Wilco to appear on Stephen Colbert tonight

Wilco will appear on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert tonight (11:35/10:35c) to perform material from their upcoming album, Ode to Joy, which releases this Friday, October 4th.

Jeff Tweedy and co. will be the musical guest on Colbert’s popular CBS program, which will also feature guests Hillary Rodham Clinton, and her daughter, Chelsea.

Previously, Wilco appeared on the show on February 4, to play “Random Name Generator” from their 2015 album Star Wars, and later that year on September 21 to perform “Someone to Lose” from their then newly released record, Schmilco. On both episodes, Tweedy participated in skits with Colbert. One of which you can watch here:

Last year, Tweedy went on the show alone to promote his memoir, Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back), and his accompanying solo album, Warm. After Tweedy’s interview, in which he said that doing his first talk show sit-down interview was “the coolest thing that's ever happened to me,” he performed “Let’s Go Rain.”

It’ll sure be interesting to see what Ode to Joy track makes the cut. Or if Tweedy takes part in another silly skit. Well, both of those really.

Daniel Cook Johnson's Wilcopedia: A Comprehensive Guide to the Music of America’s Best Band is available for order here.

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Wilco setlists: Manchester 9/27 & London 9/28

Below are the last two setlists from Wilco’s 2019 European tour. They finished off this leg with two dates in Britain where they were joined during the encores by members of their opening band, Ohmme. After these shows, Jeff Tweedy and company have a break before they continue touring in Canada (Tortonto 10/8), and make their way down the east coast where I’ll see them in Cary, NC on October 16th.

Anyway, here’s what they played the last few shows:

Albert Hall, Manchester, UK 9/27/19

“Bright Leaves” / “Before Us” / “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” / “War on War” / “One and a Half Stars” / “If I Ever Was a Child” / “Handshake Drugs” / “At Least That’s What You Said” / “Hummingbird” / “White Wooden Cross” / “Via Chicago” / “Bull Black Nova” / “Random Name Generator” / “Reservations” / “Love is Everywhere (Beware)” / “Impossible Germany” / “California Stars” / “Box Full of Letters” / “Everyone Hides” / “Dawned on Me” / “Jesus, Etc.” / “Heavy Metal Drummer” / “I’m the Man Who Loves You” / “Hold Me Anyway”/ “Misunderstood”

Encore: “I’m Always in Love” (w/ Ohmme’s Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart)

“The Late Greats”

Eventim Apollo, London, UK 9/28/19

“Bright Leaves” / “Before Us” / “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” / “War on War” / “One and a Half Stars” / “If I Ever Was a Child” / “Handshake Drugs” / “Hummingbird” / “At Least That’s What You Said”/ “White Wooden Cross” / “Via Chicago” / “Bull Black Nova” / “Random Name Generator” / “Reservations” / “Love is Everywhere (Beware)” / “Impossible Germany” / “California Stars” / “Box Full of Letters” / “Everyone Hides” / “Jesus, Etc.” / “Theologians” / “I’m the Man Who Loves You” / “Hold Me Anyway”/ “Misunderstood”

Encore: “I’m Always in Love” (w/ Ohmme’s Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart) / “/ “Heavy Metal Drummer” (w/ Ohmme’s Sima Cunningham, Macie Stewart, and Matt Carrollo) / “The Late Greats”

Wilcopedia: A Comprehensive Guide to the Music of America’s Best Band  is available for order here.

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Wilco setlist: Barrowlands, Glasgow, Scotland 9/26/19

Wilco is getting towards wrapping up this leg of their European tour with just two shows in Britain after this concert in Scotland. The Glascow gig from last night looks like another solid show (check out the cool poster by Kate Lewis above) featuring a nice smattering of songs from their upcoming album, Ode to Joy (releasing on October 4th), and a bunch of their classics.

Here they are:

“Bright Leaves”

“Before Us”

“I Am Trying to Break Your Heart”

“Kamera”

“One and a Half Stars”

“If I Ever Was a Child”

“Handshake Drugs”

“Hummingbird”

“White Wooden Cross”

“Via Chicago”

“How to Fight Loneliness”

“Bull Black Nova”

“Random Name Generator”

“Reservations”

“Love Is Everywhere (Beware)”

“Impossible Germany”

“Box Full Of Letters”

“Everyone Hides”

“I’m Always in Love”

“Jesus, Etc.”

“Theologians”

“I’m The Man Who Loves You”

“Hold Me Anyway”

“Misunderstood”

Encore:

“Red-Eyed and Blue”

“I Got You (At the End of the Century)”

“The Late Greats”

Wilcopedia: A Comprehensive Guide to the Music of America’s Best Band  is available for order here.


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Wednesday Wilco Song Spotlight: “Casino Queen”

This week, the Song Spotlight shines on a song from Wilco’s 1995 debut A.M., which is definitely one of their rowdier tunes:

“Casino Queen” (Jeff Tweedy)

Jeff Tweedy: vocals, acoustic guitar

John Stirratt: bass, vocals

Max Johnston: fiddle, vocals

Ken Coomer: drums, vocals

Brian Henneman: guitars, vocals

Daniel Corrigan: vocals

“My dad asked me to write a song about it,” Tweedy told Josh Terry of the Chicago Tribune in 2016. “It’s a real riverboat casino. I took my dad to go to the casino one time, and he said, This could be something you could write a song about. He basically forced me to do it.”

From its dirty licks to its drunken chorus, this track has a distinct Rolling Stones vibe, and could’ve easily fit on one of the band’s classic run of albums from the late ’60s to the early 70s. It’s not hard to imagine Mick Jagger spitting out such lines as “My wife that I just met is looking like a wreck,” and “I’ve been gambling like a fiend on your tables so green.” 

Adding to the song’s boozy, barroom aura, the sounds of bottles clinking together can be heard throughout the second half of the track, notably at the end, as the screams and woos die down. Guest guitarist Brian Henneman, who was brokenhearted at the time, reportedly drunkenly clinked two beer bottles together on the track. “That’s totally contrived,” Tweedy said of Henneman’s contribution to the song to Steve Hyden in 2017. “But those bottles definitely were emptied by him.” 

“Casino Queen,” which was one of Wilco’s first batch of demos, was played at their first official gig, at Cicero’s in St. Louis, Missouri, in late 1994. There, Jay Bennett, who doesn’t appear on A.M., put his stamp on the lead guitar lines originally played by Henneman, who by now was back with his band The Bottle Rockets. Since then, the rowdy song has long been a live staple that Wilco have performed—usually during encores—well over three hundred times.

Robert (Bob) Tweedy passed away on August 4, 2017. At the first show that Jeff played after his father’s death, at the Velorama Festival in Denver, Colorado, on August 11, Wilco performed ‘Casino Queen’ as a tribute. Jeff introduced it by saying, ‘This was the first song that my dad liked that I wrote ... and I think it might be the last song that he liked that I wrote.’

A rousing live version of “Casino Queen,” recorded at the Fox Theater in Boulder, Colorado, on May 5, 1995, appears on the CD single for “Box Full of Letters,” and was later re-released on Alpha Mike Foxtrot.

This is an edited excerpt of Wilcopedia by Daniel Cook Johnson, published by Jawbone Press (www.jawbonepress.com). Order your copy here.

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Wilco setlists: France 9/22, The Netherlands 9/23, & Belgium 9/24

Wilco’s European tour continues onward so Wilcopedia (The Blog) continues posting their setlists. At first glance it may be disappointing to see how similar they are as many songs are repeated in the same order, but there are more than a few instances of rotating tunes in certain slots and some mixing it up in the songs’ order.

Anyway, here we go:

Le Trianon, Paris, France 9/22/19

“Bright Leaves” / “Before Us” / “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” / “War on War”/ “One and a Half Stars” / “If I Ever Was a Child” / “Handshake Drugs” / “Hummingbird” / “White Wooden Cross” / “Via Chicago” / “How to Fight Loneliness” / “Bull Black Nova” / “Random Name Generator” / “Reservations” / “Love is Everywhere (Beware)” / “Impossible Germany” / “Box Full of Letters” / “Everyone Hides” / “Jesus, Etc.” / “Theologians” / “I’m The Man Who Loves You” / “Hold Me Anyway” / “Misunderstood”

Encore: “An Empty Corner” / “California Stars” / “The Late Greats”

TivoliVredenburg [Grote Zaal], Utrecht, The Netherlands 9/23/19

“Bright Leaves” / “Before Us” / “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” / “One Wing” / “One and a Half Stars” / “If I Ever Was a Child” / “Handshake Drugs” / “At Least That’s What You Said” / “Hummingbird” / “Either Way” / “White Wooden Cross” / “Via Chicago” / “How to Fight Loneliness” / “Bull Black Nova” / “I’m Always in Love” / “Reservations” / “Love is Everywhere (Beware)” / “Impossible Germany” / “California Stars” / “Box Full of Letters” / “Everyone Hides” / “Random Name Generator” / “Jesus, Etc.” / “Heavy Metal Drummer” / “I’m the Man Who Loves You”

Encore: “Hold Me Anyway” / “Misunderstood” / “The Late Greats”

De Roma, Antwerp, Belgium 9/24/19

“Bright Leaves” / “Before Us” / “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” / “War on War” / “One and a Half Stars” / “Whole Love” / “If I Ever Was a Child” / “Handshake Drugs” / “Hummingbird” / “White Wooden Cross” / “Via Chicago” / “How to Fight Loneliness” / “Bull Black Nova” / “Laminated Cat” (aka “Not For the Season”) / “Reservations” / “Love is Everywhere (Beware)” / “Impossible Germany” / “Everyone Hides” / ‘Red-Eyed and Blue” / “I Got You (At the End of the Century)” / “Dawned on Me” / “Hold Me Anyway” / “Misunderstood”

Encore: “Random Name Generator” / “Box Full of Letters” / “Jesus, Etc.” / “California Stars” / “The Late Greats”

Wilcopedia: A Comprehensive Guide to the Music of America’s Best Band  is available for order here.

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Wilco setlist: Gran Teatro Geox, Padua, Italy 9/20/19

The European leg of Wilco’s current tour hit Italy for a show at Gran Teatro Geox in Padua last night. So here’s the setlist, which looks like a doozy. 

“Bright Leaves”

“Before Us”

“I Am Trying to Break Your Heart”

“One Wing”

“One and a Half Stars”

“If I Ever Was a Child”

“Handshake Drugs”

“At Least That’s What You Said”

“You and I”

“Hummingbird”

“White Wooden Cross”

“Via Chicago”

“How to Fight Loneliness”

“Bull Black Nova”

“Reservations”

“Love is Everywhere (Beware)”

“Impossible Germany”

“California Stars”

“Box Full of Letters”

“Everyone Hides”

“Red-Eyed and Blue”

“I Got You (At the End of the Century)”

“Hold Me Anyway”

“Misunderstood”

Encore:

“Random Name Generator”

“Jesus, Etc.”

“The Late Greats”

“Heavy Metal Drummer”

“I’m The Man Who Loves You”

Wilcopedia: A Comprehensive Guide to the Music of America’s Best Band  is available for order here.

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Wilco setlist: Fabrique, Milan, Italy 9/19/19

Here we go with another lengthy, mouth-watering, and career-spanning setlist from Wilco’s current tour - can we can it the Ode to Joy tour yet? (Love that poster print image by Adam Hill that’s above):

“Bright Leaves”

“Before Us”

“I Am Trying to Break Your Heart”

“War on War”

“If I Ever Was a Child”

“Handshake Drugs”

“One and a Half Stars”

“Forget the Flowers”

“Hummingbird”

“White Wooden Cross”

“Via Chicago”

“How to Fight Loneliness”

“Bull Black Nova”

“Laminated Cat” (aka “Not For The Season”)

“Random Name Generator”

“Reservations”

“Love is Everywhere (Beware)”

“Impossible Germany”

“California Stars”

“Box Full of Letters”

“Everyone Hides”

“Jesus, Etc.”

“Dawned on Me”

“Hold Me Anyway”

“Heavy Metal Drummer”

“I’m The Man Who Loves You”

Encore:

“Misunderstood”

“Theologians”

“The Late Greats”

Wilcopedia: A Comprehensive Guide to the Music of America’s Best Band is available for order here.

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Wilco setlist: Volkshaus, Zürich, Switzerland 9/18/19

As I’ve been busy publicizing my new book, Wilco: A Comprehensive Guide to the Music of America’s Best Band (out now on Jawbone Press: order it here), I’ve been following the setlists for their current tour. I'm seeing them in Cary, N.C. at Koka Booth Amphitheatre on October 16, so these rundowns of their nightly repertoire have been getting me very psyched for that show. Anyway on to their most recent concert.

Last night, Wilco made a stop at Volkshaus in Zürich to play songs from their upcoming album Ode to Joy (releasing October 4), and a solid batch of crowd pleasers. It went like this:

“Bright Leaves”

“Before Us”

“Company in My Back”

“War on War”

“One and a Half Stars”

“If I Ever Was a Child”

“Handshake Drugs”

“Hummingbird”

“At Least That’s What You Said”

“White Wooden Cross”

“Via Chicago”

“How to Fight Loneliness”

“Bull Black Nova”

“Random Name Generator”

“Reservations”

“Impossible Germany”

“Love is Everywhere (Beware)”

“Box Full of Letters”

“Everybody Hides”

“Dawned On Me”

“Jesus, Etc.”

“Theologians”

“I’m The Man Who Loves You”

Encore:

“Misunderstood”

“Hold Me Anyway”

“California Stars”

“The Late Greats”

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Wednesday Wilco Song Spotlight: “One by One”

The Wilco Song Spotlight shines this time on “One by One,” one of my favorites from the band’s 1998 Mermaid Avenue collaboration with Billy Bragg. So let’s get right to it:

“One by One” (Woody Guthrie, Jeff Tweedy)

Jay Bennett: piano, organ

Ken Coomer: drums

Bob Egan: pedal steel

John Stirratt: electric bass

Jeff Tweedy: acoustic guitar, vocals

This heartbreaking lament offers a wizened take on a man’s fading mortality, but surprisingly the words were written by Guthrie in 1939, when he was only twenty-seven. Tweedy wrote the melody for the song in 1997 and polished it off with the Being There–era line-up of Wilco, when Bob Egan was still around, in late 1997 or early 1998.

The song fades in to a swirling wall of sound, in which Tweedy’s echoed vocal blends into the mix yet gives each word profound weight. “One by one,” the narrator’s “teardrops fall,” his “dreams fade,” and his “schemes fall fast away.”

On the popular radio show and podcast Sound Opinions, rock critic and Wilco biographer critic Greg Kot added this song to the ongoing feature The Desert Island Jukebox, noting, “The wonderful rhythm section on this song, the way Ken Coomer’s drums and John Stirratt’s bass surround Tweedy’s voice, is just remarkable. And Tweedy embodies Guthrie’s lyric ... it’s basically talking about a man who’s aging and seeing his life filter away, and looking back on missed opportunities and saying, I don’t have many more days left to get it right.”

Tweedy premiered the song at one of his many late-90s solo acoustic shows at the Lounge Ax, on March 26, 1998. He flavored the song with harmonica—an instrument he had just taken up during the Mermaid Avenue sessions in Dublin, Ireland. He would play it several more times at the venue on subsequent occasions, but sans harmonica.

Here's a stellar version of “One by One” from Wilco's 2005 live album Kicking Television:

After the song’s first airing elsewhere, at Park West in Chicago on September 13, 2000, he remarked, “Tough song—every line starts with ‘one by one’ - you need to really be on your toes.”

This is an edited excerpt of Wilcopedia by Daniel Cook Johnson, published by Jawbone Press (www.jawbonepress.com). Order your copy here.

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