Jeff Tweedy @ The Vic Theatre: Setlist and Recap

The stage at Chicago’s Vic Theatre looked a lot different on Saturday than it did on December 15 when Wilco performed at the venue amidst their Incredible Shrinking Tour of Chicago. Gone were all of the amps, keyboards, drums and other noise making gear. Instead, four lights, six acoustic guitars, four audio monitors, a harmonica set and a few pedals made up the minimalist stage setup.

Jeff Tweedy – Casino Queen / Acuff-Rose (3/31)

The annual Jeff Tweedy solo shows benefit Youth Scholarships for the Near North Montessori School in Chicago. It’s not that often that Jeff Tweedy plays solo shows, so I jumped at the chance to see him twice in a weekend. The unique thing about these shows is that the first 30 people in line get to pick the setlist. I wasn’t one of the first 30 people in line, but if I had been, my pick would have been Albuquerque by Neil Young.

I made it into the venue around 6:40 and quickly grabbed a seat in the sixth row dead center. There was a community-like atmosphere as groups of friends chatted it up over canned beer and mixed drinks. A rather ragged looking Jeff Tweedy took the stage shortly after 8PM to a rousing ovation. Whole Love, a tune that is normally saved for the encore slot at Wilco shows, opened the show. One of the show highlights for me came with the second song, You Are Not Alone. Tweedy sang the song with incredible emotion and I’m sure Mavis Staples would’ve been proud.

Tweedy didn’t make use of his harmonicas on Friday night, but they made a few appearances on Saturday starting with the Summerteeth cut, She’s a Jar. Another cool element of these shows is that Jeff answers written questions submitted by fans at random points throughout the show. These questions inevitably lead to hysterical banter. One of the first questions asked if Tweedy would be a contestant on Dancing with The Stars, and as you can imagine his answer was “no.”

Jeff Tweedy – She’s A Jar + Stories (3/31)

At that point a fan in the balcony screamed “what about American Idol?” Tweedy’s answer, “That train left a long time ago.” He went on to add that his least favorite judge is Randy and that he would love to judge the judges. Oh yeah, and he thinks they are all assholes!

There were a few covers sprinkled throughout the set and they included The Handsome Family’s So Much Wine, the traditional Down in the Willow Garden, which has been recorded by the likes of The Everly Brothers, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Art Garfunkel. Perhaps the most notable was an outstanding version of The Kinks Strangers.

The Thanks I Get began the four song encore and featured the crowd exchanging “We can make it betters” with Tweedy. Casino Queen was third up and this version carried a country-western/spoken word vibe to it. I would love to see Wilco work on an arrangement like this. The show ended with a hair raising performance of the Uncle Tupelo classic Acuff-Rose. The song was performed at the front of the stage without amplification and featured Tweedy on a white resonator guitar.

Jeff Tweedy
Saturday, March 31, 2012
The Vic Theatre
Chicago, IL

Set: Whole Love, You Are Not Alone, How To Fight Loneliness, The Community Song x2 ,Bull Black Nova, Too Far Apart, Wherever, I Can’t Keep From Talking, Hell Is Chrome, Open Mind, Summer Teeth, She’s A Jar, Someday Soon, Pick Up The Change, Blue-Eyed Soul, When You Wake Up Feeling Old, Handshake Drugs, So Much Wine#, Strangers^, At Least That’s What You Said, Down In The Willow Garden*, Capitol CIty, Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard, Watch Me Fall, Candyfloss, Hesitating Beauty, Heavy Metal Drummer
Encore: The Thanks I Get, Hoodoo Voodoo, Casino Queen, Acuff-Rose%

Notes: # – The Handsome Family cover, ^ – The Kinks cover, * – Traditional arrangement, % – Performed at edge of stage w/o PA system

[Via Chicago]

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One Response

  1. I was thinking of requesting the exact same song you were – Albuquerque by Neil Young – but has he played that before?

    By the way that top video was shot by me…great sound in the Vic, one of my favorite venues.

    Thanks for the recap – it’s good to know what I missed on the first night.

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