Gdrlv

Wilco played Vegas last week for the first time ever. I was pretty damned excited. In my opinion, they're among the most talented bands of all time. As per usual in Vegas, the crowd was mostly tourists...in this case people who had been betting on NCAA games all day. Wilco comes out and opens with a new song, follows it with another new song, and follows that with yet another new song. The crowd is almost completely unfamiliar with the music and begins to talk. Jeff Tweedy doesn't like this one bit and unleashed the following (paraphrased, obviously)..."I see a lot of people talking out there, and in case you didn't notice, there's a band on the stage. I hope all of you won a whole lot of money out there today so you can justify paying to see a concert and not even listen to the f***ing band." For the rest of the show, he was visibly annoyed, played the songs faster and with way more feedback than usual and really didn't address the crowd at all anymore, except to say that Wilco would not be playing "Casino Queen" because they did not endorse Las Vegas or gambling. (That drew a pretty big groan from the crowd.)

At first, I was happy that Tweedy was attempting to get the crowd to shut up. I'm not so much anymore. First, as a member of the audience, the crowd was not speaking loudly enough to disrupt the show, and it was a bit rude. I was personally loving the show, but I'd heard most of these songs already online. The majority of the crowd hadn't, and I think their talking was more indicative of the band's failure to capture the attention of the more passive Wilco fans in the audience. Plus, he really didn't have to go out of his way to insult the town he was playing in. I live in Vegas; I don't love it, but it is where I live. I'm more than aware that it is a cartoonish place to live without having my favorite band insult it.

Anyway, that's my rant. Have any of you had similar experiences where the band onstage showed annoyance with the audience?

Yancey

I've been to too many shows where artists yell at the audience to mention. I think it's a good thing.

Just thought I'd add (so Penny Lane can see this), that Wilco are releasing 17 million albums this year. My most anticipated is the O'Rourke album. Two of my heroes come together at last!

http://www.billboard.com/billboard/d...ent_id=1433047

Penny Lane

I've been to concerts where the singers yell at the crowd, but not like that. Sounds like the band or Tweedy, at least, have problems with Las Vegas, especially with the comment on "Casino Queen" and then saying that he guess they had "won alot of money". Sucks that you had to have to concert ruined like that, though.

Yancey, thanks for the link. I like O'Rourke, too. Did either of you buy the Uncle Tupelo anthology? I didn't even know it had come out.

Gdrlv

It made a lot of people that I talked to angry actually. Tweedy came off looking very whiny and pushy. Wilco's playing to a nearly sold-out crowd at the House of Blues in a town they've never been to before, and that's how we're greeted. I was talking to a girl that came from D.C. just to see the show...it was her 5th time seeing Wilco, and her reaction was "Jesus, I knew Tweedy was a bit pushy, but what a whiny prima donna. He had no reason to be that pissed." I agree. 99% of the crowd was giving Wilco a great reception...cheering loudly and being attentive despite the fact that most of the songs were unfamiliar, and he just didn't like how a few people were acting. In my opinion, Tweedy was unfortunately more inconsiderate than the people he saw that were talking throughout the show.

It was still a good show, but unfortunately, my reaction to it is a bit mixed due to Tweedy's words. Ah well, I've already resigned myself to the fact that I'll probably have to drive to LA or Phoenix if I ever want to see 'em again...

By the way, Penny, I'm going to pick up the UT retrospective after work. Wasn't going to since I've got all their discs, but I want the rarities and am hoping the remastering improved the sound quality of their earlier stuff...

Penny Lane

I sorta wish I hadn't read this. I want to like the band.

Yancey

The song to look for on the UT retrospective is "Sauget Wind." Easily UT's best song, it was only released as a 7", which I have somehow lost. Sucks, very much. But the song is amazing, a Jay number in the vein of "Punch Drunk." Only more beautiful. Has always been one of my favorite songs by any artist.

Yancey

Why does it matter? He's allowed to act however he wants to. For the most part he is gracious to his fans, especially women (not as in groupies, but as in the fact that most Wilco fans are frat-boy meathead mooks who only like Being There and he likes to know that girls dig him too). He had an off night. It sucks that it was when you saw him, Gdrlv, but everyone has an off night. One of my favorite bands, Unwound, I've seen four times, everyone of them an off night. They are supposed to be great live but everytime I saw them someone had the flu. Terrible. And now they've broken up...

Penny Lane

really??? not around here.

Gdrlv

I still love the band. Tweedy's always seemed alright in interviews I've read, and like Yancey said, everyone has an off-night, and you can't judge anyone by one night. He was obviously mad about something, and I thought his words were inappropriate. But who knows where his words came from. I'm not going to hold that against them though. Plus, even if the band were all raging idiots, they still make some of the greatest music I've ever heard, particularly Tweedy.

With that being said, I think that "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" may be in the running for the best song he's ever written (along with "New Madrid", "Misunderstood", and "Candyfloss" in my opinion). I absolutely love the lines "I want to hold you in the Bible black pre-dawn" and "Take off your band-aid 'cause I don't believe in touchdowns."

Also, Yancey's right. I was pretty shocked by the number of frat boy meatheads at the show. Although the majority of the crowd were the arty indie people I'm used to seeing at shows...

Penny Lane

Me too.
Wilco at Atlanta

Gdrlv

Since I just thought of it (and can't believe I forgot this), part of the reason that his words upset me so much was that there was a ridiculously excited girl standing next to me, and he chastized the audience right after she yelled out..."I love you, Jeff, and thank you so much for playing Las Vegas!" in between songs.

Yancey

Wilco has a huge frat boy following. It's all from Being There. You go to any show and there are scores of them. The crowd is always male-dominated and filled with baseball caps. Either middle aged or frat boys. I'm hoping that the new record will ditch that part of their fanbase. I'm sure the O'Rourke album will.

GDRLV: You listen to "Sauget Wind" yet? I'm curious as to what you think of it.

Gdrlv

The Vegas show actually had plenty of ex-frat boys...nicely pleated khakis and Polo button-downs. There were actually quite a few female fans in the audience as well. One thing that did impress me was the diversity of the crowd...the aforementioned fans who could have easily been at a Dave Matthews show, hippies, indie rock kids, alt-country fans. Wilco's got a pretty broad fanbase. As with any show though, the frat boys always make their presence known by being loud and rowdy.

Yancey: I actually just listened to "Sauget Wind" on my way to work. It's a great song that definitely has the potential to become one of my favorite Farrar tunes. The Anthology is actually a really nice package...glad I picked it up. I've also always really dug their version of "Effigy" from the No Alternative cd. I lost that disc long ago, so I'm glad I've got it again.

By the way, I've got a couple of Wilco shows on cd. Last night while cooking dinner, I was listening to one from Detroit in November of 2001. Tweedy yelled at the crowd for talking while they were playing! Good to know it wasn't just Vegas that had incurred his wrath anyway. The only difference...he yelled, they played one song, and before the next song, he apologized.

Heat

From Wilco's "Casino Queen" song, from the album A.M.:
The band members are from the metro St. Louis area (the Illinois towns just over the Mississippi river from Illinois). The Casino Queen is a riverboat in East St. Louis.

Suaget is a town in the metro St. Louis area, it is a pretty dirty town (contamination wise).

Yancey

That's what the song is about, the pollution that the winds brought to Belleville, where they lived. Jay, Jeff & Mike lived above a beer factory and down the street from a prison, which says a lot about their music.