tinnitus photography wrote:when was the last tantrum you witnessed?


and speaking of tantrums, did you ever see Sebadoh in the early 90s?

Why yes, I did see Sebadoh once in like 94-ish... I was very, very drunk and I wasn't up front. They sounded amazing though, from what I remember/am told. My friends Colin and Kent were up front. They were so stoned. And when Lou started to lose it due to technical difficulties, they kept yelling, "Use the force Lou" in Yoda voices. And he didn't melt down. The power of Star Wars...

Toronto can have very indifferent/reserved audiences and on a couple of occasions Jeff Tweedy has objected to this the way a little girl would object to having her pony taken away (and I am an expert on that), plus between like 18 and 10 years ago, Wilco were definitely my favourite band so people were always giving me bootlegs of their shows and on more than one, Jeff gets kind of frustrated about the lack of crowd engagement...

I may have overstated things a bit, but I have seen him get pretty whiny... he may have his own tiara... still a fan though.

just curious when that phase was... i first saw them in '02, and then not until '08 and then a ton of time since then and he's always been in good sorts and actually very funny.

Of course, on the other hand, there's this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3PRmu0tr6k

...always a sucker for the funny/smart/talented combo...

sorry for not knowing how to make the clip appear in the post. Shout out to the Hide Out. I like that place.

tinnitus photography wrote:just curious when that phase was... i first saw them in '02, and then not until '08 and then a ton of time since then and he's always been in good sorts and actually very funny.

Well I think he is very sensitive to audience reaction and engagement. I saw them for the first time in like 2000 and then I saw them like every year until about 2008, when I was like, "Okay, that's enough..." He behaved really badly in Toronto once and then referenced it the next time he was here. Plus once you see / hear him get testy a couple of times, you're like, "Oh yeah, here it comes..." I also saw Golden Smog twice... He had a lot of fun doing that. Those shows were great. I would love it if they would start that back up. Another time, my friend Alex and I saw Wilco at the Pheonix and then sped down the hill to see Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros. We tried to convince that eternal base playing guy to come with us. He was like, "No stay here and hang with us..." and we were like, "And miss Joe Strummer? Really?" And we went off to see Joe. People are so funny. But that was a great night.

cortez the killer wrote:Yeah, I'm obsessed with the tone of his guitar on that one. I can see how/why Tweedy gets under people's skin (in a bad way), but I like & appreciate him as an artist.

It's because Gibson SG's fucking rule.

Exhibit A:


Exhibit B:

townshend was notorious for being a guitar whore...strats, ricks, LPs, SGs....he played 'em all.

how can this not be exhibit fucking A?

Wilco is 1 of my short list fave bands. Been into them from the beginning, especially since Summerteeth. I've seen them several times. The current lineup blows me away. Anyway, they are playing Seattle in a small theater Labor Day weekend. I got on the wilcoworld presale yesterday. Not many tickets on that. Well, I must've hit refresh at the right time. The tickets that popped up were front row center. I'm very excited!

you are in for a treat.


certainly one of the best bands going. and they've been at that level for a while now.

tinnitus photography wrote:you are in for a treat.


certainly one of the best bands going. and they've been at that level for a while now.

agree 100%. Probably seen them 30 times at least, going back to their first Austin shows in 95, and every show has been rock solid at the very least. Scored presale tickets yesterday for 2 of the 5 FIllmore nights in September and trying for 2 more tomorrow in the public onsale

just tripped over this video on youtube. Nels Cline absolutely goes off. Solo starts about a third into the song. you can see the rest of the band staring & laughing. worth the journey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gdmQdNRQ_w

Thanks for posting. Nels made Impossible Germany his bitch.

This from a very good bootleg from 2003, when they were doing the 5-piece, one guitar lineup. Embryonic, surprisingly country version of Spiders.

StormandStatic wrote:This from a very good bootleg from 2003, when they were doing the 5-piece, one guitar lineup. Embryonic, surprisingly country version of Spiders.

interesting. i luv me some wilco! i'm seeing them twice at the beginning of september from the front row & dbt at the end of the month in a club. quite the month!

Trying really hard to work up some enthusiasm for the new album. I think I have to go back to SBS to find the last time the band really clicked with me.

The current lineup has done some good stuff but you know what would really excite me at this point? If Tweedy announced he was stripping it down to him, John and Glenn and starting over.

Duke Silver wrote:Trying really hard to work up some enthusiasm for the new album. I think I have to go back to SBS to find the last time the band really clicked with me.

The current lineup has done some good stuff but you know what would really excite me at this point? If Tweedy announced he was stripping it down to him, John and Glenn and starting over.

I haven't even thought about the new album yet, but you're proposing no Nels?!!! I respect that opinion, however I have viewed him as the lifeblood of Wilco of some years, especially in their live shows. It hurts so much to say this, but I have to be objective....If anything has lost its luster to me in recent years, it has been the style of song which Tweedy is writing. He deserves a pass though as Sue has been really sick with cancer over the past years, but she continues to fight the good fight. She has always been a very lovely person in all of my encounters with her over the years at gigs or randomly running into her around town.

Their live shows are incredible yet, and a lot of that is Nels, Pat, and Glenn.

I've had fun with each of the last few albums, but Jeff's songwriting has definitely fallen off a little bit. "Star Wars" had a sameness to it that I'm guessing "Schmilco" will too. When it works, it's pretty good, but I don't find myself reaching it for it all that much.

I do think a stripped down thing with Jeff, John, and Glenn could be fun, but only if the songs were there.

Cubfan06 wrote:

Duke Silver wrote:Trying really hard to work up some enthusiasm for the new album. I think I have to go back to SBS to find the last time the band really clicked with me.

The current lineup has done some good stuff but you know what would really excite me at this point? If Tweedy announced he was stripping it down to him, John and Glenn and starting over.

I haven't even thought about the new album yet, but you're proposing no Nels?!!! I respect that opinion, however I have viewed him as the lifeblood of Wilco of some years, especially in their live shows. It hurts so much to say this, but I have to be objective....If anything has lost its luster to me in recent years, it has been the style of song which Tweedy is writing. He deserves a pass though as Sue has been really sick with cancer over the past years, but she continues to fight the good fight. She has always been a very lovely person in all of my encounters with her over the years at gigs or randomly running into her around town.

I know it's kind of a crazy thing to say, but I just got bored with Nels' -- and to some extent, the entire band's -- virtuosity after a while. I like a little bit of danger in my rock and roll...like things could go off the rails at any minute. When you know a guy is never, ever going to hit a bad note, it kind of takes the fun out of it. It's like...they used to be a rock and roll band. Now they're an ensemble that plays interpretations of various rock and roll pieces.

I think Star Wars was great, and probably their best effort in years

Duke Silver wrote:

Cubfan06 wrote:

Duke Silver wrote:Trying really hard to work up some enthusiasm for the new album. I think I have to go back to SBS to find the last time the band really clicked with me.

The current lineup has done some good stuff but you know what would really excite me at this point? If Tweedy announced he was stripping it down to him, John and Glenn and starting over.

I haven't even thought about the new album yet, but you're proposing no Nels?!!! I respect that opinion, however I have viewed him as the lifeblood of Wilco of some years, especially in their live shows. It hurts so much to say this, but I have to be objective....If anything has lost its luster to me in recent years, it has been the style of song which Tweedy is writing. He deserves a pass though as Sue has been really sick with cancer over the past years, but she continues to fight the good fight. She has always been a very lovely person in all of my encounters with her over the years at gigs or randomly running into her around town.

I know it's kind of a crazy thing to say, but I just got bored with Nels' -- and to some extent, the entire band's -- virtuosity after a while. I like a little bit of danger in my rock and roll...like things could go off the rails at any minute. When you know a guy is never, ever going to hit a bad note, it kind of takes the fun out of it. It's like...they used to be a rock and roll band. Now they're an ensemble that plays interpretations of various rock and roll pieces.

Is it because their music has strayed away from the dreaded Americana/Alt-Country label? I liked Star Wars and although The Whole Love wasn't a masterpiece I thought it had some strong songs on it. They set the bar so high in their early, non-sober years that its really hard to live up to that, especially when the influence and tone in their newer songs are coming from a different place in their lives.
I believe that I understand your comment that "they're an ensemble that plays interpretations of various rock and roll pieces," but how can you knock them for being a stronger band in their most recent lineup. I saw the band live pre-Kotche/Nels and it wasn't close comparatively to the latter. Perhaps its that I'm blessed that most of the Wilco shows which I have seen in the past 9 years have been Chicago residency shows, however they seem to dig really deep in their setlists at times. They have mixed it up and taken the stage at times all acoustic and the solos Nels brings to the table many times are somewhat unique to other times which he has played that same song before.

I love Sky Blue Sky. It's a consistently great album. Possibly their last GREAT album in a long line of great ones, but it was anything but dangerous.

I kind of hated The Whole Love but loved Star Wars. It still had the slickness Duke alludes to but also some really strong songs and, more importantly, felt like a cohesive album. To cubsfan06 though I have to disagree on the current lineup. I love Nels Cline but nothing compares to the Jay Bennet years.

Cubfan you make a good point about SBS being the opposite of dangerous, at least as I defined it. It might be the most easy listening album they have. But I guess I give it a pass because it was my introduction to Nels and, as slick as it is, it surprised me enough at the time to make a strong impression on me. Nels is an amazing player, but nothing they've done since has knocked me out me as much as Impossible Germany did the first time I heard it.

Never saw them with Bennett, but Nels is fucking amazing live. We need Nels and Carl Broemel to form a supergroup

Tequila Cowboy wrote:I kind of hated The Whole Love but loved Star Wars. It still had the slickness Duke alludes to but also some really strong songs and, more importantly, felt like a cohesive album. To cubsfan06 though I have to disagree on the current lineup. I love Nels Cline but nothing compares to the Jay Bennet years.

I just want to clarify something. I meant that in my opinion the Nels/Kotche lineup was stronger live than the Jay Bennett/Ken Coomer era. Mind you that I was a senior in high school in '97 when I saw my first Wilco show with Bennett/Coomer on Summerteeth , which had propelled them to larger clubs and audiences in the city. I believe that you, being a gentleman of a couple of years of maturity and playing in a band with deep roots in the city of Chicago, were likely keen to seeing them from the ground up in some of their legendary shows at Lounge Ax, etc.

I filed both Star Wars and Tweedy's Sukierae away after the first listen as nothing about either record grabbed me. I also realize I should give them both more of a chance. A lot of that also has to do with whatever else had my attention at the time. If there's an album or artist I'm really into, I'll tend to focus more on that even at the expense of new music I'd normally pay attention to.

Sukirae gets quite a few spins by me still.

i loved the fact that they played Stars Wars front to back on the last tour, at every show. it sounded great live.

tinnitus photography wrote:i loved the fact that they played Stars Wars front to back on the last tour, at every show. it sounded great live.

Totally agree. I like the record but it seemed to grow the more they played it live. I luv this band. Nels is way up there on my favorite guitarist list.

looks like the Wilco tour that is starting tonight is going to be maybe a little like The Dirt Underneath shows. I'm good with that!

http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/08/a ... ient-fans/

http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/08/a ... e-of-mind/

chuckrh wrote:looks like the Wilco tour that is starting tonight is going to be maybe a little like The Dirt Underneath shows. I'm good with that!

http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/08/a ... ient-fans/

http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/08/a ... e-of-mind/

The second article you posted was really enlightening. Definitely helped put this era of the band in context for me.

REALLY looking to three consecutive nights at The Fillmore next week (Sept. 9, 10, & 11)!!!