Wilco- First Avenue, June 30, 2001: 20 Years Ago!

 

 

It's amazing what a year makes. With the vaccines for COVID-19 being distributed as we speak, music tour scheduling is starting to ramp up, especially south of the border in the U.S. Here in Canada, concerts and tours are much more pared down with the restrictions province to province slowly loosening. There are some small shows and bigger tour dates that are proceeding with selling tickets again for concerts in the fall. For a band like Wilco, they have recently added more shows to their schedule with already about 40 dates from August until late October, so far. A lot of those dates are make-up shows for ones that were postponed last spring and a proposed tour with Sleater-Kinney for last summer is going ahead in August. I would love to see Wilco with the Young Fresh Fellows for a bunch of shows in October on the U.S. west coast! Since the Canada/U.S. border is still closed, I don't want to take the gamble of buying a ticket and not being able to travel due a continued closure or a possible 4th wave. I will have to be content this summer watching and listening from afar, hopefully a lot of  live shows will be recorded and shared.

One of my favourite places to travel to for concerts is the closest large city, about a 7 hour drive to the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul). I've seen lots of amazing shows at various venues and it's an opportunity to see bands that normally don't make it to my neck of the woods. The last time we made the trek was to see the Posies three years ago at the Turf Club in St. Paul and unfortunately due to this pandemic we haven't been back since. It seems the time of year we end up in the Twin Cities is around this time, June/early July and I've noticed there are plenty of cool shows there booked now. The trip 20 years ago to see Wilco was one of my most memorable concert trips. I normally don't travel alone, but this was one of those pilgrimages I wanted to experience, to attend both nights and indulge myself in record store shopping nirvana that is sometimes best to partake alone.

The second night of the two night stand for Wilco was even better than the night before. The band seemed more comfortable with the new material and the set included a few more songs from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot they debuted. They opened with the chill, Via Chicago to ease into the show, the previous night they opened with Misunderstood that crescendo-ed with Jeff shouting "nothing" so many times I thought he would blow his voice or a blood vessel. One of the reasons the second night has the potential to be an even better show, is that if the band is feeling good, extra encores are possible. No resting up for the next night. The highlight was definitely the three encores, the band was on fire and the crowd was very appreciative (and polite), they didn't want the concert to end. Wow!

 

A couple more notes:

• Viovoom, a band fronted by Jessy Greene opened both nights. It was appropriate as Jessy has performed with Golden Smog (Tweedy was in that band) and locally was a member of the Jayhawks. It was a treat to see her on stage with Wilco during Jesus, Etc, since she played violin on the recording for YHF. I've always love Jessy, she adds so much to the sound of GS/Jayhawks and her solo material is really good. A very underrated talent! (I recorded their set both nights as well and the sound quality is better thanks to less crowd chatter.)
• This was guitarist, Jay Bennett's last club show. As I mentioned in the last post he played two more outdoor shows including his final show for the 4th of July show in Chicago. I sensed some un-comfortableness with Jay on stage and his interaction with Leroy Bach when they both played keyboards side by side. I thought it was nothing, but...
• The lineup onstage for Wilco these two nights was Jeff Tweedy, Jay Bennett, John Stirratt, Glenn Kotche and Leroy Bach. This exact lineup only played 4 shows together. (correct me if I'm wrong)
  
• The First Avenue is one of those venues that is a must-see if you visit Minneapolis. There have been many classic shows there and I've seen a bunch of good ones. The sight-lines aren't great, as I've watched all the shows on the floor, but the sound has always been decent. My most vivid memory (of the shows I've been at 10 years ago and earlier) is that people just drop their beer bottles on the ground, so the floor is covered in pools of beer and broken glass. Is that still a "thing" there? or anywhere else??

Enjoy! 

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See Wilco on tour and buy their records!

 

WILCO
First Avenue
Minneapolis, MN
June 30, 2001
AUD Master

01. Via Chicago / A Shot In The Arm
02. I'm Always In Love
03. War On War
04. I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
05. Hesitating Beauty
06. Remember The Mountain Bed
07. Airline To Heaven
08. Feed Of Man
09. She's A Jar
10. Ashes Of American Flags
11. Kamera
12. How To Fight Loneliness
13. California Stars
14. Red-Eyed And Blue / I Got You (At the End Of The Century)

Encore:
15. Misunderstood
16. Jesus, Etc.
17. Sunken Treasure

Encore 2:
18. Reservations
19. Passenger Side
20. Outtasite (Outta Mind)

Encore 3:
21. Forget The Flowers
22. Monday
23. Casino Queen

 

WILCO- 2001-06-30 First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN FLAC Master. rar