[photo courtesy of Mike at 50showsat50 blog]
Jeff Tweedy solo shows are a rare commodity in NYC. By Jeff’s account at Saturday night’s Bowery Ballroom show, he had not played solo in NYC since 2001, and never at Bowery. Despite that we have seen Wilco many times, the only other Jeff Tweedy solo performance we experienced was at the Mercury Lounge in 1997 (also recorded that night). That show thirteen years ago also happened to be the first time I ever heard “Via Chicago”, which would show up on Summerteeth two years later, and which would be reprised on Saturday night (streaming below). But those fans expecting that number and more of the Wilco catalog would learn quickly that this was not a Wilco concert — some of the louder and more obnoxious in the crowd never got that message. To the delight of the diehards, Tweedy worked through some fairly obscure back catalog, including “The Ruling Class”, “Country Disappeared” and “Chinese Apple” in consecutive slots mid-set. We were particularly happy that he delved briefly into the Uncle Tupelo catalog for “Wait Up”, which also reached back to that 1997 show. The opening set by John Stirratt and Pat Sansone’s band Autumn Defense offered the opportunity for a mini Wilco set, and in fact Tweedy’s bandmates joined for the first two encores.
I recorded this set with the four microphone rig on a high stand from the back rail of the soundboard. This was a challenging recording situation given the quiet music and the crowd noise. The post production consisted of an arduous amount of isolated crowd level reductions, and editing of some of the unfortunate intoxicated rowdiness around me. Overall, the finished product is not superb, but is certainly a pleasurable listening experience. Enjoy!
Many thanks to Steve from the Via Chicago forum for the last minute ticket!
Stream “Via Chicago”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/W2238Wilco2297/Jeff%20Tweedy%20-%20Via%20Chicago%20(Live)%202010-12-04.mp3]
Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)
Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].
Jeff Tweedy
2010-12-04
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA
Four-Track Digital Master Recording
Recorded Behind Soundboard Booth
Neumann KM-150s + DPA 4021’s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, much audience volume reduction, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac
Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2010-12-06
Setlist:
[Total Time 1:27:39]
01 Spiders (Kidsmoke)
02 I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
03 Muzzle of Bees
04 One Wing
05 Via Chicago
06 [banter]
07 Wait Up
08 Be Not So Fearful (Bill Fay)
09 [banter]
10 The Ruling Class
11 Country Disappeared
12 Chinese Apple
13 [banter]
14 When the Roses Bloom Again
15 [banter]
16 Magazine Called Sunset
17 Radio King
18 Hummingbird
19 [banter]
20 Jesus, etc.
21 You Are Not Alone
22 [encore break]
23 California Stars
24 I Got You
25 [second encore break]
26 A Shot in the Arm
27 [banter]
28 I’m the Man Who Loves You
If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Jeff Tweedy and Wilco, visit their website, and purchase their official releases at their website [here].
Thanks…this sounds amazing!!! Do you have the Tarrytown show by any chance?
Thanks a million for recording, I’m glad you got a ticket at the last minute.
Tweedy actually has played a solo show in NY since 2001: at Tribeca Performing Arts Center in November 2005 (review/setlist here: http://www.prefixmag.com/features/jeff-tweedy/show-review-tribeca-perf-arts-center-new-york/12588/). I wasn’t able to get tickets to that show, but I was for Saturday night’s, and really appreciate your recording the show and posting it so quickly.
From your description of crowd noise, I guess it was louder upstairs near the soundboard than down on the floor. You could have heard a pin drop down there :)
Thanks for the recording!
jeff was actually wrong when he said he hadn’t played solo nyc since 2001, he played at manhattan community college for free in 2005
Thanks you so much for uploading this. So great!
Jeff Tweedy played two solo shows in November of 2005 at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center/BMCC. Nels Cline opened the first night and Glenn Kotche opened the second. On the second night, Jim O’Rourke joined Jeff and Glenn for a mini Loose Fur reunion on “Laminated Cat.”
Thanks for posting this!
Thanks for the efforts!! Funny, Jeff’s recall ain’t what it use to be. I waited in line for 6 hours for free tic the Tribeca Performing Arts in 2005. I got tics for both nights. The encore the 2nd night was what made it all worth while. The 3rd time on stage, Loose Fur. http://wilcoarchive.com/tweedy%2020051116/ has nice audience recordings of both nights.
Thanks for recording, sounds great! Wish I could’ve been there.
Sounds great. You don’t happen to have Jeff tweedy’s performance at tarrytown, do you?
No, on the Tarrytown, but we will be posting an excellent recording of the Maxwell’s show. Better than this one.
Thanks so much. This was my first “Wilco”/Jeff Tweedy concert ever. Never realized I was at such a special event.Got online outside at 6:30 and stood from then till the final encore at ~12:00. YES it was worth it!!! Again thanks so much for posting this so I can relive the moment!
Thanks a lot for this and all else you do. I get some chirpy noises around 0:30 to 0:35 in “California Stars”. Is that me or you?