Review: Jeff Tweedy - Orpheum Theatre, Phoenix AZ

By Jon Stone | @jwstone

Christmas in Arizona is already pretty sweet. The highs here in Tucson have been around 60 all week and with all the snow and storminess hitting the Midwest, the discomfort of the three-day drive (with kids) from Champaign was nearly, if not completely, forgotten. Last night, all remaining trip-fatigue faded. You see, Jeff Tweedy vacations in Arizona too. Last night my wife and I made the short drive from Tucson to Phoenix to see him play a solo set at the beautiful and historic Orpheum Theatre. Talk about sweet. His sister lives in the Phoenix valley and Tweedy joked that the show was planned to finance their trip out to visit for Christmas, "then I saw her guest list . . . it's not going to cover it."

This is my third time getting to see Jeff Tweedy this year. I saw him play a similar solo set in Champaign at the end of January and then in Chicago with Wilco in October. And while seeing the full band is surely an experience to have and then repeat as often as possible, there is something unmistakably special about seeing a Jeff Tweedy solo show. You might expect the guy to kind of drown up there on stage all by himself playing ensemble songs like "Impossible Germany" and "Spiders (Kidsmoke)." But, instead, the songs take on new life as acoustic arrangements and are arguably (as is the case with "Spiders") more smooth and palatable than the original (even when he forgets the words, like he did last night). So there's that. But Jeff Tweedy is also hilarious. He is engaging, self-deprecating, and confident -- attributes which, as a foil to his songs about heartbreak and loss, come across as the best kind of charisma.

As I found out in January, Tweedy takes advantage of solo shows by dusting off obscure/ side-project tunes and revitalizing them. Last night we heard a favorite of mine, the b-side "Bob Dylan's 49th Beard," as well as the Woody Guthrie/Wilco/Billy Bragg tune "Remember the Mountain Bed" from Mermaid Avenue pt. II and Golden Smog's "The Ruling Class" (complete with the promise that it is not blasphemous--he's played it at plenty of Christian colleges . . . and is then asked never to come back), among others.
But there were several other highlights:

• "Muzzle of Bees" sounds so great in this context and, from a quick look back at the year's Wilco shows, it doesn't get played that often anymore. It's my favorite Wilco song and (likely) the reason I first stumbled on this blog.
• Like the full-band show in October, Tweedy led the audience in a singalong of "Jesus, Etc." Though, unlike the Wilco show, this time it was much more hushed--the audience only singing at a whisper--which made the song all the more affecting.
• We got a cover of the Handsome Family's realist-Christmas tune "So Much Wine." Jeff called it a favorite and hoped that he would be able to remember the words. If memory serves, he dedicated it (as well as "Please Tell My Brother") to his sister Debbie. I can't wait to start rummaging through their catalog now.

At both of the solo shows I attended this year, Tweedy ended the set by playing a few songs out in the front of the stage, off the PA system. I've never seen any other artist do this and it's amazing what a difference it makes. And even though Tweedy joked last night that this would be what things would be like when "all of the power gets used up," as soon as he stepped away from the mic, it was like he stepped into the audiences' collective living rooms.  Last night we sat in silence as he played "Someone Else's Song" and the Uncle Tupelo classic "Acuff-Rose."  I love both of those tunes for their man-behind-the-curtain effect: they reveal Jeff Tweedy's immense back-history of musical influence. You can't hear either and not want to brush off some Bill Monroe or Haggard.  In other words, I don't think it's a coincidence that Flatt and Scruggs' "Salty Dog Blues" was playing on the speakers before Tweedy ever stepped on stage.

setlist: Sunken Treasure / Remember the Mountain Bed / Please Tell My Brother / Hummingbird / Country Disappeared / The Ruling Class / I Am Trying To Break Your Heart / Bob Dylan's 49th Beard / You and I / Muzzle of Bees / How To Fight Loneliness / Impossible Germany / In a Future Age / Passenger Side / So Much Wine (Handsome Family cover) / Spiders (Kidsmoke) / Shot in the Arm
encore: Heavy Metal Drummer / Jesus, Etc. / I'm the Man Who Loves You / Someone Else's Song / Acuff-Rose

"Golden" Moments: Shifting Tastes & Musical Watersheds

By Jon Stone | @jwstone

In 1991, Boyz II Men and DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince put out the unforgettable singles Motownphilly andSummertime. If you were 11 or 12 like I was when those tunes came out, those were THE songs, right? You know you loved them (unless, as I sometimes suspect, all readers of this blog were somehow born with unrelenting, musical erudition). That summer, though, with high school on the horizon, I abandoned them—openlydisdained them even. I hid my cassette singles and in their place new, shiny CDs appeared with pale, British faces on them: from Boyz II Men to Boyz Don’t Cry faster than you can say goodbye to yesterday. (Sorry, kids. I'm kind of old.)

This ebb and flow of our musical interests is common, I think, and though it may not happen as frequently (or dramatically) as it did when we were kids, I think it’s fun to think about how what we listen to changes over the years. My musical tastes certainly have changed and expanded over the last decade. I suspect yours have too. And thank goodness, really.

Skipping ahead another ten years from where I started, the beginning of this decade was rough. 2000-2004 were like musical badlands for us post-alternative, 20-something, suburbanites: our favorite bands kept abandoning us by breaking up (or starting to suck and then breaking up), making bad records, or worse, making the same record over and over again. It took me a while and several John Mayer and Coldplay records before I recovered. (Seriously though, anyone who wants to chat up "Parachutes" or rap about Mayer’s guitar playing hit me up, I didn’t hide those tapes very well.)

I think the watershed moments of our musical pasts are important to reflect on.  What we listen to seems to be indicative of other shifts in our often tenuous world-views and brought about by other life changes, subtle or serious. No wonder songs and bands become both touchstones and course markers along the way.
A standout moment for me in the last ten years was when M. Ward and Jim James took the stage with Bright Eyes—Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis—during a 2005, pre-Monsters of Folk  Austin City Limits performance. I was in the midst of a shift that year and was looking to shows like ACL and podcasts like NPR’s All Songs Considered for nudges in new sonic directions. Bright Eyes is a force to be reckoned with, to be sure. Oberst was (then even more) strange and catlike and I remember being intrigued (if in a pseudo-literary sense) by his poem-song "Waste of Paint." He also did a lovely waltz with Mogis on mandolin called "We Are Nowhere and It's Now" from the critically acclaimed album I'm Wide Awake It's Morning. But it was when M. Ward and Jim James came out and played songs from their respective main projects that ears perked. Ward played "O'Brien" -- a great song from his now classic, break-through record End of Amnesia (2001). Next, Jim James played the My Morning Jacket tune “Golden” (from It Still Moves, 2003) with Mogis on pedal steel.  Something clicked. That Gibson, those chords, that melody, and the lyrics:

Watchin' a stretch of road, miles of light explode.
Driftin' off a thing I'd never done before...
Watchin' a crowd roll in. Out go the lights, it begins.
A feelin' in my bones I never felt before...

I watched and listened again and again. In the process, I discovered—from the first half of that episode—a little band called Wilco (tragically late, I know). And while I can’t trace back all of my current musical interests to that moment, it was very significant.

Tell us a little about your musical histories: What were the moments, songs, albums, artists, blogs, podcasts, tv shows etc. that brought on some kind paradigm shift in your musical world over the last five or ten years? How dramatic were your shifts? And, if you please, what brought on those shifts?
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(As an aside, you gotta love Tweedy's swagger in that first half. So cool. So intense.  So much so that it almost seems uncharacteristic, until halfway through the set when he says, "Everybody look under your chairs. We've got a prize for you." An audience member screams "I won!!" way off mic and Jeff adds, "Anybody find my keys?"
And well dressed! Dude's wearing a suit coat(!) and we're talking straight-edge razor shave up in there. Unprecedented.)

Special thanks to Leslie Nichols, Associate Producer on Austin City Limits, for official photos from the show by Scott Newton.

Review: Wilco - UIC Pavillion, Chicago

Last night Wilco capped off their two night stint at the UIC Pavillionwith a highly energetic30-song show that concluded their US run of tour dates for 2009. Having sold out the place out the previous night, Wilco performed to a crowd far from capacity though you never would've been able to tell the difference based on the set list and reception the band received from their fans. Being admittedly skeptical of the venue going in, Wilco (The Band) won me over in a big way in what ended up being one of the best shows I've ever seen them play.
In place of a standard review, we're offering our 10 favorite moments from last night's show put together by myself, Daniel Brielmaier and Jon Stone. There were no doubt many moments that didn't crack our list that and we encourage you to drop a comment with your favorite moments from last night.

Here's our favorites in no particular order:

1. New material. Wilco played 6 songs from Wilco (The Album), including: "Bull Black Nova", "One WIng", "I'll Fight", "Country Disappeared", "You Never Know", and "Sonny Feeling". I struggled to place "Country Disappeared's album of origin. That speaks to the "The Album"'s strengths, as most of the new songs feel like classics already, and it's only been a few months. I really liked the new stuff. Some of it seems a little sparse at this point, but I'm sure WIlco will fill in the blanks. "Bull Black Nova" is already exceptional.

2. Nels Cline. (can he count as a moment all on his own?) Nels was even more animated than I remember him last April at the Pabst. I heard him described recently as "like an out of control vacuum hose." That sounds about right. He's gotta have some aches that would be more akin to Brett Favre than a guitarist. That said, his playing ruled, especially on "Impossible Germany."

3. Being There. Jeff remarked that this was the first Chicago show that anyone who wanted to go to the show,could go. In other words, the show at the UIC Pavilion didn't sell out (as it had the night before), not to mention selling out every other show they've ever played in Chicago. This show was also the last show of the year for North America. They obviously gave it everything they had. You can't ask for more than that.

4. "You Are My Face" - A 5000-member chorus singing "I have no idea how this happens!" in unison.

5. "Jesus, Etc." - Speaking of sing-a-longs, the crowd sang almost the entire song word for word until Jeff brought it all back home on the last chorus. I had chills during the show and again just writing that out. (listen here)

6. "Passenger Side" - It seemed like it had been a long time since I've heard them play this tune. A big smile ear to ear, a perfect song that is still resonating in my head today.

7. Tweedy swinging the microphone Morrissey style during Hummingbird.

8. The encore. This was the best part of the show for me. After what I considered an already surprisingly excellent concert, I was expecting a pop-favorites encore. Four or five songs deep into the encore I knew this was not to be. After a great version of "Poor Places", they broke into "Spiders (Kidsmoke)." This had epic written all over it (a 10-plus minute song this deep into the encore!!) From there they rolled into "A.M.'s" "Passenger Side" & "Casino Queen". What a treat. They capped the night with "Outtasite (Outta Mind)" from the "Being There" album. This show gets my vote for best encore in recent memory.

9. "I'm the Man Who Loves You" featured a double intro. Part one: Glenn on Gong; Part two; King Kotche conquers with arms and voice raised high.

10. Never mailing it in - Looking out in a fraction of what the crowd was the night before, Wilco dug deeper into their catalog playing 15 minutes longer than the previous night including two addition songs.

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Set: Via Chicago / Bull Black Nova / A Shot in the Arm / Side with the Seeds / You Are My Face / One Wing / I am Trying to Break Your Heart / Kamera / I'll Fight / Impossible Germany / Country Disappeared / Handshake Drugs / Far, Far Away / Sonny Feeling / Box Full of Letters / Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway(again) / Jesus, Etc. / Can't Stand It / I'm the Man Who Loves You / Hummingbird
Encore: The Late Greats / You Never Know / Hate it Here / Walken / Heavy Metal Drummer / Poor Places / Spiders (Kidsmoke) / Passenger Side / Casino Queen / Outtasite (Outta Mind)