WILCO : SEATTLE 2021 SECOND EVENING

 

Disc One (69:01)

  1. Bright Leaves
  2. A Shot In The Arm
  3. Random Name Generator
  4. At Least That's What You Said
  5. One And A Half Stars
  6. I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
  7. Art of almost
  8. How To Fight Loneliness
  9. Sunken Treasure
  10. Not For The Season (Laminated Cat)
  11. If I Ever Was A Child
  12. Impossible Germany

Disc Two (52:40)

  1. Love Is Everywhere (Beware)
  2. Forget The Flowers
  3. Hummingbird
  4. Everyone Hides
  5. Dawned On Me
  6. Jesus, Etc
  7. Theologians
  8. California Stars
  9. Poor Places
  10. Reservations
  11. I'm A Wheel
  12. Helter Skelter (with The Young Fresh Fellows)

Label : no label

Venue : Paramount Theatre, Seattle, Washington, USA

Recording Date : October 13, 2021

Review : Wilco played two nights in a row at The Paramount Theatre in Seattle in October 2021. This is an excellent recording of the second show recorded for dowload through the Wilco store as Roadcase 92.

Concert Review (Jambands) : Last night, Wilco performed at Seattle’s Paramount Theatre closing out their two-night run in the Emerald City. Wilco played an extensive set effortlessly traversing their vast discography: Wilco played 24 tracks from nine studio albums including four songs from their latest offering Ode to Joy, which was released in 2019. Wilco opened with “Bright Leaves” and “A Shot in the Arm” which has become a kind of Covid Era anthem before they started rolling out favorites turned classics. Wilco played “I’m Trying to Break Your Heart,” “How to Fight Loneliness,” “Hummingbird,” “Jesus, Etc.” “California Stars” and more. They encored with Wilco’s 2004 number “I’m A Wheel” off their 5th studio album A Ghost Is Born. Wilco was then joined by The Young Fresh Fellows for their final encore, a rendition of the Beatles “Helter Skelter.”

Concert Review (Via Chicago) : Riddle: What is just shy of 600 years old, has 10 broad smiles, a vast knowledge of 1960s and 1970s rock and is able to perform music loudly and enthusiastically? If you said a super-super-group known as the Young Fresh Wilcos, well, give yourself a prize (a book, perhaps?). It's a rare entity that might appear just once ever in the wild, though here's hoping there's at least one more sighting someday, but for the lucky souls that got to witness the beast in person tonight, I'm sure it's a memory that won't soon be forgotten. What a way for Wilco to end this Pacific Northwest run of shows with the legendary Young Fresh Fellows. In bringing them out for the final song of the evening, Jeff remembered that Uncle Tupelo had opened for the Fellows back in St. Louis in 1988, reiterated his belief that they are one of the greatest rock bands of the last century and then boldly announced, "Now we're gonna play a song by a band that's nowhere as fucking good" as the YFFs. Commence Helter Skelter, with Scott McCaughey taking lead vocals and the rest of the Fellows joining the other Wilcos on a powerhouse of a show-closing jam. It's difficult to capture the pure joy emanating from the stage of the Paramount Theatre at that moment, but truth be told, there was plenty of joy all night long. The vibe in the crowd couldn't have been more different from Night 1, especially in the pit and toward the front of the orchestra, where people were on their feet and visibly enthusiastic for Wilco from the start. Actually, more than a few people (I'm pretty sure) also stood for another zany opening set by the YFFs, which featured an appearance by a thinly disguised Mikael for the last two songs. See below for more on that. Then again, it was Wilco Wednesday — as our resident sign-bearer Vince successfully reminded Jeff, who credited him by name, joked that he knew everyone's name and then quipped, "It's like Taco Tuesday, but less delicious. Louder," — and the second of two nights, so you almost expected an improvement on Night 1. One aspect that unquestionably improved were the background projections on the screen behind the band, which had been a bit muted the night before on account of a projector failure. For those keeping track at home, and I know there are so many of you, the "soapsuds" video that plays during the encore break was also back after being absent the prior evening. From a setlist perspective, it didn't seem like quite as much of a shakeup as, say, Night 1 to Night 2 in Portland, where a number of songs either made their post-lockdown debuts (Poor Places, Muzzle Of Bees) or their only appearances of the tour (Shouldn't Be Ashamed, I Must Be High). Rather tonight — at least until the encore — seemed like a natural extension of the set that the band has been developing on this Pacific Northwest run. So, for example, we got the "cowboy" guitar with the rubber bridge for the set-opening Bright Leaves as well as One And A Half Stars, as has been the routine the past few shows, and once again Jeff successfully changed the lyric in Hummingbird from "...the great southwest" to "the Pacific Northwest." "I really feel like playing music is getting me high in a way — not from medication or anything like that," Jeff shared after Hummingbird, looking around at his bandmates. "I feel like I'm floating on air and my guitar is a snake.” (Edit: Thanks to wilcolovesyou for the confirmation on “snake.”) Anyway, it wasn't the first time that Jeff expressed gratitude for being able to get back to live music, and that was pretty clear at various points in the show. From yet another interesting jam in Laminated Cat, where Jeff really worked his electric guitar in tandem with Glenn's pounding percussion to a slightly modified ending, to the end of Forget The Flowers, where he sort of gave Glenn a little bit of grief for botching the Green Acres-like ending that they have apparently discussed, to Theologians, where he played the relatively rare riff ending, it's pretty clear that Jeff and his bandmates are having fun being out there night after night after missing out on so many nights of performing over the past 18 months. And that was obviously evident on the aforementioned show-closing Helter Skelter — on which self-proclaimed Beatles freak Pat beamed as he shared his mike with probably another Beatles freak in YFF guitarist Kurt Bloch on one side of the stage, while Glenn banged away on his kit with support from theatrical Fellows drummer Tad Hutchison on a small snare drum and cymbal setup that was brought out and Jeff stood near John happily playing electric guitar while watching good friend and YFF leader Scott McCaughey do his frontman thing. It was also true on an impromptu and frenetic I'm A Wheel, which preceded Helter Skelter and replaced the planned encore of Misunderstood, Heavy Metal Drummer and I'm The Man Who Loves You, probably due to time reasons. So now it's onto the next portion of the tour in Northern California, and while the Fellows will no doubt be missed as road cohorts, let's hope that Wilco doesn't lose that joy for playing live anytime soon and that the band continues to explore different aspects of its catalog — including a return to more Ode To Joy songs, if Jeff and Co. are so inclined — as it continues to get its live legs back.