A sold out Roxy Theater in San Francisco’s Mission District erupts with applause watching Wilco play the final notes of “War on War.” The guitars, drums, bass, and piano piercingly work their way to a traditional rock show climax as the last song prepares to come to a dramatic ending. Guitarist Nels Cline whiplashes back and forth with his Fender guitar while drummer Glenn Kotche, drenched in sweat, makes his final rounds on his elaborate kit. Jeff Tweedy, the band’s illustrious front man, screams “You have to die if you want to be alive!” but is perfectly composed and in tune. They are not actually standing on stage but are being projected on screen as Ashes of American Flags, Wilco’s new film about their American tour last year, plays for only the second time ever. Almost everyone in the audience would give anything to actually be there singing along and dancing to Wilco’s act in person, but even on screen, their live performance is emotional, exhilarating, and so damn loud that each person is nearly convinced that they are. The credits roll and the audience begins cheering as director and producer Brendan Canty stands in front of the room. Very cunningly but assertively, he says into a microphone, “More than anything, I wanted to capture that Wilco is in fact the best live band in the world.” The crowd roars with approval, but unfortunately, no encores or bonus footage tonight.
In Ashes of American Flags, Wilco does not play in sold out stadiums or arenas. Screens the size of basketball courts are not visibly hanging behind them demonstrating any new hi-tech, visually stunning screen savers capable of paralyzing Seth Rogen and James Franco on their couch for hours. Forget the fireworks or MacBook Pros, Wilco only brought their instruments and plenty of them. 70 or so to be exact, but most of them packed for precaution. In a great, (sorry Canty, the “best”) live rock and roll band, you can never be too careful. Wilco’s simply gunning for this title the old fashioned way. Gig and gig whenever you can, but not necessarily wherever you can. Sure that’s easy for a band from Chicago that’s been together for 15 years, headlined festivals, won a Grammy and have probably endured nearly every problem, setback, and broken string known possible in the rock world. But even on the verge of releasing their 7th studio album, Wilco The Album, Wilco apparently has something to show and in the words of Bill O’Reilly, “fuck it”; they’ll do it live.
“They are sublimely talented musicians who put on a solid, if not a tad understated live show,” says MTV Music writer James Montgomery. “Compare that to a band like the Hold Steady, who are also constantly touted as 'the best live act in America,' and are the antithesis of 'understated.' Maybe the secret is in the statement.”
Maybe this is because this isn’t The Hold Steady or the same Wilco fans and critics have seen since 1994 when they first started or even in 2001 when their first documentary, I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, an unveiling but disconcerting film by Sam Jones on the highly tense and problematical making of their fourth studio album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, was released. Major changes to the group have happened since then. Members have come and gone. Or maybe because they’re rock and roll veterans with a lengthy track record and don’t feel the necessity to compete with newer mainstream acts like Coldplay, The Killers, or Radiohead. It could simply be a matter of reaching their peak with the intention of never coming down, at least not anytime soon.
“I think Wilco are certainly in their prime popularity wise,” says Montgomery. “They're never going to sell 1 million albums or have songs on the radio, but since when do either of those things matter in this day and age? They will always sell-out tour dates, they will always make money, which means they are the text-book example of a 'successful' 21st-century rock act.”
For Jeff Tweedy, making more records isn’t a personal ambition to some way escalate Wilco into a new level of popularity or success. The man just loves writing songs and feels misplaced without it. In an exclusive interview with GQ in March, Tweedy admitted this dependence on writing and creative process.
“It’s something I love to do, and it doesn’t hurt anybody. And the world probably doesn’t need any more songs, but I need more songs,” confesses Tweedy. “It’s satisfying and lovely to do. I feel better, and as a band—I think I can speak for everyone—we feel better making something that wasn’t there ten minutes ago.”
Creditably conveying this burning musical fortitude live seems like an entirely different ballgame, but certainly something Wilco and their fans again feel capable of mastering without platinum records or technological assistance. For last year’s Sky Blue Sky tour and the performances shown in Ashes of American Flags, Wilco intentionally booked many of their concert dates at what they felt were forgotten but significant American venues. This way the band felt more able to connect to the audience, the cities, and what they found was a rapidly changing United States. This type of touring may start converting Wilco into a different type of accessible band because you simply can’t expect them to only play Madison Square Garden or the Hollywood Bowl. Their fixation over old, classic and yet nearly extinct ballrooms and concert halls is more appealing to them. And as a band with a mounting reputation for their performances, Wilco finds this setting a threshold for their finest performance state.
“The venues are places that represent something that kind of doesn’t exist anymore. Like Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for instance—just sort of a disappearing part of America,” Tweedy tells GQ. “These are places that, I guess in a romantic way, we identify as the best parts of America, the most unique. Regional places that still have a regional flavor.”
And they sure do adapt wherever they go, wherever they land. Concertgoers and critics obviously aren’t always craving light shows and stage props as a primary reason for considering Wilco a worthy nominee for the best live act. Then what on earth are they talking about? The music? Well, yes that and a fan’s perpetual desire to feel part of the the magic, the show that one can’t help but think about obsessively and vividly weeks after the stage’s been torn down or the concert doors have been closed.
Wilco’s on stage demeanor and sense of humor is irresistible. An overabundance of jokes, one-liners and straightforward talking make them a humbling and very personal group of musicians. Audience participation and interaction is never out of the question.
“Why don’t you guys keep the beat for a moment,” Tweedy encourages the crowd of thousands during the middle of “Spiders (Kidsmoke)” at last year’s first annual Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco. “I know you can do this.” Thousands of hands hold themselves above hands and begin clapping simultaneously… but only for a moment.
Every member of the band silences their instrument, except Mike Jorgensen who steadily plays a few notes on the electric piano repeatedly to let everyone know where they are in the song. As the music becomes softer, the claps get louder and progressively out of sync. Something potentially remarkable has turned itself into a real mess, but it’s all in good fun and a result Wilco seems accustomed too. Wilco’s game of “Can You Keep The Beat?” is officially a failure and the now disgruntled, but good-humored audience boos the metrically hopeless.
“All you guys had to do was keep your hands above your head and clap,” mocks Tweedy wearing a short-sleeved black shirt and a pair of slick orange Aviator sunglasses. Tweedy’s lighthearted wit causes the audience to laugh. “But this is San Francisco. Home of the greatest concert goers on the planet!,” he reminds them. Cheers roar across the crowd; no one in the audience naturally disputes.
“I generally want to be enthralled. Excited. Moved,” Montgomery says of live shows. “I think the band has to take the crowd with them on a voyage. They have to make them believe. To me, musicianship is almost secondary to showmanship … this is probably why I don't like jam bands.”
Exactly. Don’t expect 20-minute drum solos or guitar jam frenzies from Wilco that would leave Jimmy Page, Ginger Baker or the crowd at a Dave Matthews concert pulling their blood shot eyes out. The closest Wilco can do is play a highly electric and pulsating guessing game of “Spiders (Kidsmoke).” In that game, no one ever knows when the band’s going to shoot out the song’s hard anthem riff and entangle the audience in a syncopated web of sharp distorted chords and thudding crashes. But even during a song like “Spiders”, Jeff Tweedy loves to get his audience in on the action. He even likes to test their musical ability by having them clap along and only endearingly teases them when the audience establishes that they are rhythmically illiterate.
In 2001, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot constituted the arrival of drummer of Glenn Kotche but departure of long time member Jay Bennett and record label Warner/Reprise. Wilco remained adamant during this time about getting what they wanted and refused to a make a more commercially sound album, a questionably haunting asterisk to their mainstream success but a very grateful decision by beloved fans nonetheless. In 2003, Wilco went back into the studio to record new record, A Ghost Is Born. For the album’s tour, Tweedy brought in three new musicians, three ringers that remain with the band until this day. Keyboardist Mike Jorgensen, multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone and guitarist Nels Cline officially joined Wilco in 2004. They arguably became the three key ingredients Wilco missed during those years, particularly Cline.
“Cline is really the key. He's dangerous and kind of a maniac up there,” says Montgomery. “He's pulling solos out of guitars, playing them with screwdrivers … he's a ridiculously good musician. And I think he's added a level of unpredictability, of chaos to the live set, and a degree of art-rock cool. He's the razor-sharp, bad-ass Yin to Tweedy's shambling, shaggy Yang. Plus he looks great in those rhinestone suits. You cannot downplay the importance of that.”
Since 2004, Wilco and current lineup have released Kicking Television: Live in Chicago and a sixth studio album Sky Blue Sky, but nothing has properly encapsulated and epitomized this Wilco as perhaps the greatest live act, even Ashes of American Flags. Anyone who has had the opportunity to catch Wilco’s act would agree that you really have to see the modern Wilco for yourself.
“Wilco is truly one of the best live bands I have seen in a long time. Jeff Tweedy and company are everything that’s right about rock music today,” says fellow MTV writer Matt Elias. “In age when pseudo-country power crooners like Nickleback are dominating the rock charts, we could use more Wilcos out there.”
Others don’t even glance into their past.
“I don’t consider any incarnation of Wilco other than the current lineup,” says David Wurzburg, Manager of Business Development at Rock River Music and long time fan.
Obviously, a band’s personality or change there of evidently can be everything for the audience, fashion too. Wilco is a typically casually dressed band, but isn’t afraid to stick on a cowboy hat or button up one of those rhinestone suits. For them, sometimes anything goes. Maybe it depends on where they are.
“Tweedy is certainly the everyman,” acknowledges Montgomery. “Tons of frat guys and insurance adjusters like Radiohead, and I don't understand why. Maybe because they feel cool for liking them? Like, in their circle of friends and/or co-workers, they're that music guy? I think Wilco probably falls under the same category: safe, competent, vaguely arty music that's not going to make anyone uncomfortable.”
Later during that sunny Sunday afternoon performance in Golden Gate Park, another notable exchange takes place. After an epic execution of “Handshake Drugs”, a female voice yells out from the crowd, “We love you Wilco!” Everyone seemed to take notice of the bold declaration, including the band. Instead of playing it cool or ignoring the classic words of concert affection, Tweedy walks up to the microphone, stares into the direction of the voice and sweetly responds, “We love you too person… in a massive… crowd of people.” More smiles and laughter emerge from the audience. Seconds later, Tweedy is handed another acoustic guitar with a capo on the 5th fret. Not everyone realizes it yet, but with the capo at that position on the guitar, the band is revving themselves for “Jesus Etc.”, Wilco’s perhaps most popular song fromYankee Hotel Foxtrot.
They are gliding through the first verses and chorus of “Jesus Etc.” with an emotional but effortless tranquility. The crowd redeems themselves with a soft karaoke like following of the lyrics. Tweedy lastly arrives to the song’s most distinguished words of affection and directs them to the outspoken female admirer. With open arms and a candid smile, he looks towards the fan and sings, “Our love… our love… our love is all we have!” At that moment, everyone could have had fallen in love with Jeff Tweedy, even Matt Elias.
“Interaction with the audience is key,” agrees Elias “No one wants to see a band rip through their set without acknowledging the audience, especially after they’ve paid a bundle to see them live.”
In their live shows, Wilco give the audience more than acknowledgment. They present themselves no more than gracious performers who simply love their fans and are best at what they do by knocking down the fourth wall.
No comments:
Post a Comment