the stage which was adorned with throw rugs and floor lamps ... as if they were jamming in someone's living room) … then back to the full-blown rock show.
They played tunes from literally their ENTIRE catalog including some of the newer tunes from the most recent album, Wilco (the album)
, like Wilco (the song) and Bull Black Nova, as well as some older stuff like Passenger Side, Kamera and A Shot in the Arm. There were tons of highlights, including Via Chicago (where Glenn went nuts), Impossible Germany, Reservations (where Nels went nuts), Ashes of American Flags, Handshake Drugs, Heavy Metal Drummer (where the crowd went nuts), and I’m the Man Who Loves You. There was even a singalong when Jeff asked the crowd to sing Jesus, Etc. to him … we didn’t sound so great, but it was fun.
(photo credit to Jeff and his Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/people/wumpiewoo/)
My absolute favorite moment in the night was when they played Someday Some Morning Sometime. See, long before the show, Wilco took requests via their website, WilcoWeb. I requested that song noting that it would be an early anniversary present for my wife. We married just about a year ago and used Someday Some Morning Sometime in our wedding video … we just love that sweet, sweet song. Well, when the band played that song, we knew they had heard my request. Thank you, Wilco.
Full setlist: SET 1 / Wilco (the Song) / Bull Black Nova / You Are My Face / I am Trying to Break Your Heart / One Wing / A Shot in the Arm / At Least That’s What You Said / Nothingsevergonnastandinmywayagain / Deeper Down / Via Chicago / Impossible Germany / Poor Places / Reservations / SET 2 / Spiders (Kidsmoke) / When the Roses Bloom Again / Forget the Flowers / California Stars / You and I / Kamera / Someday Some Morning Sometime (at our request!) / Laminated Cat / When You Wake Up Feeling Old / Passenger Side / Airline to Heaven / SET 3 / Ashes of American Flags / Jesus, Etc. (singalong) / You Never Know / Handshake Drugs / Theologians / Heavy Metal Drummer / Hate it Here / Walken / I’m the Man Who Loves You / Thank You Friends (Big Star cover) / ENCORE / Box Full of Letters / Hoodoo Voodoo / I’m a Wheel
I’d like to hold your hand in mine
Someday some morning sometime ...
. The Pixies are Frank Black (a.k.a. Black Francis, a.k.a. Charles Thompson; vocals/guitar), Kim Deal (a.k.a. Mrs. John Murphy, a.k.a. Tammy Ampersand; vocals/bass), Joey Santiago (guitar), and David Lovering (drums). They are in a word, PERFECT. They started each night with the Doolittle B-Sides including Weird at My School, Bailey’s Walk, and one of my favorites, Manta Ray. The die-hard fans, like myself, loved it, but when they started into the official album with Debaser, the entire crowd absolutely lost their shit. It was magical.
. They played two nights at the 9:30 club and luckily we picked up two-night tickets.
album and songs that are not even released yet. Yup, the boys played a few brand-spanking-new tunes that will hopefully make an appearance on next year’s new album.
. Even so, they played tunes from their whole catalog. This was an amazing show, one of my all time favorites. The whole show was fantastic, but for me, the best songs of the night were Taper Jean Girl, Fans, On Call, and Slow Night, So Long.
. The band put forth lots of energy, but there were only a handful of songs that I really enjoyed. I wouldn’t say a full-on disappointment, but I just didn’t walk away thinking, “Wow, I can’t wait until this band comes back to town.”
, Calexico’s most recent release, but they were sure to play many of the fan favorites. Of all the Calexico shows I’ve seen, this was the best. The rest of the crowd seemed to love the show too. There was plenty of dancing and the gritos were howled … Aaahhhuaaaayiiii! My personal highlights of the evening were Roka, Sunken Waltz, Two Silver Trees, El Gatillo (Trigger Revisited), Alone Again Or, and the final song of the evening, Guero Canelo.
. My favorites of the evening included What’s in It for Me?, Wake Up, Louisiana, The Rat, Little House of Savages, Long Time Ahead of Us, and In the New Year (where Hamilton's voice crescendoed into a scream in the chorus). It was just an amazing performance from a band that I love. We even had a surprise guest appearance from Peter’s little boy. Awwwww.