It's a Concert not a Concerto

I’ve written about Wilco, and hence Jeff Tweedy indirectly, before. So if you don’t like it why are you here? Yes, I’m going to write about Jeff Tweedy again.

I went to see Jeff Tweedy play a solo show in Montreal at L’Olympia. Just Jeff Tweedy and 6 or so acoustic guitars. It was seated (read shitty) but there was a bar (read double Jim Beams). So we proceeded to drink our way through the opening act, at the bar, and waited for the headliner. We were seated well enough in advance that we didn’t disturb the precious Mr. Tweedy.

Before I go on, a bit of historical perspective. Jeff Tweedy is well known as a curmudgeon (I know). In the past, he was quite acerbic about it (read when he was on painkillers) but now sort of comes across as funny. I say sort of because you always wonder if there’s a bit of F-You in there (there likely is). I read a review of the previous night’s show in Toronto and someone from the crowd yelled “turn it to 11!” Jeff Tweedy looks at his acoustic guitars and says “I don’t have anything that goes to 11.” Pretty funny, but you know he was thinking “screw you pal” on the inside.

So, knowing this, I was tempted all night to start some witty banter (read double Jim Beam) with Mr. Tweedy. Luckily, I refrained. However, he did play one of my favourite songs (I don’t recall which – double Jim Beam) and at one point I started clapping. Again, this is a concert, with people whooping, hollering and the like. At one point during the song, others joined me in clapping. I can keep time, trust me, I paid for the lessons to learn how to keep time. But I got bored pretty quickly, as I am wont to do, and grabbed my drink and stopped clapping. The song ends and Jeff Tweedy says “I’d like to thank…” and in my head the sentence concludes with “…Mr. Mills for joining me on this song as my percussionist.” Rather the sentence ended “…whoever got that guy to stop clapping, it was distracting.”

Come ON! It’s a concert and I clapped. Heaven forbid I have some fun at a show. At least, Mr. Tweedy, you didn’t get Jim Beam spilled on you like the guy, um, nowhere near me.

The Last Post - 2 Wilco Shows in 3 Nights

I'm horrible at blogging lately. I just can't find the time or something that ticks me off enough to make a curmudgeonly post. So I'm giving this blog up. That's not to say I'll never blog again, in fact I want to, but I think it'll be without a curmudgeonly twist. Rather, I'll just blog about my life in general, maybe some concert reviews, things like that.

So I'm ending this baby the way I started it; with a concert review. But this time you get a two for one deal. I saw two Wilco shows in 3 nights last week. Don't know who Wilco is? For shame. Go to YouTube and check some shit out. Jesus etc. may be the best song of the 2000s.

We showed up late for the first show that was at the Olympia in Montreal. It's such a beautiful venue, with red and gold trim on the inside. It reminds me of an old theater, most likely because it is (built in 1925). As we walk in I can hear "Bull Black Nova", a song off the new album "Wilco". They apparently started with "Wilco (the Song)", which isn't one of my favourites anyway and followed that with "I am Trying to Break Your Heart", a song I'm upset I missed but I'll live.

So, I wasn't pleased about showing up late, but we didn't really miss much. We walk into the theater and have to settle for a spot at the back. No problems there, I generally like the back, though it's not tough to get to the front at a Wilco show, people are pretty mellow. But the crowd was buzzing. There was an excitement in the air, although it could have been just me being in MTL or the 4 shots of Jagermeister.

The show progressed as follows:

You Are My Face
One Wing
A Shot In The Arm
Muzzle Of Bees
Pot Kettle Black
Deeper Down

At this point, I'm thinking they don't have it tonight. The band wasn't tight and I wasn't feeling it, even after hearing my favourite song "A Shot in the Arm". Then they played "Impossible Germany". Now this song has one of the greatest solos in the world and Nels Cline nailed it. I almost bought a Jazzmaster because of him. I still think it wouldn't have been a bad idea, but I'm more than happy with my Tele.

Needless to say I was won over instantly. His guitar solo changed the whole complexion of the show like a fight can change momentum in a hockey game. And it was all gravy from there. The rest of the show went like this:

Impossible Germany
She's A Jar
California Stars
Summer Teeth
Jesus, Etc.
Handshake Drugs
You Never Know
Hate It Here
Walken
I'm The Man Who Loves You

Encore:
Broken Arrow (Neil Young cover)
Via Chicago
The Late Greats (dedicated "tonight, and always, to Anvil")
Heavy Metal Drummer
Red-Eyed And Blue
I Got You (At The End Of The Century)
Casino Queen
Hoodoo Voodoo
I'm A Wheel

Tweedy, a well known curmudgeon, was even in a good mood. Congratulating us on all of our gold medals and inviting us to sing "Jesus etc." He then said that it was the best he's ever heard (it wasn't, the crowd sang the first chorus twice). I also got a kick out of him dedicating "The Late Greats" to Anvil. Good stuff.

All in all, a good show. It started slowly, but hit high gear after "Impossible Germany".

I had a well deserved day of rest on Sunday, though I stayed up long enough to see that hockey game that a whole lot of people watched. The next day I was well rested, but fighting a cold. No matter, it wasn't going to keep me from the National Arts Centre to see Wilco.

We arrived very early, right before the opening act started. So we grabbed a beer and checked out the merchandise. Nice stuff, but nothing I really needed to add to my collection.

The opening act (Bahamas) starts and we head down to our seats. The NAC is a theater where you get all sorts of stuff; opera, theater, rock shows. I was concerned because it's seated. Seated places tend to have seated people. You don't sit at a Wilco show.

So we walk down to our seats and notice that we'd walk in front of half the row to get there. We weren't prepared to do that and the opener, while good, wasn't really something we wanted to check out. "Want to go back to the bar?" "Do I?!"

In all fairness, the opener was talented, it was just too quiet for my liking.

So, immediately after the opening act is done we make our way to our seats. There's no way we're missing any of this. We get to our seats, chat up some folks we know and then the lights go down. Here we go. The crowd stands right away as Wilco starts with "Wilco (the song)". So far the band seems much tighter than on Saturday night. Good sign.

They follow it up with "Bull Black Nova" and the crowd starts to sit. I say to Dino "Do not sit down; this is a rock show not an opera." Yet we sit anyway. The crowd rises again when "Company in my Back" starts next and I say "I don't care what happens, I'm not sitting again. This isn't church; you don't rise and sit and rise and sit." And we didn't.

The rest of the show progressed like this:

I am Trying to Break Your Heart
One Wing
Shot In The Arm
Side With The Seeds
Deeper Down
California Stars
Impossible Germany
Blue Eyed Soul
Handshake Drugs
You Never Know
Jesus, Etc
Poor Places
Reservations
Spiders
Hummingbird

Encore:
Broken Arrow
Via Chicago
Passenger Side
Hate It Here
Walken
I'm The Man Who Loves You

Another great show and the band was better on this night than Saturday. However, they still picked it up a notch during "Impossible Germany". Tweedy was genial again, though there were a couple of instances that I thought we'd be in for trouble. He noted how happy we all were and asked if we had won some major sporting event. Someone in the crowd yelled "entertain us" which made me cringe. I suspect he heard, though he said "I can't hear you, but it doesn't matter" and broke into whatever song was next. Things could have turned then and I suspect he's mellowed out (ahem).

He also asked us to sing Jesus etc. and noted that the crowd in MTL had done it better than anyone. He challenged us to top it. I suspect he knows nothing of Ottawa crowds. Anyway, we did fine, though he pointed out that we messed up the second verse (we did).

The guy beside me thought it'd be fun to guess every song before it was played. He'd been following them around for a bit and was in MTL too. So before every song he yells "Heavy Metal Drummer" or "Via Chicago" and then proceeds to sing whatever song they are playing. I don't like this. I came to hear Wilco, not drunk dude next to me. But I wasn't about to let that spoil my night. I let it go and it was all good from there. In fact, he was a good guy and he was just having his fun.

I was lucky enough to see two great shows in three nights. I also read online that my friend had two tickets to the show in Halifax and I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about flying down. I hope you ladies had as much fun as I had.

Well, the curmudgeon is signing off. Follow me on Twitter for microblogs and I'll post something new someday without the curmudgeon twist. Hope you had as much fun as I did.

RIP Jay Reatard

Jay Reatard's show was short and sparse. He may have played for a total of 30 or 45 minutes but they were the greatest 30 or 45 minutes I've ever spent at the Babylon night club. I don't recall him saying a word between songs but I do recall the vigor with which he strummed the chords to My Shadow and his long, curly red hair flying around violently.

Jay Reatard died earlier this week and many of you don't know who he is. Who he was was one of North America best young punk rockers. And by punk, this is what I mean:

If you are unfamiliar with the incident or the widely circulated YouTube video that came out afterward, the story goes something like this: Reatard (real name Jay Lindsey) hit the stage at Toronto's Silver Dollar at about 11 p.m. He and his band were in the middle of their fourth song when one audience member sauntered on stage and managed to disconnect Reatard's microphone. Reatard swung the concert goer around by the shirt and landed a punch square in the young man's face. Then he promptly packed up his things and walked out of the venue.

Apparently Jay didn't fuck around. I recall someone mentioning that he looked a bit like Carrot Top and I suddenly expected that person to end up with a fist or boot in the face. Sadly I was disappointed.

If you haven't heard Jay's music you should. I recently read he was on the cusp of greatness. Bullshit. He was great. The fact that the rest of the world didn't know it yet changes nothing.

The National Part Deux (or Shut up and Sing)

I saw the National again tonight, but this time at Bluesfest. They were much tighter than the first time I saw them earlier this year. The show was great and I really have nothing bad to say about their set or their sound; it was awesome. But two things happened at the show that grinded my gears.

First, there was some bad weather. It rained about 3 songs into the show. It's been raining regularly Bluesfest and we now go prepared with raincoats and umbrellas. So we open said umbrella and apparently obstructed the view of some biatch behind us (you'll see why she's a biatch shortly). I appreciate that an umbrella can obstruct your view. I also appreciate you coming to tell me that the umbrella is obstructing your view in a polite manner rather than poking my girlfriend and saying "Are you serious?!?!There are people behind you!" No shit? There are people behind us at a concert? I had no idea. Whatever happened to politeness? There really is a better way to say that and it's not that hard. It involves a magic word that I'm sure Bert and Ernie taught you once.

The second thing that annoyed me has annoyed me with bands for years. From the Dixie Chicks to U2 and even to Pearl Jam, bands have felt the need to pass their political and social agendas on to their fans during shows. I don't mind if bands are political or work towards raising awareness for a cause or do whatever it is they do. In fact I applaud it. But I don't like it when a band stops playing a third of the way through their less than one hour set, grabs a sheet of paper (you didn't even memorize it?) and wastes five minutes telling me about World Aid. I came to see you sing. Shut up and sing.

Great show though.

Freebird

I saw Steve Earle last night. I've been wanting to see Steve Earle for about 20 years, since I first heard "Guitar Town". We parted ways sometimes after the release of "The Hard Way", his fourth album. However, I rediscovered him when he released "Jerusalem" and went through his back catalogue to see what I missed. I missed a lot, some of his best work.

It was a great show. Just Steve, an acoustic and a harmonica, though the guitar was replaced by other string instruments from time to time. Steve just released an album called Townes, a tribute, consisting entirely of Townes Van Zandt covers. It's a beautiful album and makes for a beautiful show, soft, quiet and touching.

I hated being at that show last night. Not because of Steve or the music, it was a great show, hitting some classics like "My Old Friend the Blues", my favourite lyrical song of all time "Poncho and Lefty" and some of his renaissance songs like "Jerusalem" and "City of Immigrants". I hated the show because of all you one hit wonder lovers that can't just sit and enjoy a performance. You have to get loaded and yell out your request all night long. Note the singular use of the word request. Every drunk meathead at the Steve Earle show knew one Steve Earle song and felt like they had to yell at him to play it all night. Did you really think he wouldn't play it? Or, an even better question is; if you only wanted to hear one song, why did you even go to the show?

At one point during the show a particularly annoying drunk was yelling the title of the song he (and most other drunks) wanted to hear. Steve says "You better be careful man or you're gonna puke on that girl in front of you. I heard you the first time and I'm either gonna play it or I'm not." In other words, fuck you. That made my night.

Of course he played the song. My girlfriend noted that he didn't seem to enjoy it. I believe her exact words were "he looked like he was a slave to that song." He is. It's a fine song, but he's released 10 albums over the 21 years since that song has been released. It's time to move on.

Bluesfest Day One

My first band at Bluesfest was the Black Keys, not Flash Lightning as I had initially intended. The rain kept me off my schedule for the first act, but there was no way I was missing the Black Keys.

I arrived before the start of the show and grabbed a spot near the sound tent. This is my favourite spot to see a show. I always figure the best sound is near the sound engineers. The band started and I immediately loved that Bluesfest was back when I felt the beat of the bass drum on my chest.

The start of the show was a half good, half bad. Patrick, the drummer was amazing. The key can really beat the skins (ba dum bum). The singer, I forget his name but he looks like Charlie from Lost (but not Merry from Lord of the Rings), was fiddling around with gear a lot to get the sound of the guitar right. This is an important step for a band like the Black Keys since, like the White Stripes, they are only a two piece band. Also like the White Stripes, they put out a big sound that amazes you they there are only two of them. But after a few songs they had it and were awesome. No complaints here. This was the band I went to see this night and they didn’t disappoint.

I had no idea what I was going to do next. Jeff Beck was playing and I feel like I should like Jeff Beck. I don’t. So we perused the artists playing on other stages; Eric Lindell, John Campbell John, Van Der Graaf Generator, and Sergent Garcia. We hadn’t heard of any of them so decided to choose by best name. So, it was down to Van Der Graaf Generator and Sergent Garcia. Sergent Garcia was playing at the Black Sheep stage, a stage that generally hosts great, eclectic, up and coming bands.

Sergent Garcia was ok. I had fun, but I really wanted to see two other acts; Ibrahim Ferrer and Manu Chao. You see, if Ibrahim Ferrer and Manu Chao had a bunch of kids that formed a band, it would be Sergent Garcia. Not a bad thing per se, but not great either. At one point I said to my girlfriend “I bet they play Guantanamera”. Sure enough, when the string player picked up the Cuban Tres, he began Guantanamera and turned it into a sing along. I suspect Guantanamera is to Cuban bands as Barrett’s Privateers is to Maritime bands. You have to have it on your set list even though you don’t want to (and the crowd usually doesn’t either, unless they’re tourists).

All in all it was a good start to the festival. I’m glad I went and didn’t get wet.

Also, I am very impressed with Bluesfest’s green initiatives. Here’s what the media release:

For the past three years, the Ottawa Bluesfest organization has been recognized by the Recycling Council of Ontario with an Award for Waste Minimization'. The festival is asking all patrons to help make this festival the greenest event in Ontario. The Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest is the use of an innovative recycling receptacle, known as the ClearStream CycleMax. Field studies have proven that the ClearStream is extremely successful in the recovery of recyclable materials and greatly reduces the amount of litter sent to landfill sites. The ClearStream CycleMax utilizes a clear bag that is re-usable. As well, we have a new composting program onsite. Everything from food scraps to serving ware is compostable and can be placed in the new green bins. Please help us divert as much garbage to landfill by composting.

Don't forget to use the very popular and successful Cupsuckers. In conjunction with Molson Canada, Bluesfest continues to utilize compostable beer cups made from corn. Of the more than 200,000 cups that are used, 99% are separately disposed of without harming the environment. Please place your cups in the Cupsuckers located next to each garbage can. Bluesfest organizers will also encourage people to bicycle to the event by providing supervised bike parking.

Kudos to all the Bluesfest organizers on your green initiatives and awards. Shame on all you attendees for not using the cupsuckers, recycle bins, compost bins, and garbage bins.

Bluesfest

Tomorrow is the start of Bluesfest, my favourite time of the year in Ottawa. I’m looking forward to 12 straight days of music. You can check out my itinerary here. It’s optimistic, but I’m hoping to see most of those bands.

Bluesfest has continued to impress me over the years. It first started with the cup suckers (a nifty tube to drop your used beer cups in), then the corn based beer cups and the bike valets. Not to mention the music. I’ve seen some of my favourites, like Wilco, Primus, Snoop, and Manu Chao, and introduced to bands I hadn’t heard at the time, like Gogol Bordello, Broken Social Scene and Metric.

I do however have one gripe with Bluesfest; the chair dwellers. I have no issue with you bringing a chair to an outdoor show, especially one that runs all day Saturday and Sunday. I have an issue with you planting your chair near the stage and sitting during the show. I have an even bigger issue with those of you that get upset with those of us who like to get close and, by virtue of your choice to remain seated, block your seated view. Also, it really crowds the front area when you and your chair take up as much space as two people.

This problem was seemingly solved a few years ago when there was a dedicated section for people with chairs. It looked a bit silly though. It even prompted Jeff Tweedy to joke that he didn’t know most Wilco fans were in wheelchairs. The solution only lasted a year, coincidentally, the last year the festival was on city hall grounds.

So I’m begging you all who attend the festival this year, please, please, please, if you bring a chair, try to find a spot that is not only convenient for you, but that is convenient for those of us who like to get near the stage on our feet.. If you must sit near the front of the stage, then please don’t get upset with people who like to stand near the stage.

The National at Metropolis in Montreal

The National played at Metropolis in Montreal this past Friday night. I went. I told G that I'd give a review, so here it is. The show was good.

There was an opening act that was a guy playing a huge saxophone that sounded like elephants dying. Baby elephants. I liked it.

The National started off mellow and slow. They lost my attention pretty quickly. As the show progressed, they stepped it up and played with greater intensity. This grabbed my attention and the review in my head went from "these guys are better as dinner music" to "these guys know how to rock and how to create a slow, steady build." Though I think they should make more rock tunes instead of the dinner music stuff.

Now, some complaints. Some people have rules and etiquette they like to adhere to at concerts. I used to think I was one of those people. But as the National lost my attention early on, I started breaking those rules. I was texting people to keep myself entertained. My friends and I were loud during the performance. We were then asked to quiet down by a bystander.

If I were that girl, I probably would have been upset with us too, though I likely wouldn’t have said anything. I’d just stare with that librarian “quiet down” stare. And to her credit, she was kind in making the request. But my initial reaction was annoyance. We were at a rock show. In a bar. In Montreal. At the back of the crowd near the bar. She could move closer to the stage or away from us.

Now I understand that we weren’t being the most considerate people at this show. But even though we were loud, we were not obnoxious. In fact, I think we were fun (though I’m reminded of Homer Simpson’s recollection of his drinking binges being different than the actual events).

Upon reflection, my annoyance turned to confusion. What are the rules of etiquette for a rock show? Should you just be quiet and still while we watch a show and only make noise to applaud between songs? I don’t think so. I’ve seen this at a Sufjan Stevens show, it’s eerie.

So where do you draw the line? Are the rules different for each band? By location (bar vs arena vs concert hall)?

I don’t have all the answers, though I think the girl, Jen was her name, has a better handle on it than I do. Whatever is happening, you are at a rock show to see a performance. Be considerate. But also have fun. Don’t let others spoil it for you. If someone is being too loud, ask them to quiet down as nicely as possible, like Jen. If that someone is you then try to keep it down, but not at the expense of having your own fun.