*WILCO @ Frawley Stadium (Wilmington, DE)/7.10.09
*WILCO @ LeLacheur Park (Lowell, MA)/7.11.09
The summer of 2009 is a good time to be a WILCO fan. The band released a concert film in April, Ashes Of American Flags - an excellent document of the band’s run through the south in early 2008, released their seventh studio album in June, are referenced in the new Judd Apatow movie, Funny People, and are on the road for their traditional summer tour. Having caught them live each summer since 2004 in varying types of venues, this summer’s tour presented a new experience as the shows were held in minor league baseball stadiums.
Night one of WILCO weekend took place at Frawley Stadium in underwhelming Wilmington, Delaware (print the bumper stickers now). Maybe that’s not fair as I only saw a small portion of the city but I am going to stick with it as it is kind of catchy (speaking of catchy, I spent a night in Wilmington at the baseball park and...now you create a punchline to complete the set-up...this blog has gone interactive). Anyway, seeing a concert in a baseball stadium on a warm July evening seemed like the patriotic thing to do.
WILCO has been a touring machine through the years and that is evident in their consistent performances. The show was my first chance to hear the new material from WILCO (The Album) in a live setting and standouts were the tense Bull Black Nova, the definitive pop of You Never Know and the dramatic One Wing. The first encore was an inspired pairing of Misunderstood with Spiders (Kidsmoke). The second encore finished with an impressive guitar duel between Nels Cline and Pat Sansone on Hoodoo Voodoo.
Getting to the next show required a gruelling day of traffic, construction and tolls. I foolishly thought it would be just a quick drive north from Wilmington to Lowell but I was a bit off in my calculations. Also, there are few purchases more rewarding than paying $8 to drive over the GW Bridge. What a rush! We arrived in Lowell just in time to find that the parking lots were full, meaning we had to find parking on the street. This was good because it was cheaper but bad because it was in Lowell. I hear that it is a city on the rebound, so that is good, especially if rebounding from something like the 1995 HBO documentary High On Crack Street: Lost Lives In Lowell. Having seen Tweedy perform solo in Beacon, NY, last winter I think the name of the tour should be changed from WILCO (The Tour) to WILCO (The Tour of S*&t-Holes Across the Northeast).
Having recently watched The Wire I am feeling some guilt about mocking these cities enduring tough times, but having noted my guilt I am opting to leave the comments in the review. Hey, suffering cities - it is funny joke, yes? I am sure they are all wonderful places.
The crowd showed their appreciation of another solid WILCO set on night two by scaring Jeff Tweedy. Using their baseball fan smarts the crowd would stomp their feet on the bleachers to create an impressive rumble that Tweedy initially thought was thunder or a train (let’s call that reference to thunder foreshadowing). Having seen a number of outdoor summer concerts over the years, surprisingly few have been negatively affected by weather. During a Radiohead show in Montreal the rain was incessant but the band played on and a performance by The National at Cornell was cut short by an intense thunder storm; outside of those examples weather has not been a problem at outdoor shows...until tonight. The rain started to fall near the end of the main set and by the time set closer Hummingbird finished it was a downpour.
With the band and all the equipment exposed in the middle of the outfield I assumed there would be no encore but the soldiered out band anyway to play one more song (I’m The Man Who Loves You) before calling it a night. Between the drive to Lowell and shuffling slowly out of the park with thousands of soaked people, the concert was a nice break in a day that was otherwise frustrating. The things I will do for WILCO. I had not been this wet since my senior trip to Six Flags, when after starting the day on the water rides we were drenched by rain the rest of the day. The memory of riding a bus for hours with a group of wet, cranky teenagers is a cherished one (<-- internet sarcasm).
To continue the baseball theme of the tour (which even includes WILCO tour programs fashioned after baseball programs, with stats and everything), this show provided a few near misses. One of my favorite bands, Okkervil River, had opened some WILCO shows prior to these two but we got Conor Oberst instead (ouch). Oberst and his Mystic Valley Band were more tolerable than I had anticipated and even rocked a little. Even worse, A Magazine Called Sunset, a personal favorite from deep in the WILCO catalogue, was apparently on the setlist for the encore but was rained out. Maybe I will get to hear them play it on next summer’s tour.
The WILCO leg of the summer concert series consisted of nearly two full shows, a lot of driving, heavy rain and some near misses, but was worth it to see the band again and hear both the new material and old favorites live. Minor frustrations are a small price to pay to get to see a band of WILCO’s caliber live.
To experience some live WILCO from this summer, head to NYC Taper for two good quality bootlegs of a few recent shows. The sets from these shows are representative of the shows discussed here to approximate the experience (with 100% less traffic and rain):
Dutchess County Stadium/7.18.09 - http://www.nyctaper.com/?p=1372
Keyspan Park/7.13.09 - http://www.nyctaper.com/?p=1358
*WILCO @ LeLacheur Park (Lowell, MA)/7.11.09
The summer of 2009 is a good time to be a WILCO fan. The band released a concert film in April, Ashes Of American Flags - an excellent document of the band’s run through the south in early 2008, released their seventh studio album in June, are referenced in the new Judd Apatow movie, Funny People, and are on the road for their traditional summer tour. Having caught them live each summer since 2004 in varying types of venues, this summer’s tour presented a new experience as the shows were held in minor league baseball stadiums.
Night one of WILCO weekend took place at Frawley Stadium in underwhelming Wilmington, Delaware (print the bumper stickers now). Maybe that’s not fair as I only saw a small portion of the city but I am going to stick with it as it is kind of catchy (speaking of catchy, I spent a night in Wilmington at the baseball park and...now you create a punchline to complete the set-up...this blog has gone interactive). Anyway, seeing a concert in a baseball stadium on a warm July evening seemed like the patriotic thing to do.
WILCO has been a touring machine through the years and that is evident in their consistent performances. The show was my first chance to hear the new material from WILCO (The Album) in a live setting and standouts were the tense Bull Black Nova, the definitive pop of You Never Know and the dramatic One Wing. The first encore was an inspired pairing of Misunderstood with Spiders (Kidsmoke). The second encore finished with an impressive guitar duel between Nels Cline and Pat Sansone on Hoodoo Voodoo.
Getting to the next show required a gruelling day of traffic, construction and tolls. I foolishly thought it would be just a quick drive north from Wilmington to Lowell but I was a bit off in my calculations. Also, there are few purchases more rewarding than paying $8 to drive over the GW Bridge. What a rush! We arrived in Lowell just in time to find that the parking lots were full, meaning we had to find parking on the street. This was good because it was cheaper but bad because it was in Lowell. I hear that it is a city on the rebound, so that is good, especially if rebounding from something like the 1995 HBO documentary High On Crack Street: Lost Lives In Lowell. Having seen Tweedy perform solo in Beacon, NY, last winter I think the name of the tour should be changed from WILCO (The Tour) to WILCO (The Tour of S*&t-Holes Across the Northeast).
Having recently watched The Wire I am feeling some guilt about mocking these cities enduring tough times, but having noted my guilt I am opting to leave the comments in the review. Hey, suffering cities - it is funny joke, yes? I am sure they are all wonderful places.
The crowd showed their appreciation of another solid WILCO set on night two by scaring Jeff Tweedy. Using their baseball fan smarts the crowd would stomp their feet on the bleachers to create an impressive rumble that Tweedy initially thought was thunder or a train (let’s call that reference to thunder foreshadowing). Having seen a number of outdoor summer concerts over the years, surprisingly few have been negatively affected by weather. During a Radiohead show in Montreal the rain was incessant but the band played on and a performance by The National at Cornell was cut short by an intense thunder storm; outside of those examples weather has not been a problem at outdoor shows...until tonight. The rain started to fall near the end of the main set and by the time set closer Hummingbird finished it was a downpour.
With the band and all the equipment exposed in the middle of the outfield I assumed there would be no encore but the soldiered out band anyway to play one more song (I’m The Man Who Loves You) before calling it a night. Between the drive to Lowell and shuffling slowly out of the park with thousands of soaked people, the concert was a nice break in a day that was otherwise frustrating. The things I will do for WILCO. I had not been this wet since my senior trip to Six Flags, when after starting the day on the water rides we were drenched by rain the rest of the day. The memory of riding a bus for hours with a group of wet, cranky teenagers is a cherished one (<-- internet sarcasm).
To continue the baseball theme of the tour (which even includes WILCO tour programs fashioned after baseball programs, with stats and everything), this show provided a few near misses. One of my favorite bands, Okkervil River, had opened some WILCO shows prior to these two but we got Conor Oberst instead (ouch). Oberst and his Mystic Valley Band were more tolerable than I had anticipated and even rocked a little. Even worse, A Magazine Called Sunset, a personal favorite from deep in the WILCO catalogue, was apparently on the setlist for the encore but was rained out. Maybe I will get to hear them play it on next summer’s tour.
The WILCO leg of the summer concert series consisted of nearly two full shows, a lot of driving, heavy rain and some near misses, but was worth it to see the band again and hear both the new material and old favorites live. Minor frustrations are a small price to pay to get to see a band of WILCO’s caliber live.
To experience some live WILCO from this summer, head to NYC Taper for two good quality bootlegs of a few recent shows. The sets from these shows are representative of the shows discussed here to approximate the experience (with 100% less traffic and rain):
Dutchess County Stadium/7.18.09 - http://www.nyctaper.com/?p=1372
Keyspan Park/7.13.09 - http://www.nyctaper.com/?p=1358
Comments
enjoy the boss.