|
|
 Bad Luck Meets Good Vibrations
Jeff Tweedy and Wilco talk and perform their way out of a problem-ridden set at the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville
By Charles Wyrick
Jeff Tweedy sure can talk. As a matter of fact, he got caught talking some shit about Fayetteville recently and “those poor sons of bitches who live there”—that from the stage of the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. To add insult to injury, he directed these comments at us the very night before his band, Wilco, was scheduled to play the Walton Arts Center. Don't worry; he got his just deserts. Karma came a calling in Fayetteville. Wilco's Arkansas debut was punctuated by minor equipment failures and technical setbacks. Tweedy's amp cut out, he broke a string on his acoustic guitar, and at one point, his trusty Gibson SG simply quit working (bad cable or bad luck?). So mid-show Tweedy cursed his own loose tongue and openly confessed to what he'd brought on himself. “I'll never talk bad about you guys again,” he promised from the stage. See what happens when you talk trash about the Natural State?
But technical difficulties weren't the only problems Wilco battled during last month's performance in Fayetteville. Arguably the greatest obstacle Tweedy faced that ill-fated Saturday night wasn't his gear, it was his fans. His admirers just wouldn't shut up. The front row was especially obnoxious. “TWEE-DEEY!! YOU ROCK!!” from a guy pumping both his fists in the air, front row and center. Unrelenting, this guy continued to yell during a quiet acoustic guitar intro until Tweedy actually stopped the show for him. “Excuse me, sir,” he said. “Yes you in the baseball cap. Listen. I know you're excited and I appreciate your enthusiasm, but is there any way you can hold off on all the shouting until we have actually finished playing the song?” And that wasn't it. From there Tweedy launched into an almost five minute lecture on proper concert etiquette. Like I said, the man can talk. But you know what? Somehow, while calling down his super fan, Tweedy didn't sound like an asshole. He was funny and polite, even a little self-effacing, as he gently reprimanded the overzealous Wilco-ite. And even though he was dead serious about getting this yahoo to rein it in, you also got the feeling that Tweedy wasn't trying to be a killjoy. He just wanted to make sure that everyone was having a good time, not just the front row. So Jeff Tweedy isn't an asshole after all. Hats off to him for being polite to a boisterous fan, for showing patience and good humor with gear glitches, and for singing like a damned bird.
In case you haven't heard, Wilco is a many-headed beast of a rock 'n' roll animal these days. Having weathered several line-up changes over the past couple of years, the band's current lineup seems fixed. Along with longtime bassist Jon Stiratt, Jeff Tweedy is now joined on stage by ace keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen, drummer extraordinaire Glenn Kotche , avant-spazz guitarist Nels Cline, and multi-instrumentalist/windmill-aficionado Pat Sansone. With this cast of characters, Wilco has become a super-band of the sub-genre. The Fayetteville concert was proof positive. The band played admirably and left few stylistic stones unturned. The sweet and sour pop of “Jesus, Etc.” followed the kraut-rock groove-y “Spider (Kidsmoke).” The Velvet Underground -influenced “Handshake Drugs” lead into a Velvet-Underground-playing- Pet-Sounds version of “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart.” Wilco played a country-tinged foot stomper called “Forget the Flowers” and a Southern rock sing-a-long named “Kingpin.” Taking a wide view, the show highlighted Wilco's newest release, A Ghost Is Born , a collection of songs ranging from Van Dyke Parks piano pop to Neil Young- style ballads. But more than that, the concert showcased Wilco's enviable powers as a live band.
To that end, Nels Cline in particular brought both an unbridled enthusiasm and his own brand of unconventional musicianship to Wilco's Fayetteville show. As guitarist for both the Geraldine Fibbers and Mike Watt, Cline has been blowing minds as a sideman in the alterna-concert world for years now. And the Walton Arts Center show was no different. Cline took every solo as a chance to indulge in playfully maniacal expressions. At times his guitar squealed and screeched as he raked his pick behind the bridge or scraped the neck with what looked like a long, screen-door spring. Dressed in high-water pants that revealed red-and-black stripped Pippi Longstocking- style stockings, Cline convulsed and twitched when he soloed. Head thrown back and shoulders quivering, his tremulous body language mimed the spiky, erratic flights of his breaks. When he wasn't attacking his frets, Cline hunched over a table full of effects and processors where he coaxed eerie sounds out of a wild collection of DIY tone generators (a toy ray gun, for one) and various audio devices (a Korg Kaoss Pad from the way he seemed to be playing it ).
As fun as it was to watch a performer like Cline on stage, the greater thrill of the night came from experiencing Wilco, the band, as a whole. This lineup breathed new life into the night's set list. Even Wilco's most recent songs were played with surprising new touches. The piano driven “Theologians,” for instance, trucked along with a Stones-y swagger, while “Hell Is Chrome” emanated an unsettling tension not heard on CD . As for the older songs, both the violin-less “Jesus, Etc.” and thermin- lacking “I'm Always in Love” worked well with guitars and keyboards covering for their hooks, but the highlight of the evening had to be the delicately played “Muzzle of Bees.” Starting with it's lightly picked guitar figure, the song, throughout, felt as if it was holding its breath. Tweedy sang softly as Kotche stirred a gentle pattern on his snare. In an intimate venue like the Walton Arts Center, the subtleties of this piece sounded particularly ephemeral. The song parts fluttered at a low volume, rising only slightly to fill the gaps left when Tweedy wasn't singing. And to that end, an entrancing instrumental coda grew out of song's final chorus , with Cline weaving graceful guitar lines across a rising chord progression. The moment was mesmerizing.
After a great show like the one at the Walton Arts Center I'll be the first one to say to Tweedy, all is forgiven.
Set list: At Least That's What You Said>Handshake Drugs>I Am Trying To Break Your Heart>Forget The Flowers>Hummingbird>Muzzle Of Bees>Airline To Heaven>Bob Dylan's 49th Beard>California Stars>Hell Is Chrome>Spiders (Kidsmoke)>Jesus, Etc.>Walken>Theologians>I'm The Man Who Loves You>A Shot In The Arm
Encore 1:The Late Greats>War On War>I'm Always In Love>Kingpin
Encore 2:Heavy Metal Drummer>Monday>I'm A Wheel |
