Summer Teething (was Wilco @ Pearl Street)
In all fairness I should give Summer Teeth a good listening before passing judgement BUT many of the songs Monday night in concert seem to be mere exercises in pop song writing. New material is hard enough to get across to an audience but IMO when pop doesn't rock it can easily flat. And this audience wanted badly to rock. Beyond the unfamiliarity factor, the audience simply wanted the old Wilco back. Even the Mermaid Avenue constitutes as old Wilco these days. Not to say that the crowd didn't respond positively to some of ST but when the band dished out the old, the audience responded. And ONLY THEN did the band seem loose. Maybe they're still trying to feel their way around the new material. Unfortunately the Canadians hecklers was just the excuse Tweedy need to unleash his "tude" for the evening. After letting these guys get away with this shit a whole night it seemed inappropriate for security to come down on them so late in the evening. I didn't see any recording equipment as was suggested. The sad part is that these hecklers will remember this concert quite differently.
RE: Summer Teething (was Wilco @ Pearl Street)
-Original Message- From: Jeff Sohn [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Beyond the unfamiliarity factor, the audience simply wanted the old Wilco back. Even the Mermaid Avenue constitutes as old Wilco these days. Not to say that the crowd didn't respond positively to some of ST but when the band dished out the old, the audience responded. And ONLY THEN did the band seem loose. Maybe they're still trying to feel their way around the new material. [Matt Benz] Ok, but how is this different from how audiences typically respond to an act that has several albums to its credit? Isn't the history of rock music littered with stories of bands trying to do something they find artistically different and pleasing, only to have the audience scream for "Satisfaction!" "You Really Got Me!" "Radio Free Europe!" "Chickamauga!" "What's with this opera shit? Play fuckin' My Generation!" etc..
Re: Wilco @ Pearl Street
Tweedy actually stopped the song completely: "You know, I don't care how
fucking far you drove to see us. You don't give the band directions."
And really, for me, that sort of sums it up. Abstaining Tom caught these
details about these guys, and I wonder how much patience on-the-wagon Tweedy
needed to have with these obnoxious idiots. If the club can't take steps to
quiet, or remove drunken-stupid patrons who are disrupting the performance, I
can't blame the performer for getting pissed-off enough about it to "break
character", so to speak.
b.s.
Yeah, I should have mentioned that hecklers can really screw up your
groove and take the steam out of the act of performing. I've always been
in bands that would either have come down off the stage and whipped the
guy's ass and then gone back and resumed playing, or acoustic songwriter
stuff like Kimmie does where the people who are there are generally
there to listen to her, and if they are not they are quickly escorted
elsewhere.
Kimmie handles them well when she does get them, however, because she is
so much more verbally facile than most people; she always manages to
shut them up by turning it around on them and embarrassing them in about
two seconds.
I do think that if you are an act that tends to attract noxious drunks
then it would be good to develop a strategy other than letting it ruin
the show for everybody. That's what bouncers are for, if you can't
handle it from the stage pretty fast. The problem is that if the act
comes across as the heavy ("get this asshole out of here") then the
crowd can turn on you. The solution is to talk to the bouncers before
the show and ask them to remove people once they get to the point that
they have caused you to stop what you are doing more than one time.
--
Joe Gracey
President-For-Life, Jackalope Records
http://www.kimmierhodes.com
Hecklers, was: Wilco @ Pearl Street
My favorite "shut up" line was from Henry Rollins of Black Flag: "Lose the 'tude, dude."
Re: Hecklers, was: Wilco @ Pearl Street
At 09:22 AM 4/21/99 -0700, you wrote: My favorite "shut up" line was from Henry Rollins of Black Flag: "Lose the 'tude, dude." A good shut up line, no doubt, but if reversed and shouted at Rollins instead, it would make a more than appropriate heckle. --david cantwell
RE: Hecklers, was: Wilco @ Pearl Street
-Original Message- From: David Cantwell [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] "Lose the 'tude, dude." A good shut up line, no doubt, but if reversed and shouted at Rollins instead, it would make a more than appropriate heckle. --david cantwell [Matt Benz] A heh heh heh.
Wilco @ Pearl Street
Last night, fellow P2-er/Albany denizen Jeff Sohn and I saw Wilco with Vic Chesnutt at Pearl Street in Northampton, Mass. A couple of random drive-by observations: Some of Wilco's new pop songs are OK, but overall I wasn't impressed by the new stuff. I can't see myself humming any of them in the shower, which is my simplest criterion for a good, catchy pop tune. On the other hand, the new material did seem to attract a younger crowd as compared to the last time I saw them. Lots of college kids. Of course, Northampton is a college town, but there's usually a wider range of ages at Pearl Street shows. I was surprised by how many of the younger folks recognized the Uncle Tupelo material. I wonder how well their records sell now as compared to when they were together? Maybe Tweedy's getting road burnout, but for most of the evening, he looked like he'd rather be almost anywhere but onstage. I know life on tour can be a drag, but am I expecting too much when I think a performer should at least try to look like they're having a good time? He finally broke out of his funk when he got pissed off at a couple of drunks in the front row. They wanted him to speed up "New Madrid", so he deliberately slowed it down to spite them. The rest of the audience got a kick out of it, and it was the most engaged I'd seen Tweedy all evening. So there's my off-the-cuff review. On Thursday, it's back to Northampton to hear Kelly Willis with Bruce Robison at the Iron Horse. We'll be sending a full Albany P2 delegation (Jeff, myself, Evan Cooper and assorted wives and friends). Stay tuned...
Re: Wilco @ Pearl Street
On Tue, 20 Apr 1999 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Some of Wilco's new pop songs are OK, but overall I wasn't impressed by the new stuff. I can't see myself humming any of them in the shower, which is my simplest criterion for a good, catchy pop tune. Agreed. With the exceptions of "ELT" and "nothingsevergonnastandinmyway(again)", most of the new material had some trouble getting off the ground. I like the new album a lot, but my impression was that the band had to try *way* too hard to get the songs working on stage. Most of the renditions of the new songs were pretty close to the album versions, double keyboard parts and all (courtesy of Leroy, whose last name I didn't catch). My gut feeling is that trying to replicate the extremely studio-massaged nature of the newer songs on stage might not be the greatest idea. Those people who have seen or heard Tweedy's acoustic performances of "Via Chicago" and "She's A Jar" know how affecting those songs can be when they're stripped down and allowed to breathe a bit. I think the new material could benefit a lot from the same approach, perhaps even going so far as to eliminate the extra instrumentalist. To be fair, I'm sure the band is still learning their way around staging the new songs; even more to the point, I'm sure they're experimenting a bit with these shows, trying to shake out their material for the summer tours. There were also some sound problems at Pearl St., at least near the front; for the first four or five songs (all _Summer Teeth_ tracks), the keyboards and Jeff's voice were *far* too loud in the mix, to the point that a blast of organ from Bennett would drown out just about everything else. Most of the mixing problems were gone by the end of the evening, but as most of the _ST_ songs were near the front of the set, we might not have heard them at their best. Maybe Tweedy's getting road burnout, but for most of the evening, he looked like he'd rather be almost anywhere but onstage. I know life on tour can be a drag, but am I expecting too much when I think a performer should at least try to look like they're having a good time? He did look pretty tired. I'm willing to write that off as a by-product of the strange zigzags the East Coast swing is taking, which necessitate a lot more road time than might otherwise be necessary. He finally broke out of his funk when he got pissed off at a couple of drunks in the front row. They wanted him to speed up "New Madrid", so he deliberately slowed it down to spite them. The rest of the audience got a kick out of it, and it was the most engaged I'd seen Tweedy all evening. I'm glad he said something to them; they'd been pretty obnoxious throughout the show. (From what I could tell, they'd driven down from Ottowa and presumably are following the band for a few shows at least.) Jumped up on stage to dance during "Hesitating Beauty", tried to put a hat on Jeff's head while he was playing (which he did *not* appreciate), pestered Jay to smoke more, threw t-shirts up on the stage...I'm glad they enjoy the band, but there's a fine line between being a fan and being a nuisance. Did anyone see why the security guy dove at one of them from across the stage during the encore? I think he was confiscating recording gear, but there were a couple of people in the way and I couldn't clearly see what was going on. Tweedy actually stopped the song completely: "You know, I don't care how fucking far you drove to see us. You don't give the band directions." Amen. Overall, it was a rough-edged but satisfying show; I'm looking forward to their Friday show at Boston's Avalon to see whether the new songs are improved by Avalon's generally excellent sound and lighting. Tom Stoodley
Re: Wilco @ Pearl Street
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I know life on tour can be a drag, but am I expecting too much when I think a performer should at least try to look like they're having a good time? I saw Jeff and Jay perform a few songs last week at some club across the street from Wrigley Field as part of WXRT's annual Cubs Opening Day party that features the Waco Brothers. Granted, it was about 8:30 AM when they went on, but they even made comments about how it might have been a mistake for them to have agreed to perform. They were very gracious and personable on the street after the show, but I was a bit put off by their comments onstage. Jeff even called the radio DJ/morning guy an "aristocrat" because he mentioned he had recently read an article in the New York Times which quoted Tweedy as saying that his favorite radio show was some show on WXRT, which Tweedy then admitted that he had never even listened to but had heard it was good. Seeing that and thinking about all of the Wilco and UT shows I have seen, I began to wonder how much of this is posturing. He seemed to really be enjoying himself onstage with UT and on the AM tour, but beginning with Being There, he seems to have become the disenchanted rock star. Chad ** Chad Cosper Dept. of English Univ. of North Carolina at Greensboro 336-275-8576 http://www.uncg.edu/~cscosper
Re: Wilco @ Pearl Street
Tom Stoodley noted in response to Kevin Fredette's observation: Maybe Tweedy's getting road burnout, but for most of the evening, he looked like he'd rather be almost anywhere but onstage. I know life on tour can be a drag, but am I expecting too much when I think a performer should at least try to look like they're having a good time? He did look pretty tired. I'm willing to write that off as a by-product of the strange zigzags the East Coast swing is taking, which necessitate a lot more road time than might otherwise be necessary. Joe Gracey replied: I can't recall one time in my life when the road hassles spilled over onto our stage performance. After all, that's where it all becomes worthwhile. I'd say it sounds more like Tweedy just doesn't like to perform much, or he'd snap out of it and enjoy himself. and Chad Cosper noted: thinking about all of the Wilco and UT shows I have seen, I began to wonder how much of this is posturing. He seemed to really be enjoying himself onstage with UT and on the AM tour, but beginning with Being There, he seems to have become the disenchanted rock star. The issue of what kind of performance and stage demeanor a performer "owes" an audience and their best presentation of their work is an important one to me. I've heard some bad stories about Tweedy's petulant stage demeanor, though I've never seen it myself. But how the audience's bad behavior affects the performance needs to be taken into account. At the recent Steve Earle/Del McCoury Band show, Steve got into it with the apparently drunken guy who kept shouting for "Copperhead Road". Earle worked it into his performance (sort of annoyingly to me-I couldn't hear him in front but apparently Earle could), staring at the guy during songs, walking to that side of the stage away from the action, refusing to just let it go. Finally he had to let the guy have it "did you really think I wasn't gonna play this you stupid %^$#@!?" but Tom had previously said to Kevin's observation: He finally broke out of his funk when he got pissed off at a couple of drunks in the front row. They wanted him to speed up "New Madrid", so he deliberately slowed it down to spite them. The rest of the audience got a kick out of it, and it was the most engaged I'd seen Tweedy all evening. I'm glad he said something to them; they'd been pretty obnoxious throughout the show. (From what I could tell, they'd driven down from Ottowa and presumably are following the band for a few shows at least.) Jumped up on stage to dance during "Hesitating Beauty", tried to put a hat on Jeff's head while he was playing (which he did *not* appreciate), pestered Jay to smoke more, threw t-shirts up on the stage...I'm glad they enjoy the band, but there's a fine line between being a fan and being a nuisance. Did anyone see why the security guy dove at one of them from across the stage during the encore? I think he was confiscating recording gear, but there were a couple of people in the way and I couldn't clearly see what was going on. Tweedy actually stopped the song completely: "You know, I don't care how fucking far you drove to see us. You don't give the band directions." And really, for me, that sort of sums it up. Abstaining Tom caught these details about these guys, and I wonder how much patience on-the-wagon Tweedy needed to have with these obnoxious idiots. If the club can't take steps to quiet, or remove drunken-stupid patrons who are disrupting the performance, I can't blame the performer for getting pissed-off enough about it to "break character", so to speak. b.s.
RE: Wilco @ Pearl Street
Bill Silvers said: But how the audience's bad behavior affects the performance needs to be taken into account. I totally agree. An indifferent or drunkenly annoying crowd can't expect the band to be having a good time. But other than the two drunk guys I mentioned earlier, the crowd as a whole was clearly supportive: dancing (or at least head-bopping), singing along, applauding loudly, etc. If Jeff couldn't have a good time with us, he should check his pulse ;-) If the club can't take steps to quiet, or remove drunken-stupid patrons who are disrupting the performance, I can't blame the performer for getting pissed-off enough about it to "break character", so to speak. Just for the record: what I was saying in my original post was that I was actually glad to see Tweedy lose patience with the drunken Canadian guys. It was the first time all night that he'd shown any interest in the whole concert. It was after he told them off that he seemed to loosen up and have some fun. Normally I would say that people like that should be a bouncer's first target, but last night they actually served a purpose. It's just too bad that Jeff couldn't have been having more fun all along. It goes back to what Joe Gracey said earlier: it really looks like the guy doesn't enjoy performing.
Re: Wilco @ Pearl Street
Bill comments: And really, for me, that sort of sums it up. Abstaining Tom caught these details about these guys, and I wonder how much patience on-the-wagon Tweedy needed to have with these obnoxious idiots. If the club can't take steps to quiet, or remove drunken-stupid patrons who are disrupting the performance, I can't blame the performer for getting pissed-off enough about it to "break character", so to speak. Missed alot of the thread, but stood, oh about 5 feet to the right of the Ottawa crew... Tweedy was actually quite tolerant for the whole show...as they were buggin' the shit out of him from the end of the set opener to the end of the second encore... I felt bad for him. Heck, he was even trying to be kind to them (he mentioned earlier in the show that they had travelled quite a bit to get to the show, etc...) He looked a little vulnerable up there to boot (as he really didn't seem to know what to do about them). So, as Tom had mentioned, Jeff finally snapped and just stopped the number as the threesome demanded quite loudly that they should speed up "New Madrid", scolded them proper and launched into a blues tinged slow burn rendition...Funny. So, to address your last statement Bill...I agree. He was more than justified... Morgan "However, I do wish Mr. Tweedy looked like he wanted to play for us folks that paid $17.50 a pop"
Re: Wilco @ Pearl Street
In a message dated 4/20/99 2:38:17 PM EST, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: It has struck me that Tweedy has gotten to be much more of an attitude performer as the years have rolled on. In UT, he was quite the ray of sunshine and the entertaining one compared to Farrar, and he continued to have an entertainer's approach and worked his intrinsic charm during the early Wilco tours. Last couple of years, however, as best I've been able to observe it, he has definitely caught the artiste bug, in terms of his performance style. I dunno tho, sure he might be more the artiste nowadays, but I still think he tends to be very charming onstage. At least I've never seem him be anything but. I even saw him do an acoustic performance once in LA before AM came out where he was sick from bad Mexican food. He had to excuse himself more than once to use the facilities, much to the amusement of Jay Bennet. And more recently, on the Golden Smog tour, he was bar far the most charismatic performer on that stage. Anyhoo. Neal Weiss
Re: Wilco @ Pearl Street
jr. "on the money" It has struck me that Tweedy has gotten to be much more of an attitude performer as the years have rolled on. In UT, he was quite the ray of sunshine and the entertaining one compared to Farrar, and he continued to have an entertainer's approach and worked his intrinsic charm during the early Wilco tours. Last couple of years, however, as best I've been able to observe it, he has definitely caught the artiste bug, in terms of his performance style. Which is too bad. I infinitely prefer performers who come out and do their best to "entertain" the audience. Looking like you want to play is part of the job, as I figure it I couldn't agree more...even if you're not a "showy" sort, a bit of passion would be nice. g But isn't performing live designed to entertain? Recorded material is one animal and playing it for folks is a way to highten the experience, a connection process if you will... When it's seemingly just a case of "going through the motions" for the performer, it automatically devalues that writer for me (or at least turns me a little cold for a spell)... I'm not pointing to Tweedy specifically either, if anyone in that position doesn't like what they do, or doesn't know anymore, or whatever, don't do it for a bit...Take some time off and kick back. Man, we've all had bad gigs, but shit, ain't this rock n' roll stuff supposed to be fun? morgan
Re: Wilco @ Pearl Street
Neal: I dunno tho, sure he might be more the artiste nowadays, but I still think he tends to be very charming onstage. At least I've never seem him be anything but. I even saw him do an acoustic performance once in LA before AM came out where he was sick from bad Mexican food. He had to excuse himself more than once to use the facilities, much to the amusement of Jay Bennet. And more recently, on the Golden Smog tour, he was bar far the most charismatic performer on that stage. Well, that's good to hear...he doesn't seem like a bad bloke at all, and I hope some of these recent observations are just arbitary instances... His music is reaching far wider audiences now more than ever, he's got some big tours this summer, etc. That shouldn't be the key to happiness or anything, but it'd be nice to see him enjoy a bit of his success... morgan
Re: Wilco @ Pearl Street
At 4:18 PM -0400 on 4/20/99, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I dunno tho, sure he might be more the artiste nowadays, but I still think he tends to be very charming onstage. At least I've never seem him be anything but. I even saw him do an acoustic performance once in LA before AM came out where he was sick from bad Mexican food. He had to excuse himself more than once to use the facilities, much to the amusement of Jay Bennet. And more recently, on the Golden Smog tour, he was bar far the most charismatic performer on that stage. I'm with Neal. It's no secret that I'm just not interested in anything Tweedy is doing, but while I was going to shows learning that bit of wisdom, I always thought he was having himself a grand old time. I can separate my reaction to the performance from the performance, and I'd never say he was phoning it in. Bob
