Neil and Wilco – T.O. – Night two

[thomson]

Unsurprisingly a fabulous evening. Logistically it was refreshingly straight forwarded. Waited in line fifteen or twenty minutes, walked right in to the second row.

No hassle.

No pushy-shovies behind me.

Everest was fine. The sound quality was fair at best but it was nice to have some live music while I waited for Wilco (and I do have a certain soft spot for indy rock clapping).

I had never seen Wilco before and they fulfilled my expectations nicely. My show mate had never heard Wilco other than in my car on the way to town and she loved their set. I was pleasantly surprised to hear them play tracks from Mermaid Ave.: California Stars and one other (I’m sure someone was in more of a set-list mode than I was so we'll soon find out). Glenn K. their drummer wasn’t there so the set banter was dominated by Tweedy throwing out possible reasons why he couldn’t make it (got a gig modeling headbands, fell into a vat of beer, cosmetic surgery, fell down a well…etc.). The first two (or three?) song were drummerless and then they had three “contest winners†as guest drummers. Each dude, Donnie, Steve and Ryan played on two or three songs respectively. Being so close to the stage it was entertaining to watch the dynamics between what seemed to be fans playing drums with Wilco, with whom they had never played before – ever.

And then Neil. Oh Neil. This was my third time seeing Neil. I always build it up to be an epic quasi-religious experience and the night lived up to expectation. Although it is hard to beat last year’s Massey shows it was nice to be close enough to see his nose hairs.

[mark tonin]

Nice to read that you had an excellent concert experience Anne!

Peace, Mark

[dave-O]

Glenn actually had another gig in NYC last night. I was wondering how the logistics were going to work out... or not work out.

[bouche]

fans got to play drums? cool! Every concert should have that. who ran the contest?

[thomson]

who ran the contest?

It wasn't clear where they dug these dudes up.

The "contest" could have been all part of the jokey banter. However Tweedy was pretty bent on assuring us that they had never played with any of these drummers before.

[boiler]

So, how did the drummers do? Did they play Via Chicago?

[FairySari]

The dudes playing drums were roadies, not fans. Tweedy has an interesting sense of humour. He also said Glenn fell down a well . And one of them got to play heavy metal drummer, I nearly wet myself! I was there both nights and I think Wilco was better last night. Ummm from memory they played (probably in the totally wrong order)

Hesistating Beauty

War on war

Jesus etc

Passenger Side

Hummingbird

California Stars

Handshake Drugs

Impossible Germany

I got you

Outtamind

Heavy metal Drummer

I Shall be Released

thomson, you were probably just in front of the guys in front of me. They stood totally still the whole time.

Edited December 6, 2008 by Guest

[jay sanislo]

great show! my only disappointment is as always with toronto is how they all love to sit. I was having a freakin great time until some dude and his wife tapped me on the shoulder and told me to sit down. It slightly ruined my vibe but only for a few seconds. We eventually moved up a few rows where mel and tooly were sitting and I pretty much stood up the whole time with no problems. ONe more slight thing is that where we were sitting at first the sound was horrible bouncing all over the place but once again once we moved back a few rows with tooly we were right in front of some speakers! THank god! All and all I had a great time and got my Cortez the killer, my absolute favourite neil tune! It was nice to see secondtube after the show too, long time no freakin see man.Got to get together soon man.

[Hal Johnson]

Logistically it was refreshingly straight forwarded. Waited in line fifteen or twenty minutes, walked right in to the second row.

No hassle.

No pushy-shovies behind me.

Security kicked my buddy out for a pinner they found in his cigarette pack and the bar wouldnt serve me because my liscence has one of those "valid photo ID only" stickers on it.

Other than that the show was great. I even liked the songs I didnt recognize. Oh, and Neil breaking like 4 of six strings and then using those 4 broken strings to smack against the remaining two was absolutely beautiful.

Still though, the overall minimum-security prison feel of the ACC will keep me away from it from now on. What a joke.

[AD]

Hesistating Beauty

War on war

Jesus etc

Passenger Side

Hummingbird

California Stars

Handshake Drugs

Impossible Germany

I got you

Outtamind

Heavy metal Drummer

I Shall be Released

That's a great great setlist. Much much better (for me) than the Ottawa show.

[bouche]

didn't TimmyB go to any of these shows?

[phunkyb]

The Impossible Germany and Via Chicago the first night were great!!

[MarcO]

as far as I know, TimmyB was at both shows, as well as Ottawa.

Me, I went to Toronto night 2. It was a good show. Nothing was particularly bad, nothing was particularly great - and maybe that was the problem. Neil played it safe, save for a string of three new songs, which all passed by like markers in time. Still, at least they were curveballs, sustaining interest.

It's perplexing to me why Neil would take an A+ country band on the road and then focus on balls out Crazy Horse material. Watching Ben Keith spend half the night playing inaudible rhythym guitar was - weird. But, then again, Neil Young is weird, so no sweat.

It's never a problem being in the same room as Neil Young, but I'll call it as I see it. This was a Neil Young show that gave the people what they wanted and therefore not particularly memorable.

[MarcO]

Wilco was awesome though, Nels Cline makes me hard.

[Large Marge]

Incredibly, I snuck all the way onto the floor without even a ticket. Even more incredibly, I left the floor to say hi to everyone at the bar after Wilco and was unable to get back (duh!). I spent most of Neil's set circling the ACC to find my next 'in'.

After a near arrest, a breach of the ACC offices where I was laughed out the door upon stating that I was "just here to see Jim... from... Marketing", I decided to go back to the gate and see if I could get anywhere with the Will Call desk. The show was nearly over by now so after my exasperated "purse search" and some brimming fake tears they actually just handed over a comp ticket!!!

Fully enveloped by adventure mode (and whiskey goggles), I figured I'd better ignore the numbers and use this golden ticket to get as close to the stage as I could. I proceeded to get "lost" in the service access tunnel and actually ended up backstage! I only got one look out over the stage before security approached, ah but what a view it was

I quickly turned to the large group of roadies sitting around and yelled out "Hey can anyone get me on the floor?". Unfortunately all I got were laughs and a rapid escort out. I was ushered to my assigned seat in section 108 where I resigned myself to relax and enjoy the last 5 songs with my backup mickey of Fireball.

What an awesome night! Probably 9 or 10 times I've seen the Neilster now (if this counts). My favourite artist of all time.

[afro poppa]

Large Marge for Prime Minister!