Wilco at The Forum
Wilco
The Forum, 4 November 2009
A few years ago I saw Placebo play the Reading Festival where they had the misfortune of their bass amp breaking down mid set. It was a painfully boring set anyway, I had seen them years earlier where they seemed more in their element playing small venues, but on the huge stage they lacked the charisma to fill it and the situation was made even worse when their equipment failed. But rather than adapting and making the best out of a bad situation by maybe talking to the crowd while the problem was fixed, or singer Brian Molko performing something unplanned by himself, the band, without a word to the audience, walked off the stage and left the thousands in the packed audience just standing in the mud with no music or entertainment for 15 minutes, waiting for them to return. When they finally came back they resumed their set without a word and I completely lost any respect I had for them as a live band. A simple problem had left them flustered and unable to stray from what they had rehearsed and even communicate with the audience. But last night at the Forum, Wilco, and Jeff Tweedy in particular, proved what an incredible band they are by facing a similar situation and coming up triumphant.
Planning to play two more songs at the end of the second encore (sadly both older numbers from Being There and Summerteeth - Monday and Outtasite - I would have loved to have heard both) the band, coming too close the 11 o'clock curfew, found their equipment turned off (I'm guessing by the venue). Having already promised at least one more song, the crowd was calling for more. "I don't know if we can play it" Jeff told the crowd, but met with boos, he gamely put down his electric guitar ran to the side of the stage and picked up his acoustic. Standing right at the edge of the stage, as near to the crowd as possible, he began to play Someone Else's Song without a microphone or any kind of amplication, and it was simply fantastic. By the end the whole crowd was singing along and Jeff and the band left the stage to roars of cheers. It was one of the best endings I've ever witnessed to a gig.
But it wasn't just the final number that left a lasting impression, this was one of the best Wilco gigs I've ever seen (having seen them eight times now) and, despite losing some of the older numbers at the very end due to the curfew, it was about a thousand times better than the Troxy gig in London a couple of months earlier (which despite being on Jeff's birthday and was a very happy, loose show, was let down by the crappy sound in the venue). From the moment the band walked on stage and began playing Ashes Of American Flags, it was clear they meant business. And the sound was surprisingly fantastic. The Forum can often be pretty muddy sound-wise, which is why it has never been one of my favourite venues, but for Wilco's set it sounded crisp and absolutely perfect, in fact I hope they play there again because it's the best I've ever heard them. From the post-rock feel of Black Bull Nova, to the pop thrill of A Shot In The Arm, to an absolutely breaktakingly awesome Side With The Seeds, each song was a highlight.
The show was surprisingly light on songs from the new album (four in total: the afore-mentioned Black Bull Nova, One Wing, I'll Fight and Sonny Feeling) but all sounded great and held up against classic material, which bodes well. Despite this someone in the crowd still amusingly shouted "PLAY THE HITS!" to which a confused Jeff replied "Play the hits? Where have you been, man? These are the "hits"!"
One of the best moments for me came about halfway when Jeff warned us they were going to play something from their (in my opinion, under-appreciated) first album, A.M. "I'm just letting you know so you can go get a beer or take a break..." he said, before re-thinking his comment and adding, "but if you do you'll miss out because it's going to be awesome!" For some strange reason Jeff thinks everyone hates their first album, which is definitely not the case because when they burst into Box Full Of Letters there were cheers and it was utterly glorious to hear live. More A.M. (and Being There) songs please Wilco.
Another memorable moment came when the band got the entire audience to sing Jesus, Etc instead of Jeff, the entire venue becoming a choir of people singing "Jesus, don't cry, you can rely on me honey..." I've heard them do this before but not so successfully, with so many joining in, and it sounded beautiful. The main set ended with Jeff guitar-less and swinging his microphone like Roger Daltrey on Hummingbird.
There were two encores (the first featuring a sublime Via Chicago and one of the best Spiders (Kidsmoke) I've heard them do) and the second seemed like they didn't want to stop, in fact after three songs (usually the limit for encore) they were planning on doing two more. Sadly, as I said before circumstances led to just one final impromptu but stunning acoustic number from Jeff. It proved that, unlike Placebo, Wilco are a band who knows how to work an audience, be spontaneous and have fun doing it. And it made me remember everything I loved about the band and more.
Below is Jeff's totally acoustic performance of Someone Else's Song.
Planning to play two more songs at the end of the second encore (sadly both older numbers from Being There and Summerteeth - Monday and Outtasite - I would have loved to have heard both) the band, coming too close the 11 o'clock curfew, found their equipment turned off (I'm guessing by the venue). Having already promised at least one more song, the crowd was calling for more. "I don't know if we can play it" Jeff told the crowd, but met with boos, he gamely put down his electric guitar ran to the side of the stage and picked up his acoustic. Standing right at the edge of the stage, as near to the crowd as possible, he began to play Someone Else's Song without a microphone or any kind of amplication, and it was simply fantastic. By the end the whole crowd was singing along and Jeff and the band left the stage to roars of cheers. It was one of the best endings I've ever witnessed to a gig.
But it wasn't just the final number that left a lasting impression, this was one of the best Wilco gigs I've ever seen (having seen them eight times now) and, despite losing some of the older numbers at the very end due to the curfew, it was about a thousand times better than the Troxy gig in London a couple of months earlier (which despite being on Jeff's birthday and was a very happy, loose show, was let down by the crappy sound in the venue). From the moment the band walked on stage and began playing Ashes Of American Flags, it was clear they meant business. And the sound was surprisingly fantastic. The Forum can often be pretty muddy sound-wise, which is why it has never been one of my favourite venues, but for Wilco's set it sounded crisp and absolutely perfect, in fact I hope they play there again because it's the best I've ever heard them. From the post-rock feel of Black Bull Nova, to the pop thrill of A Shot In The Arm, to an absolutely breaktakingly awesome Side With The Seeds, each song was a highlight.
The show was surprisingly light on songs from the new album (four in total: the afore-mentioned Black Bull Nova, One Wing, I'll Fight and Sonny Feeling) but all sounded great and held up against classic material, which bodes well. Despite this someone in the crowd still amusingly shouted "PLAY THE HITS!" to which a confused Jeff replied "Play the hits? Where have you been, man? These are the "hits"!"
One of the best moments for me came about halfway when Jeff warned us they were going to play something from their (in my opinion, under-appreciated) first album, A.M. "I'm just letting you know so you can go get a beer or take a break..." he said, before re-thinking his comment and adding, "but if you do you'll miss out because it's going to be awesome!" For some strange reason Jeff thinks everyone hates their first album, which is definitely not the case because when they burst into Box Full Of Letters there were cheers and it was utterly glorious to hear live. More A.M. (and Being There) songs please Wilco.
Another memorable moment came when the band got the entire audience to sing Jesus, Etc instead of Jeff, the entire venue becoming a choir of people singing "Jesus, don't cry, you can rely on me honey..." I've heard them do this before but not so successfully, with so many joining in, and it sounded beautiful. The main set ended with Jeff guitar-less and swinging his microphone like Roger Daltrey on Hummingbird.
There were two encores (the first featuring a sublime Via Chicago and one of the best Spiders (Kidsmoke) I've heard them do) and the second seemed like they didn't want to stop, in fact after three songs (usually the limit for encore) they were planning on doing two more. Sadly, as I said before circumstances led to just one final impromptu but stunning acoustic number from Jeff. It proved that, unlike Placebo, Wilco are a band who knows how to work an audience, be spontaneous and have fun doing it. And it made me remember everything I loved about the band and more.
Below is Jeff's totally acoustic performance of Someone Else's Song.
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