Wilco at Troxy
Wilco
Blitzen Trapper
Troxy, 25 August 2009
Last month a friend-of-a-friend scoffed when I said I loved Wilco and their new album, told me Wilco hadn't been interesting in years. I guess I'm now in the minority thinking Wilco are still cool. Popularity = uncool to many sadly. Of course this guy hadn't seen them live in years and, in my humble opinion, the last time I saw them two years ago they were probably the best Wilco shows I'd ever seen. Whether or not you think they've "matured" or turned all "dad rock", every time I catch them live it convinces me once again they are still an incredible band and without a doubt one of the best live acts out there. And that's why I was especially excited to see them again, my seventh time no less. Plus they had a particularly cool support act lined up: Blitzen Trapper.
I first heard Portland band Blitzen Trapper last year when they released their third album Wild Mountain Nation, and they made me do a little double take with their odd mix of sounds. The new album, Furr, I think is a little more commercial but live you can definitely hear all the contrasting influences. If I had to describe what they sound like, I'd probably sum them up as powerpop meets southern rock with a little country thrown in too, which sounds bizarre but they somehow make it work beautifully. It's like sometimes all you need is the confidence and the right attitude to pull off that clashing green jumper and red jeans, and Blitzen Trapper mix these different genres and pull it off in style. Most of the material they play is from Furr, with singer Eric Earley(looking very Syd Barrett-esque from the side) switching from guitar to cool synthy keyboards throughout the set. The band also had three members with beards, including a very Nordic looking drummer, which instantly makes them cool in my book. The crowd seemed disinterested though. I'm not sure what you have to do to impress some people because Blitzen Trapper were absolutely great. I can't wait to see them again.
And so to Wilco. I had hoped for a glimpse of their infamous country-style Nudie suits but instead Jeff Tweedy (looking very tousle-haired and cool) and the boys wandered on stage in more casual attire, except guitarist Nels Cline, of course, wearing his customary too-short red trousers. No surprise really that they start with the poppiest number from the new album, Wilco (The Song), telling us all that "Wilco will love you, baby". Live it actually sounds rockier, like a punk-infused powerpop song. It's a good start and sets up the show well, because tonight all the band, especially Jeff, were in a seriously good mood and even the drunken Scottish man beside me who spent the show shouting "you're the man Jeff, I love you!" and insisted on him helping get his friend down from the balcony got some friendly and very amusing banter out of the often grumpy Mr Tweedy. But then it's Jeff's birthday and the audience even treat him to an impromptu singsong of Happy Birthday (later a roadie comes out with a cake, complete with candles, leading the crowd once again in singing Happy Birthday but the first was cooler because it came out of nowhere).
Music-wise the tracks that stood out for me were the newer ones simply because they sounded so much better live. I worried that Bull Black Nova would sound too much like Spiders live, but instead it was taut, tense and precise, very cool. One Wing already sounds classic, just building and beautiful, full of emotion, while Deeper Down was gorgeous and sweet and You Never Know pure fun, almost sounding like a Summerteeth tune live. The real Summerteeth songs came in the form of Nothing’severgonnastandinmyway (again), Can't Stand It and A Shot In The Arm, which had all the crowd singing but aside from a twangy Forget The Flowers and a rare outing for jaunty Mermaid Avenue/Woody Guthrie track Hoodoo Voodoo (out of all the songs from those two albums that was probably one I wanted to hear least), which ended the show, that was it for older songs sadly.
The rest of the show concentrated on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, A Ghost Is Born and a few Sky Blue Sky tracks, but to be fair many of these songs (I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, I’m The Man Who Loves You, Jesus, Etc.) are just incredible live. In particular the Krautrock build of Spiders (Kidsmoke) - prefaced by Tweedy attempting to get the crowd to clap Queen-concert-style, which ended up with him leading the crowd singing We Are The Champions - which allows Nels to wail beautifully on his guitar, and the punky fun of I'm A Wheel made the night for me.
But despite these things this was far from my favourite Wilco show and I'm not sure why (Dublin in 2007, with its mixture of rare tracks and favourites still holds that special place in my heart). I know partly it's down to the venue, which is plain odd with a very makeshift looking stage. It's an old Art Deco cinema, absolutely beautiful to walk into, but weird as a rock venue and sound-wise very echoey and not very warm. So although the band were in good spirits, the atmosphere and the sound weren't there for me. And maybe, just maybe, Tweedy is more intense when he's his grumpy old self. Either way, this was a great show but I'm expecting even better things when they return in November to play The Forum.
Below is a clip of the crowd singing Happy Birthday to Jeff. What nice fans we are!
I first heard Portland band Blitzen Trapper last year when they released their third album Wild Mountain Nation, and they made me do a little double take with their odd mix of sounds. The new album, Furr, I think is a little more commercial but live you can definitely hear all the contrasting influences. If I had to describe what they sound like, I'd probably sum them up as powerpop meets southern rock with a little country thrown in too, which sounds bizarre but they somehow make it work beautifully. It's like sometimes all you need is the confidence and the right attitude to pull off that clashing green jumper and red jeans, and Blitzen Trapper mix these different genres and pull it off in style. Most of the material they play is from Furr, with singer Eric Earley(looking very Syd Barrett-esque from the side) switching from guitar to cool synthy keyboards throughout the set. The band also had three members with beards, including a very Nordic looking drummer, which instantly makes them cool in my book. The crowd seemed disinterested though. I'm not sure what you have to do to impress some people because Blitzen Trapper were absolutely great. I can't wait to see them again.
And so to Wilco. I had hoped for a glimpse of their infamous country-style Nudie suits but instead Jeff Tweedy (looking very tousle-haired and cool) and the boys wandered on stage in more casual attire, except guitarist Nels Cline, of course, wearing his customary too-short red trousers. No surprise really that they start with the poppiest number from the new album, Wilco (The Song), telling us all that "Wilco will love you, baby". Live it actually sounds rockier, like a punk-infused powerpop song. It's a good start and sets up the show well, because tonight all the band, especially Jeff, were in a seriously good mood and even the drunken Scottish man beside me who spent the show shouting "you're the man Jeff, I love you!" and insisted on him helping get his friend down from the balcony got some friendly and very amusing banter out of the often grumpy Mr Tweedy. But then it's Jeff's birthday and the audience even treat him to an impromptu singsong of Happy Birthday (later a roadie comes out with a cake, complete with candles, leading the crowd once again in singing Happy Birthday but the first was cooler because it came out of nowhere).
Music-wise the tracks that stood out for me were the newer ones simply because they sounded so much better live. I worried that Bull Black Nova would sound too much like Spiders live, but instead it was taut, tense and precise, very cool. One Wing already sounds classic, just building and beautiful, full of emotion, while Deeper Down was gorgeous and sweet and You Never Know pure fun, almost sounding like a Summerteeth tune live. The real Summerteeth songs came in the form of Nothing’severgonnastandinmyway (again), Can't Stand It and A Shot In The Arm, which had all the crowd singing but aside from a twangy Forget The Flowers and a rare outing for jaunty Mermaid Avenue/Woody Guthrie track Hoodoo Voodoo (out of all the songs from those two albums that was probably one I wanted to hear least), which ended the show, that was it for older songs sadly.
The rest of the show concentrated on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, A Ghost Is Born and a few Sky Blue Sky tracks, but to be fair many of these songs (I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, I’m The Man Who Loves You, Jesus, Etc.) are just incredible live. In particular the Krautrock build of Spiders (Kidsmoke) - prefaced by Tweedy attempting to get the crowd to clap Queen-concert-style, which ended up with him leading the crowd singing We Are The Champions - which allows Nels to wail beautifully on his guitar, and the punky fun of I'm A Wheel made the night for me.
But despite these things this was far from my favourite Wilco show and I'm not sure why (Dublin in 2007, with its mixture of rare tracks and favourites still holds that special place in my heart). I know partly it's down to the venue, which is plain odd with a very makeshift looking stage. It's an old Art Deco cinema, absolutely beautiful to walk into, but weird as a rock venue and sound-wise very echoey and not very warm. So although the band were in good spirits, the atmosphere and the sound weren't there for me. And maybe, just maybe, Tweedy is more intense when he's his grumpy old self. Either way, this was a great show but I'm expecting even better things when they return in November to play The Forum.
Below is a clip of the crowd singing Happy Birthday to Jeff. What nice fans we are!
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