Happy Belated 15th Anniversary TDIT!- Young Fresh Fellows Live 2001

 

 L.L.Y.F.F.

Yes! The Young Fresh Fellows are well and very much alive, as this past year they've been quite active. About a week ago, the Fellows wrapped up a mini-opening tour with pals, Wilco with a handful of live shows in the Pacific Northwest. This summer the Fellows celebrated the 20th anniversary of Because We Hate You with a it's first release on vinyl (with a bonus disc of unreleased outtakes, For Those Naseous Times) and late last year on Record Store Day they released, Toxic Youth. This resurgence of YFF activity has me optimistic I might have an opportunity to see the band live hopefully in the near future. I've seen a few live videos of the band opening for Wilco on YouTube, but if anyone has any live audio recordings of any of the shows, please let me know, would love to share here!

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, been busy, but I'll make time for much more posts! I almost forgot to mention that this blog has been on the world-wide web for 15 years now, which is hard to believe sometimes. Thanks so much for your support all these years and I still get joy writing about and listening to live music. I haven't seen a live concert since the pandemic began, but soon the US/Canada borders will open up, so that's promising!

 

I thought it would be appropriate to post a Young Fresh Fellows show from their 2001 tour in support of Because We Hate You. It's a great sounding show with the Fellows set sandwiched between the Minus 5 and headliners, the Fastbacks. (I think I have the Minus 5 set from the same night, if so, I'll post it) I don't think the Fellows have toured the States as extensively since this tour, which took them to the East coast as well, with many of those dates opening for the Soft Boys.

Enjoy!

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use

Please share!

 

Essential Listen of the Week:

In this case watch! Wilco and the Young Fresh Fellows combine forces for the finale encore in Seattle for their last show together on the tour.

Wilco/Young Fresh Fellows- Helter Skelter

 

 

YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS
Bottom of the Hill
San Francisco, CA
March 3, 2001
soundboard

01. Dancing In The Moonlight
02. Middleman Of Time
03. Hillbilly Drummer Girl
04. Why I Oughta
05. Wonder What She's Doing Tonite?
06. For The Love Of A Girl
07. Strychnine
08. Taco Wagon
09. Picture Book
10. She's A Book
11. Worthless
12. Lay You In The Ground
13. My Friend Ringo
14. Get Outta My Cave
15. Beer Money
16. Your Truth, Our Lies
17. Gotta Get The First Plane Home
18. Meet Me At the Rockabilly Store (?)
19. Tomorrow's Gone (And So Are You)

YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS- 2001-03-03 Bottom Of The Hill, SF, CA FLAC. rar

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! 

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use

Please share!

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 

Wilco- First Avenue, June 29, 2001: 20 Years Ago!

 

 

It's hard to believe it's been almost 20 years since the release of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the fourth album from Wilco. The story behind the recording of the album and the complicated mess surrounding it's release was beautifully documented in the film, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart: A Film About Wilco directed by Sam Jones and the excellent book, Wilco: Learning How To Die by Greg Kot. I read and watched both and it gives you the inside story and circumstances behind YHF. A quick recap: the album was recorded in late 2000 and early 2001, Glenn Kotche (new drummer) joins the band for the recording, personality struggles and power battles ensue between Jeff and Jay, Jay Bennett is fired from the band, Reprise Records (the band's label) rejects the album, Wilco subsequently acquires the rights of the record, Wilco streams the entire album for free on their website on September 18, 2001 (the original date the album was suppose to be officially released), the album is officially (retail) released by Nonesuch Records on April 23, 2002. The result: the band's website on September 18 received over 50,000 hits to stream the record, the album was critically acclaimed placing it on many "best of" lists for the year, the decade and all-time, it is Wilco's best selling work and considered by many their "masterpiece".

I was one of those people that streamed the album on Wilco's site, but I had already listened to tracks from file sharing networks, as well as unreleased outtakes and alternative versions of the songs. Reminiscing about this album was special for another reason. I road-tripped it to Minneapolis to see a pair a shows from Wilco on June 29 & 30th, 2001 at the legendary First Avenue club. This was the first show that Wilco performed songs from the album, between the two nights they probably played all the songs that would be on the still-to-be released, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The 29th show was drummer, Glenn Kotche's live debut with Wilco and the show on the 30th was Jay Bennett's last club show with the band, he would play two more outdoor shows in Milwaukee and Chicago. 

 

Wow! Well worth the $20 it cost to attend the concert!

 

I made the trip alone and I obsessively prepared my recording gear which at the time was a Sony cassette recording Walkman (WM-GX35) and a cheap, but decent stealth stereo mic. I labeled and smuggled in extra Maxell tapes and spare batteries into my pockets. Thinking back, I really liked recording with that deck, sure it was a pain in the ass to blindly flip or change the tape within the 45 minute side and try not to move or bump into anyone during the show, but it was no frills, you didn't have to worry about sound levels. It was press record, look at my watch and try not to stress. These recordings turned out sounding not too bad, but there is a lot of crowd noise and chatter as I was smack dab in the middle of the crowd on the floor. It documented the event exactly how it sounded to my eyes. The two nights kind of blurred together, but there was a buzz in the air that made it feel this was something special. I saw a couple members of Golden Smog/The Jayhawks hanging in the backstage area and there was a film crew there (maybe both nights?) that turned out to be the crew for the Wilco documentary. In the film, there is footage shot at the First Avenue and if you watch the DVD bonus special features, a full song is shown from the concert. I'm pretty sure you can see me knee deep in the crowd! This was my first time seeing Wilco live and seeing and hearing the new material for the first time was definitely the highlight and the songs were warmly received. The only negative of the night was during the second encore during the quiet, Reservations that Tweedy performed solo, some idiot in the crowd threw something at Jeff. Not sure what, maybe a crumpled piece of paper (?) or a beer label (?), but regardless the show was over after he finished the song. I believe they planned to play a longer encore, at least a few more songs, but Jeff appeared to be pissed. The next night's encores more than make up for this shorter show. To be continued...

Enjoy!

 

The master tapes from the two concerts. Viovoom (Jessy Greene's band) opened both nights.

 

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use

Please share!

 

WILCO
First Avenue
Minneapolis, MN
June 29, 2001
AUD Master (cassette)

01. Misunderstood
02. A Shot In The Arm
03. War On War
04. I'm Always In Love
05. How to Fight Loneliness
06. Hesitating Beauty
07. Blood Of The Lamb
08. She's A Jar
09. Forget The Flowers
10. Airline To Heaven
11. Remember The Mountain Bed
12. California Stars
13. Sunken Treasure

Encore:
14. encore break- crowd
15. Jesus, Etc.
16. Kamera
17. I'm The Man Who Loves You
18. I Got You (At The End Of The Century)
19. Hoodoo Voodoo
20. Casino Queen
21. Monday

Encore 2:
22. Reservations

Wilco- 2001-06-29 First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN FLAC Master. rar

Blake Babies- 15 Years Ago...Philadelphia 2001

http://www.getoffyourknees.com/pix/julesings.jpg

http://www.getoffyourknees.com/pix/kickitjules.jpg

If you're a fan of the Blake Babies, this is a big week. Yesterday, the band digitally released a collection of songs, the Earwig Demos for those that pre-ordered the album on Pledgemusic (yes, I did!) and yesterday, the band reunited for a pair of shows in their hometown of Boston. The demos are officially available for the first time ever, a nice complement to the original album, Earwig released back in 1989.


The Blake Babies haven't performed together since their last reunion tour 15 years ago in 2001. They previously disbanded in 1992, they first united in 1999, played some shows in 1999 and 2000 and embarked on their last U.S. tour in 2001. During their last run, the band released the album, God Bless The Blake Babies which I think stands up well to their earlier albums. Before they split their very last recording, Epilogue was released in 2002. The return of the Blake Babies is a very pleasant surprise and right now I feel regretful I didn't travel to Boston and Evanston, IL (July 23) to see them live one more time. Hopefully they feel rejuvenated and enthused to tour outside these cities in the near future, but I feel I blew another chance. I regret I didn't see them in Minneapolis in 2001, but some decent live recordings from the tour made the bad decision less painful.

http://www.onlyeverything.dk/PhilGallery/index.htm

To coincide with the Blake Babies latest reunion shows, I'm posting a show from their final leg of the 2001 tour with the third last (?) show in Philadelphia. It's a great sounding recording and the band is in good form. I can't get enough of Juliana live, but there's some sort of musical magic when she performs with John and Freda.
Enjoy!

**Hopefully someone is taping the shows (Boston, Evanston), please let me know and I can post here! Thanks!**

BLAKE BABIES
North Star Bar
Philadelphia, PA
July 19, 2001
AUD

01. Cesspool
02. Until I Almost Died
03. unknown jam (Hospital)
04. Baby Gets High
05. From Here To Burma
06. Nothing Ever Happens
07. Star
08. Civil War
09. Lament
10. Picture Perfect
11. Severed Lips
12. Walk A Thin Line
13. talk
14. Disappear
15. Out There
16. Rain
17. On
18. Girl In A Box
19. Let Me Roll It
20. Downtime

BLAKE BABIES- 2001-07-19 North Star Bar, Philadelphia, PA FLAC. rar

The Soft Boys- TLA, Philadelphia, PA March 20, 2001

This year, I only took in one day at the annual Winnipeg Folk Festival and I opted for the Sunday (last day of the four day festival) because there were a couple performers that I wanted to see. The evening featured Jenny Lewis and Wilco as final mainstage headliner acts (more on them next post) which was enough for me to shell out over $80 dollars for the one day.

One of the acts I was looking forward to was Robyn Hitchcock who I hadn't seen live yet. Unfortunately, his daytime hour long solo concert conflicted with two other daytime stage concerts I also wanted to see. I opted for the other two, but beforehand attended a multi performer set featuring Robyn, Dan Mangan and The Weather Station, titled "I Get A Kick Out Of You". While each person took turns trading off songs, it was apparent this wasn't the ideal way to get a real feel for Robyn's music live, as it was more of a sampler, but at least I was able to see him perform 4 of his songs. I recorded the whole set (except maybe the last song from TWS) and I may eventually post it.

Personally for me, my favourite Robyn Hitchcock's songs are from his time with his band, The Soft Boys. Robyn fronted this band from the mid-70's to 1980 with a couple of critically acclaimed albums, though they were somewhat underappreciated at the time. Hitchcock filled the following decades, 80's and 90's with his band, The Egyptians, as well as solo albums and touring. The Soft Boys reformed in 2001 with a reunion tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Underwater Moonlight, probably their best known album. As a companion piece to the Young Fresh Fellows TLA recording I posted last month, here's the headlining set by the reunited Soft Boys from 2001. It's an amazing set of their "hits" and the sound is fabulous!
Enjoy!!

THE SOFT BOYS
Theatre Of The Living Arts
Philadelphia, PA
March 20, 2001

DISC 1
01. Intro
02. You'll Have To Go Sideways
03. He's A Reptile
04. (talk)   
05. Queen Of Eyes
06. Old Pervert
07. Gimme A Part Of Rock'n'Roll
08. Underwater Moonlight
09. (talk)  
10. I Wanna Destroy You
11. Kingdom Of Love
12. Evil Guy
13. The Face Of Death
14. Leppo And The Jooves
15. Sudden Town
16. Insanely Jealous

DISC 2
First Encore:
01. Intro   
02. Airscape
03. The Pulse Of My Heart
04. Only The Stomes Remain
05. Mr. Kennedy

Second Encore:
06. Each Of Her Silver Wands
07. The Bells Of Rhymney
08. Where Are The Prawns?

THE SOFT BOYS- 2001-03-20 TLA, Philadelphia, PA, FLAC part 1. rar 
THE SOFT BOYS- 2001-03-20 TLA, Philadelphia, PA, FLAC part 2. rar

Young Fresh Fellows- TLA, Philadelphia, PA March 20, 2001

Since it's my birthday today (or yesterday, depending when this gets published), I thought I would treat myself and fellow Fellows fans itching to hear more live recordings. I acquired this recording through an old fashioned trade about 14 years ago, but instead of trading disc for disc, I send an assortment of candy and snacks unique to my hometown. Seems strange, but my trade partner who had the master recording proposed this idea and I took up the challenge. I can't remember exactly what I sent in the over-stuffed padded envelope, but it included packs of Clodhoppers, Mordon's chocolates, some seeds and probably some Old Dutch products. If we were in the age of instagram and selfies, I'm sure I would have taken a photo, but of course I didn't think of it at the time. I ended up spending much much more than the value of a blank cdr and the shipping alone was close to ten dollars. For a rare Young Fresh Fellows live recording it was well worth it!

This is a great sounding show that sees the Fellows opening for Robyn Hitchcock and the Soft Boys during an all too brief tour of the U.S. East Coast. It was wonderful to hear the Fellows playing live outside of the Seattle area during a time when they hadn't played much live. At the time they were touring in support of the double CD split, Young Fresh Fellows, Because We Hate You and the Minus 5's, Let The War Against Music Begin. I have some other recordings from that tour, so 2001 was a very good year (and a comeback of sorts) for the Fellows. As far as I know, this recording hasn't been widely shared, though I may have included it in a trade of two since. The recording is an audience, but it sounds better and the Fellows in a jovial mood so it's a must-hear for fans.
Enjoy!

YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS
Theatre of the Living Arts
Philadelphia, PA
March 20, 2001

Audience DAT> cdr> received in a trade>
Nero Startsmart Rip> wav> FLAC> rar
01. Intro (Robyn Hitchcock)
02. Universal Trendsetter
03. Barky's Spiritual Store
04. Lonely Spartenburg Flower Stall
05. When The Girls Get Here
06. Good Times Rock'n'Roll
07. Mamie Dunn, Employee Of The Month
08. Down By The Pharmacy
09. How Much About Last Night Do You Remember?
10. ...All My Clothes Are Hanging In The Bank
11. I Wonder What She's Doing Tonite
12. 76 Trombones
13. Little Teen Thing
14. Worthless
15. ...My Love Is Gonna Lay You In The Ground
16. Hank, Karen And Ringo
17. ...A Toast
18. Rock'n'Roll Pest Control
19. Give It To the Soft Boys
20. Topsy Turvy Theme

YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS- 2001-03-20, TLA, Philadelphia, PA FLAC. rar

Grant Hart- Live @ Valentines 2001

A couple of nights ago (an hour before the deadline), I pledged money to help fund another Kickstarter project. The film, Every Everything, The Music, Life & Times of Grant Hart has already been filmed and edited and is in the last stages of sound mixing before it's film festival premiere this summer. It looks like a very interesting film about an interesting (and troubled) life led by the former Husker Du drummer. I first heard about this project soon after director, Gorman Bechard released a previous project, Color Me Obsessed (film about the The Replacements) through Kickstarter (that I also donated to) and since Husker Du was my number 2 fav Minneapolis band of the 80's I was curious about this project. I've always been more of a "Grant" guy and preferred Hart's song's to Bob Mould's during their time with Husker Du. I have seen Grant perform solo (in the 2000's) and with his band Nova Mob (in the 90's) and though he's not the best performer, he is passionate about his music and after watching the mini-trailer about the film, I had to be involved or at least have a copy of the film before it becomes commercially available. It's now too late to pledge to the project, but keep your eyes open for it this summer at a film festival near you or on dvd sometime in the near future.

I'm presenting a fantastic solo show that Grant did in 2001 in Albany, NY. The setlist is killer with a nice mixture of Husker Du, Nova Mob and solo songs. I acquired this show through a trade over ten years ago and I also have a recording of the show I went to when he was in town in the mid-2000's. I posted the Valentines concert because the sound is excellent and superior to my recording. The show I went to he had lots of issues with the sound and it was disgraceful that only a handful of fans attended the show at the West End Cultural Centre...but, this one's a keeper!
Enjoy!

GRANT HART
Valentine’s,
Albany, NY,
March 22, 2001

01 - flexible flyer (cut)
02 - green eyes
03 - sorry somehow
04 - you don't have to tell me
05 - evergreen memorial drive
06 -little miss information
07 - pink turns to blue
08 - admiral of the sea
09 - back from somewhere
10 - she floated away
11 - terms of psychic warfare
12 - don't want to know if you're lonely
13 - books about ufo's
14 - girl who lives on heaven hill
15 - it's not funny anymore
16 - never talking to you again
17 -standing by the sea
18 - turn on the news
19 - letter from ann marie
20 - where you gonna land..
21 - over my head
22 -you're the victim
23 - last days of pompei
24 -run run run to the center pompidou
25 - charity, chastity, prudence and hope
26 - she's a woman and now he is a man
27- outro

GRANT HART- 2001-03-22, Valentines, Albany, NY FLAC. rar

The Minus 5 Gets Down With Wilco- September 15, 2001

Actually, it was more like Scott McCaughey and Wilco, on this night 9 years ago, today. Four days after the horrific events of 9/11 at the World Trade Center, the Minus 5 and Wilco performed a show at the Abbey Pub in Chicago to try out some new material they had just recorded together that would later surface as, Minus 5-Down With Wilco. During the first set, Scott fronted the Minus 5 with the members of Wilco as the supporting band (usually the band consists of Scott with Peter Buck and a rotating cast of band members which sometimes includes, John Ramberg, Ken Stringfellow and Bill Rieflin). They were more than a regular backing band, as earlier in the week that had been in the studio working on this collaborative album. The band showcased "never before performed" songs that would be on the album. One of the songs they recorded and performed on this night, I'm Not Bitter was in fact recorded on 9/11, which included the ironic line, "But I'm not bitter, I'm not bitter, not at all, just a lot". This song was written by Scott and Tad Hutchison (from the Fellows) 10 years earlier and Scott recorded it originally with the Young Fresh Fellows as a b-side to I Hate Everything, released in 1991.

The second set of music was Jeff Tweedy and Wilco, performing several songs from their yet to be released album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, as well as earlier material. Scott returns for the encore with a few more songs from the Minus 5/Wilco band. An amazing night of music and it was probably a good break for the band after days together in studio and their it gave their fans a night to let loose after the intensity and devastation of the previous days events. This is a great sounding recording and one of my personal favourite shows!!

MINUS 5 and WILCO
Abbey Pub
Chicago, IL
September 15, 2001

Set 1
The Minus 5:
01: Intro: Wilco #2
02: Life Left Him There
03: Retrieval Of You
04: Where Will You Go?
05: Daggers Drawn
06: That's Not The Way That It's Done
07: Days Of Wine And Booze
08: I'm Not Bitter
09: View From Below
10: The Night Chicago Died
11: (I've Got) A Lyrical Stance

Set 2
Wilco:
01: I'm Always In Love
02: War On War
03: Pick Up The Change
04: Should've Been In Love
05: I'm The Man Who Loves You
06: Ashes Of An American Flag
07: Hesitating Beauty
08: Passenger Side
09: Shot In The Arm
10: She's A Jar
11: California Stars
12: Outtasite (Outtamind)
13: Sunken Treasure

Encore:
Minus 5/Wilco:
14: Break/Crowd Noise
15: Modern World
16: I Wish I Was Your Mother (Tweedy vocal)
17: Lies Of The Living Dead

MINUS 5- Live At The Abbey (set 1) 9-15-2001. rar
WILCO- Live At The Abbey (set 2) 9-15-2001. rar