Wilco - Troxy, East London

A great show by Wilco at a very cool old theater in East London. The place was fantastic, very well preserved art-deco building with a nice high stage, room for around 1000 folks standing at the front, and great seats high above the standing folks at the back.

Despite a long history of line-up changes - the current line-up of Wilco is actually the longest serving and most consistent in their career, having played together since 2004 when guitarist Nels Cline (who was on fire tonight) and multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone joined the group.

I bring this up because I think it really shows that you now have six musicians who have played together for seven years, producing what I can only describe as a group mentality that allows them to move fluidly through any twists and turns that each song takes.

Surprisingly the show tonight wasn't particularly heavily drawn from the just released new Wilco album 'Wilco (The Album)' - although tonight was a fairly impromptu show slotted in amongst European festival appearances - so maybe they're saving the new album-centric set for their proper UK tour in November.

That said, the show did open with the ridiculously catchy "Wilco (The Song)" (surely the best use of a band's own name in their lyrics since Wang Chung). We also had the great first single "You Never Know" later in the main set.

Otherwise it was something of a good cross-section through the bands more recent back catalog - with most songs coming from the 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot', 'A Ghost Is Born', 'Sky Blue Sky' or the just released new album.

Surprisingly we actually got to hear three tracks from 1999's 'Summerteeth' with great versions of "Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway(again)", "A Shot In The Arm" and "Can't Stand It".

Older material also included a straight-up country reading of 'Being There's "Forget The Flowers" and a lovable but ramshackle "Hoodoo Voodoo" from 'Mermaid Avenue' to close the show.
Highlights from me were a mesmerizing "Handshake Drugs", the somber "Jesus, etc" and the rocking main-set closing trio of "Hate It Here" into "Walken" and "I'm The Man Who Love You".

A clear stand-out in the band was guitarist Nels Cline - who played like a madman, and with an almost Sonic Youth-esque vigor, slashing at his instruments, and I lost count of how many different guitars he played (although the best one had to be the twin-necked beauty with a fur strap that even had Jeff Tweedy joking "you play a solo like that, you get a guitar like that").

The show was a lot of fun, not the least as it was singer Jeff Tweedy's 42nd birthday which led to a crowd rendition of Happy Birthday, some cake and confetti on stage, and a great moment during a drawn-out "Spiders" in the encore where, unhappy with the crowd participation for clapping along, Tweedy demanded the audience behave as if they were Queen and we were Wembley, pleading "it's my birthday, and this is all I ask". We were even rewarded with a mid-song rendition of Queen's "We Are The Champions" before the group dropped straight back into Spiders.

Full Setlist:

1 Wilco (the song)
2 I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
3 Company In My Back
4 Bull Black Nova
5 You Are My Face
6 One Wing
7 A Shot in the Arm
8 Radio Cure
9 Handshake Drugs
10 Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway(again)
11 Deeper Down
12 Impossible Germany
13 You Never Know
14 Jesus, etc.
15 Can't Stand It
16 Hate It Here
17 Walken
18 I'm The Man Who Loves You
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19 At Least That's What You Said
20 Forget The Flowers
21 Heavy Metal Drummer
22 Spiders (Kidsmoke)
23 I'm A Wheel
24 Hoodoo Voodoo

Neil Finn & Friends - 7 Worlds Collide 2 – Dingwalls, London

As a follow-up to the star-studded charity concerts staged in New Zealand 7 or 8 years ago, last Christmas Neil Finn invited a bunch of musical peers (and their families) to celebrate the New Year in New Zealand. Whilst there, they also put his new recording studio Roundhead through its paces by recording a double-album ‘7 Worlds Collide: The Sun Came Out' - due out the end of August with all proceeds going to Oxfam.
The guests on the record seem pretty fantastic: Johnny Marr, Ed O'Brien and Phil Selway from Radiohead, most of Wilco, KT Tunstall, plus most of the Finn family, and local New Zealanders Bic Runga and Don McGlashan from the incredibly underated Mutton Birds.
Tonight was a seemingly impromptu album launch – announced and ticketed only the week before – at the tiny Dingwalls with a max capacity of 450 people. Despite lots of rumours swirling about different guest appearances – this was really a one off-show for a cracking core band that combined the rhythm section from Wilco - John Stirratt on bass and drummer Glen Kotche - with Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien and drummer Phil Selway (who actually played very little percussion – more keywords, guitar and lead vocals on two songs) with Neil Finn covering lead vocals plus some guitar and occasional keyboards. They were also joined on a couple of songs by Mr KT Tunstall, drummer Luke Bullen.
Appropriately enough the show kicked off with Crowded House’s “Distant Son” – which gave the whole project its title. The rest of the set was drawn from the forthcoming 7 Worlds Collide ‘The Sun Came Out’ album – so it was a credit to the audience that a dozen songs that no one had really heard before were treated with hushed reverence.
It’s always tricky to judge things on first hearing, but highlights for me included the poppy “Too Blue” written by Johnny Marr and Jeff Tweedy , Neil Finn’s own “All Comedians Suffer”, and Don McGlashan’s “Girl Make Your Own Mind Up” – which sounded like a classic pop tune in the vein of Paul McCartney’s Eighties solo material.
A surprisingly nervous Phil Selway took lead vocals for quiet acoustic numbers “Ties That Bind Us” and “Witching Hour”. Whilst Wilco bassist John Stirratt took lead vocals on his own composition “Over and Done” – a delightful country tinged number in the vein of his sole Wilco lead vocal performance A.M.s “It's Just That Simple".
As I remarked to my friends Rachel and Caroline: you can really tell a top class band when the non-singing members could be lead vocalists in their own right. Stirratt also provided impressive harmony vocals through-out the night, injecting enthusiasm and relishing bouncing through a set of not-often played songs.
One of the best songs of the night was the Jeff Tweedy written “You Never Know” that sounded like very much the Wilco song it’s become. A strange one this: it resulted from the 7 World’s Collide sessions and is included on ‘The Sun Came Out’, but a slightly different version – the exact same recording but with Neil Finn’s parts removed – is also included and issued as the first single on the new Wilco album ‘Wilco (The Album)’. Regardless – it sounded great tonight with Neil Finn doing a pretty convincing Jeff Tweedy impression on lead vocals.
Main set closed with a great version of Crowded Houses “Private Universe” that made excellent use of the multiple drummers on stage offering intertwining percussion.
Sadly the band returned for just the one encore, but what a cracker it was: kicking off with Split Enz “I Got You” had the whole place singing along. The band was then joined by a friend, the mysterious Garth, on ukulele for a delicate reading of The Beatles “Something”. Neil Finn seemed to relish the crowd sing-along, as he then conducted the audience like an orchestra, encouraging harmonies for the show closing “Don’t Dream It’s Over” and “Weather With You”.
Again – it would have been great for another encore, but just one small quibble for an otherwise fantastic opportunity to see some of the world’s top musicians in such an intimate setting. Kind of like I imagine backstage jams or late night studio sessions might resemble.

Setlist:
Distant Sun
Too Blue
Little by Little
Ties that Bind Us
Learn to Crawl
Girl make your own mind up
All Comedians Suffer
Witching Hour
Over and Done
You Never Know
Tibetan Blue
Private Universe
Encore:
I Got You
Something
Don't Dream It's Over
Weather With You