Wilco - Stubb's - May 11/12 2008

The #1 thing I learned from these concerts is that I don't know near as much Wilco as I thought I did.

The #2 thing I learned is that, like Ron said at ACL Fest last year..."Wilco is the greatest rock band in the world right now."

That's a video from my crappy camera from the second encore on Monday night. But that's the end. Let's start at the beginning.

I've had my tickets for Wilco since the day they went on sale. I was sitting at Third Base watching the first day of NCAA March Madness when they were ordered.

Our tickets were for the Sunday night show. Stubb's Outdoors. Mother's Day. 5/11/2008.

The best concert I've ever seen was at Stubb's Inside. Todd Snider and the Bottle Rockets. I think it was Todd's birthday. Todd brought the Bottle Rockets back on stage for the encore. They did 45 minutes of nothing but Lynyrd Skynrd songs. Awesome.

May 11, 2008.

Back on track. We got there right before Retribution Gospel Choir started up. Meh. It was okay. It was a lot better the second time around. More on that later.

The doors opened at 6. Wilco started at 8:15. Right on schedule.

Honestly, I didn't really know what to expect. I'd only seen Wilco once live at ACL Fest last year. That's a totally different experience.

It was better than I expected. Even though I didn't know half the songs.

Sunday night's show started off with an acoustic version of Sunken Treasure. And quickly went into 11 songs that I didn't know or recognized but didn't know what song it was.

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The two Wilco albums I haven't listened to that much are "A Ghost is Born" and "Summerteeth". Of course these made up a good portion of the first part of the show.



This graph is from Wilcobase.com. A must see site for all Wilco fans.

The rest of the show hit on a lot of stuff I knew really well. Stuff from A.M., Being There, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and Sky Blue Sky.

Some highlights:

• Impossible Germany- Nels Cline's guitar blows my mind.
  
• That's Not The Issue - So good to hear that.
• Misunderstood - A hell of a way to start the first encore.
• The back and forth guitar solos on Spiders (Kidsmoke)
  
• Second Encore - Hate it Here, Casino Queen, and Outtasite (Outta Mind)
• More weed than I've smelled at a concert in a long time
• The banter. Jeff Tweedy said he'd never been cheered when he buttoned his suit before. ("Not a suit! Just a jacket.") Shoutout for all the Mothers on Mother's Day.
  

Sunday's Setlist

• Sunken Treasure (acoustic)
• You Are My Face
• Remember the Mountain Bed
• Company in my Back
• Handshake Drugs
• Pick Up the Change
• Hummingbird
• On and On and On
• Pot Kettle Black
• A Shot in the Arm
• Summerteeth
• Jesus, etc.
• Impossible Germany
• It's Just that Simple
• That's Not the Issue
• Walken
• I'm the Man Who Loves You

Encore 1

• Misunderstood
• Poor Places
• Reservations
• Spiders

Encore 2

• Hate it Here
• Heavy Metal Drummer
• Casino Queen
• Hoodoo Voodoo
• Outtasite (Outta Mind)

Of course, right then and there I decided I was going back for Monday's show.

May 12, 2008.

I got there early enough to see Retribution Gospel Choir's set up close. It was much better the second time around. Mostly because I recognized their songs.

For the main part of the concert I hung out in the back. Sound was bad. Visibility even more so. I went up as close as I could get for the encores.

This show was completely different. Maybe a third of the songs were the same from the night before.

I think this playlist was a plant. Specifically, a plant to fool me. It was on the table by the side soundboard. I totally thought that I had found an inside secret of some sort.

Not so much.

The playlist was nothing like this.

Via Chicago first. Followed up by Hummingbird, Ashes of American Flags, Airline to Heaven, and You Are My Face.

Hell of a way to start a show!!

Immediately, I was glad I came to the second show.

Unfortunately, there were a lot of yahoo's there, compared to Sunday. High school kids from what I could tell.

I can deal with that. Jeff Tweedy had a heyday with them.

That was one of the funniest things. Hearing Tweedy call them out every time they yelled for a song.

The best part was when they played an ominous drum beat.

"I found out last night that Karl Rove was staying at the same hotel as me. I was scared. Whenever you hear that sound, you know Jenna Bush is getting married somewhere close by."

"Seriously, Karl Rove was staying at the same hotel. We got kicked out."

Or something to that effect.

Highlights:

• Box Full of Letters
• Passenger Side - Great freakin' song.
• California Stars in the second encore with Retribution Gospel Choir
• The entire second encore.

Setlist:

• Via Chicago
• Hummingbird
• Ashes of American Flags
• Airline to Heaven
• You Are My Face
• Box Full of Letters
• A Shot in the Arm
• Side With the Seeds
• War on War
• Handshake Drugs
• Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway(again)
• Jesus, Etc.
• Impossible Germany
• Shouldn't Be Ashamed
• Passenger Side
• Theologians
• I'm The Man Who Loves You

Encore 1

• Cars Can't Escape
• Spiders (Kidsmoke)

Encore 2

• California Stars
• Hate It Here
• Heavy Metal Drummer
• Walken
• Kingpin
• Red-Eyed and Blue
• I Got You (At The End of The Century)
• Monday

Amazing two-day set. I probably won't see something like it ever again