Tweedy at the London Palladium

Tweedy
Arc Iris
London Palladium, 4 November 2014

"Tonight we're going to be playing songs from the album I've recorded with my son, Spencer," said Jeff Tweedy at the start of the show tonight, "then I'll play some older songs on my own and after that, well, who knows! I might re-enact scenes from The Lion King!" And that pretty much sums up Tweedy's appearance at the London Palladium: new songs, old tunes and lots of funny chat from the man himself. Jeff's quips and good-humoured banter with the audience may seem run of the mill stuff but given that he used to be incredibly grumpy on stage and even used to start fights with the crowd (the first London Wilco show ended in a punch-up I'm told) it's actually one of the best parts of the show.

It's funny how obsessed I was with Wilco for a few years: they were my absolute favourite band and when I went through a really terrible time in my life I even travelled over to Dublin just to see them live and the whole experience really did help me get through it. Such is the healing power of music. I must admit they've since fallen out of favour with me partly due to the last couple of albums being less than thrilling to me as well as seeing a couple of underwhelming Wilco shows. Because of that I almost didn't go to this show: it was a belated change of heart down to enjoying the new Tweedy album (recorded, as mentioned above, with his son Spencer on drums and much more fun than the last two Wilco records) and finding a cheap last minute ticket.

The last time I went to the Palladium, funnily enough, it was to see another alt-country favourite, Ryan Adams. This time the first thing that struck me was the abundance of middle-aged men nursing pints. Not that I'm getting any younger myself, but it did bring it home to me that Wilco really has become, as charged, a proper dad rock band (Adams, on the other hand, still attracts a wider range of ages). Most of them, in fact, were more interested in their beers than catching the support act, Arc Iris. I was actually really pleased to see they were supporting tonight as I had wanted to catch them live ever since hearing their self-titled debut album. The band apparently started as a solo project for ex-Low Anthem singer Jocie Adams but tonight she has a full band. Dressed in a very tight gold cat suit, she sits behind keyboards at the centre stage back to back with fellow piano player Zach Tenorio Miller, who looks like something out of a crazy, wild-haired psychedelic band in the 60s, so both are in profile rather than facing the audience. The line-up (all also dressed in gold) was completed by a cellist and drummer.

Jocie's voice reminds me a little of Anais Mitchell and the music isn't a whole world away either: a lovely mixture of folk, country and baroque. I didn't see their whole set but they were certainly a quirky entertaining watch, with Jocie proving animated and energetic throughout, despite tasked with playing keyboards and she certainly sparkled in all that gold. The most memorable song was the track that ends her album and the set tonight, Swimming, which had a jaunty carnival feel that built into a big jazzy circus. They were enjoyable enough on the Palladium stage but I have a feeling they would be incredible in a smaller venue.

Although Tweedy (the band) is billed as just Jeff and his son, they actually had a full band with them including a keyboardist, bassist and lead guitarist, which I guess makes sense given there are all those things on the new album, Sukierae. The album itself reminds me a little more of Jeff's side-project band with Jim O'Rourke, Loose Fur, rather than Wilco and I don't know why but I actually underestimated Spencer's part in it all until tonight, as the songs that he plays loud drums on, rather than the more simple, quieter more country-flavoured tunes, are the ones that most impress.

The first part of the show, as Jeff said, was all songs from the Sukierae album aside from the non-album track Why Why Why (which is actually on the St. Vincent movie soundtrack - a Bill Murray film, nothing to do with the band!) and a cover of a song by late Chicago singer-songwriter Diane Izzo, Love Like A Wire, who Jeff says only released one album and they are trying to keep her memory alive. It certainly made me intrigued to check her out.

The band then left Jeff alone with his acoustic guitar and he treated us to a range of Wilco classics, as well as the old Uncle Tupelo song, New Madrid. And this has always been why seeing him solo is so appealing: you hear songs from throughout his career, far wider than just his Wilco tunes. In fact, the best moment of the night for me came with the surprise outing of Please Tell My Brother, a song he did with alt-country supergroup Golden Smog, which was genuinely moving. Also great was Passenger Side from Wilco's debut album A.M. - back when they were more of a country band - and its simple storytelling works perfectly in a theatre show like this. At the end though Jeff reveals he's sung it so many times that he's able to think of other things as he's playing it, like where his keys are. "Not that I'm not putting everything into the performance, " he quickly reassures us. "It's very emotional for me knowing where my keys are."

And that's when it all suddenly becomes a comedy show. Some woman (hey, it turns out I'm not the only one here!) shouts out "I want to take you home, Jeff!" (I can't imagine he gets that very often.) Momentarily lost for words, some dude counteracts "Me too!" Jeff laughs and says "There's a fight over me now". Telling the woman he has his son with him, she shouts again it's only for a guitar lesson. "Is that what they're calling it these days?" he jokes. "Honestly, you don't want a guitar lesson from me. It would be even worse than having sex with me." Poor old Jeff! He later reveals that a review once stated that you need to see him close up "to see how ugly Jeff Tweedy really is". This was after sadly noting some empty seats in the first row, and stating that "word must have got round!" Despite the female attention, when he asks someone to fill them and a bunch of blokes rush down, he sadly says, "typical, all dudes!" It made me wish I had gone down, it would have been nice to have got one good photo!

The best I could do sadly!

For the encore the band returned to play one of the best songs from Sukierae, Please Don't Let Me Be So Understood, again with great drumming from Spencer. ("Hey Spencer, did you hear some lady wants to take me home... for guitar lessons?" Son shakes his head, acts mock embarrassed, as you would.) The rapport between father and son was actually really nice throughout: with Spencer's drumkit placed beside Jeff at the front of the stage, they often looked at each other and smiled as they were playing.

The final songs were two of the tunes Jeff wrote for Mavis Staples (Only The Lord Knows and You Are Not Alone), which Jeff seemed really proud of (he also produced her last two records), as well as a cover of the old Doug Sahm song, Give Back The Key To My Heart (which appeared on the Uncle Tupelo album Anodyne). I've always loved his version of this great song so it was a real treat to hear it and they seemed to enjoy playing it too. Finally there was a genuinely lovely version of California Stars, which I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing and always is a wonderful end to any show.

This wasn't the best Jeff Tweedy gig I've ever been to but it is one that crept up on me in the best possible way, slowly winning me over from mild indifference to warm wonder. It may be because it was the first show of their European tour and it's certainly because Jeff's son is along for the ride, but it is really nice to experience the funny, sweet and friendly Jeff Tweedy, certainly for an intimate show like this one. Dad rock it may be (and the presence of Spencer of course re-enforces that) but sometimes there's something pretty cool about that.