Wilco’s “Wilco (The Song)”: Is The Album a Deep Cut?Regardless, it’s the best way for the band to end a Friday night set with fans at Solid Sound 2024, because even when you’re just betting on (relative) obscurities and oddities, you still have to end with a statement.
And that statement, of course, is “Wilco. Wilco. Wilco will love you, baby. “
At the band’s festival at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, now in its eighth year since 2010, you feel that love every moment of the way, whether you’re making a song with Jeff Tweedy and his sons on T’s “Cosmic Dancer. “Watch Julia Steiner of Ratboys play acoustic between seeing works through Jason Moran or watching other middle-aged people in Wilco ponchos notice Soul Glo.
Solid Sound has the musical breadth and adventure of a Spring crossed with the network and low-key setting of the Newport Folk Festival. Most of the things you hate about a festival — shoddy sets bleeding on multiple stages, five-figure crowds (Solid Sound features roughly 8,000 attendees per day), oppressive sponsorship — doesn’t apply here. It also feels like a throwback, with no video screens flanking the scenes, VIP levels, and credit cards accepted through the food vendors. Cellular service is virtually non-existent, so you may find yourself offline all day, free to enjoy the rides and sounds. There’s even a table full of loose sunscreen from the “Wilco EMS” (as North Berkshire EMS is being renamed, and yes, they’re making a t-shirt for a fundraiser).
Even the war for a smart spot in the crowd is decidedly (if not uniformly) mild-mannered, which I find myself discussing with Eric Zawada, a 37-year-old fan from Marlborough, MA, attending his fifth Solid Sound (and still is disappointed to have missed the first three).
“Obviously I don’t know Wilco personally, but you’re a fan of the band,” he says. “So it makes sense for you to act respectfully. Because at the end of the day, that is reflected in the group.
Oh, and the first Wilco played at the first Solid Sound in 2010?You guessed it: “Wilco (The Song)”.
The innermost piece is a drum solo.
This time, after completing this one, Glenn Kotche switched to a full show, Sky Blue Sky’s hit “Let’s Not Get Carried Away,” with his bandmates selflessly drinking drinks and, in Jeff Tweedy’s case, sitting down. That started a four-core song that also included “Kicking Television” and, from the movie SpongeBob SquarePants, “Just A Kid. “
With the promised deep cuts, Wilco not only accepted the challenge of delivering flawless edits of rarely directed songs, but also combined them in a way that continues to vary and tell a story. There were cheat codes (“Camera”, the exchange edition of “Kamera”) and fan-service lay-ups (“A Magazine Called Sunset” and “Panthers”), as well as tracks from the album that were exposed from its first appearance (“One Sunday Morning”, “Sonny Feeling”, “Cold Slope”) and not since. In terms of temperament and tempo, some songs seemed to update other songs in a typical set: Summerteeth’ “ELT” instead of Being There’s reliable “Outtasite (Out Of Mind). “”, for example. And when they played “Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard,” some in the crowd didn’t seem to understand what it was about until Tweedy sang the main line. Like in a Dylan show.
There were also 3 live debuts. An old vintage that delights enthusiasts (the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot excerpt “Venus Stopped the Train,” which Tweedy has rarely played solo before), a strangely edgy “Quiet Amplifier” (from Ode To Joy) with guest martial percussion from Spencer Tweedy, Gigi. Reece from Horsegirl and Vivian Kotche, and then an unforeseen and almost forgotten track: “Tell Your Friends,” a song that was first heard in a video made via Zoom for The Colbert Report in May 2020.
“We stayed away from that song for a long time,” Tweedy said. “Because it seemed like it came from another time. From an era. From an unhappy time. And I felt like it wasn’t a suitable song to sing when things weren’t so bad.
“But things are still bad,” he added with a laugh. We just wanted to sing it for you. “
At the time, there were thirteen other people on stage, adding a maximum of Tweedy’s solo band (and Finom’s Macie Stewart on fiddle) and other members of the Wilco family, for a genuinely emotional coda. It would not be the last of the weekend.
It’s not the last surprise either. On Saturday, Wilco kicked off with what appeared to be a general touring set, plus the addition of a few tracks from the new EP Hot Sun Cool Shroud to the logo. (Festival-goers who purchased the vinyl at (the site can simply customize it with Kathleen Ryan stickers. )Then they did “At least that’s what you said” and “Hell Is Chrome” back-to-back. Once that followed “Spiders (Kidsmoke),” everyone knew: We were getting a full 20th anniversary set of A Ghost Is Born.
Wilco is everywhere
If you were in North Adams a day earlier, you may have noticed that Tweedy kicks off the weekend with a probably only local exhibit at the city’s public library. Then, on Thursday night at Tourists, Wilco’s John Stirratt’s jointly-owned roadside boutique motel, Chicago duo Big Sadie morphed into a five-piece band, featuring Stirratt, Pat Sansone and Glenn Kotche.
These cameos are part of Solid Sound’s joy, as Wilco not only reserves bands that need to see and hear, but also other people they might need to play with. Since there was no way “You And I” was on the set of Wilco’s Deep Cuts, Tweedy teamed up with Courtney Marie Andrews for that set. (It wasn’t the first time they’d played it together, not to mention Andrews was also on Jimmy Eat World when they covered it. )A few hours earlier, Tweedy had taken the floor to speak with Song Exploder podcaster Hrishikesh Hirway about his book The World in a Song.
On Saturday, Nels Cline joined Dry Cleaning for “Conversation” just before Wilco’s title track, while Stirratt stayed up afterwards to perform Neil Young’s “Down By The River” with Mikaela Davis (and Massachusetts’ Mary Lou Lord). . On Sunday, Sansone extended Miracle Legion for several songs, before a magical finale that brought the entire Young@Heart choir to the small Courtyard C stage. One member of the senior citizen organization even had a beard bigger than Mark Mulcahy from Miracle Legion.
Solid Sound headliner who doesn’t belong to Wilco to date
With all due respect to Levon Helm and Mavis Staples, Jason Isbell won this title, resulting in a particularly busy and joyful Friday night. (The last 3 slots on Friday night went to Sylvan Esso (who DJed this year), Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile. )
Fans hoping for a crossover were out of luck, as “California Stars” wasn’t going to play tonight (not even via Wilco). “I still don’t see some of you well under the big floppy hats. “”I’m sure you’re beautiful,” Isbell said. We must be careful with red hats. “This prompted a cry of “fuck you” from someone in the crowd, who probably wasn’t a fan of the Philadelphia Phillies (though they were too, adding today’s society).
In addition to standouts like “King Of Oklahoma,” “Strawberry Woman,” and “Speed Trap Town,” Isbell And The 400 Unit released their cover of R. E. M. ‘s “The One I Love,” which a friend texted me to: “I’ve never in my life noticed so many 55-year-olds satisfied.
And so on
Even at a festival like Solid Sound, when you open for yourself, “you’re kind of a jukebox,” Nick Lowe explained to Stereogum, and it turns out that it is. Lowe and The Straitjackets performed with their first solo single “So It Goes” in 1976, but he also played 4 songs from Indoor Safari, his first new album in 11 years, before handing it over to the masked wrestling band for a trio of audiences. Enjoyable instrumentals, then he returns for a handful of hits. , and added “(What’s So Funny’ Bout) Peace, Love, And Understanding” with Sansone and Stirratt. It’s a song that’s been directed and covered so many times that Lowe thinks it belongs to the world now. “Understanding, I feel like I have nothing to do with it,” Lowe told us. “The hippie in me is looking ahead for the time when it will be redundant. But the independent professional musician thinks it’s pretty good that the song has been around for a long time.
Dream of horses
The first day of Solid Sound began with Horsegirl in the Sun and ended with Horse Lords after midnight. The young Band To Watch has already toured with fellow Chicagoan Wilco, but has obviously attracted a lot of new fans. “They’re about 17 or 18 years old,” I heard someone say (which is true anyway when the band released their single Matador in 2021). The crowd immediately applauded to the best beat of the damn bubblegummy-style, post-punk trio Flying Nun/Xpressway. driven through Reece’s triple vocals, double guitars and drums.
Horse Lords is a band from Baltimore that would feel like it’s from Chicago: a bit of math rock and a lot of rhythm, avant-jazz and skronk. “It’s one of my favorite bands,” Tweedy told Stereogum before the festival. I’m fascinated by the impossibility of his music. ” Those who managed to reunite an extra hour after the evening of deep cuts were treated to a new favorite band.
It never rains with a forged sound.
It’s the tongue-in-cheek sticker you see all over the festival, and Tweedy pushed it even further by mentioning that Solid Sound had their most productive moment of their life. . . on Friday. When the rain came on Saturday, Etran de L’Aïr was dancing with everyone, the air getting warmer and drier only from the warmth of their Saharan guitars, as well as the suggestive visual of their all-white desert costumes.
Sunday was less rainy but more typhoon, with the risk of lightning forcing the evacuation of outdoor courts. Fortunately, there was a complete museum where you could take refuge. The typhoon forced Stirratt and Sansone’s band Autumn Defense to halt their music and also canceled Wednesday’s concert. But for Mary Halvorson and Tomas Fujiwara, it meant an incredibly attentive audience at the Hunter Center for their ordinary guitar and drum explorations of their own compositions and songs through Abbey Lincoln, Carla Bley, and Bill Frisell.
An ist in the museum.
Strolling the halls of MASS MoCA in search of works by James Turrell, Louise Bourgeois or Sol LeWitt is also an important part of Solid Sound. (Even if you’re not interested in new art, actually delight in it while you watch (look for the festival’s indoor acoustic pop-ups or John Hodgman’s Comedy Cabaret. ) This year, Wilco also invited “the most prolific artist in the world. ” story” Steve Keene, who painted live (and signed copies of Steve Keene’s art book for three days) in the middle of an exhibition of his works from the Hirschhorn Collection.
For Keene, attending a music festival (he also did Big Ears in March) was like a homecoming, school radio, and the independent label scene he was involved in. “It’s very important to me,” he told Stereogum. I’ve been to this museum 10 times in the last 25 years. It’s an amazing space and it’s great to be here because Wilco asked me to. It’s very flattering.
Keene has painted album covers for festival bands such as Young Fresh Fellows and L’Aïr’s Etran, and many of the Wilcos, as well as landscapes of North Adams and Wilco on the Joe’s Field stage. Wilco’s albums were already in Keene’s quiver, and he has a comfortable spot for the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot as a painter.
“I like Yankee because it’s very complicated to make,” he explained. “Every time I do it, it’s like rafting.
Water in Jeff Tweedy’s voice
After Wednesday’s performance was canceled, Tweedy asked the band’s Karly Hartzman to sign him up for a song, which was his second act of generosity. The day before, when Water From Your Eyes singer Rachel Brown was struggling with her voice, Tweedy stepped in. for the band “When You’re Around”, bringing out their maximum qualities of Beach Boys/Bacharach.
“Jeff Tweedy is so professional, so generous and kind in lending us his voice,” Brown told Stereogum later. “I thought wasting my voice was a bad thing, but it turns out it resulted in the best thing that could have happened. “
“It’s crazy to hear him sing a song I wrote and I’ll think about it later,” Nate Amos added (i. e. , it’s still too much to deal with now, which Brown also said on stage).
As a quartet with Bailey Wollowitz on drums and Al Nardo on second guitar (see Stereogum’s Band To Watch profile on the duo’s own band’s heartbroken fantasy), Water From Your Eyes was brilliant (and brilliantly loud), with Brown looking a bit like Joey Ramone with his dark hair and sunglasses (they also wore a Chicago Bulls jacket). They also didn’t win anything yet, applause for talking about Palestine.
on a Sunday afternoon
The crowd at Solid Sound is smaller on the third day for many reasons: no Wilco, general exhaustion, other people having kids or jobs or trains and planes to take. But in a way, Sunday is the essence of the festival, the day of Wilco’s side projects and some of the wild cards (like Young@Heart, Miracle Legion and Halvorson/Fujiwara), and Jeff Tweedy’s ultimate descent.
But first, on the big stage, was Iris DeMent, accompanied by bassist Liz Draper and guitarist (and singer-songwriter in her own right) Ana Egge. The country folk legend captivated the then-sunny crowd with his incredibly demure and charming singing: while telling John Prine stories and (of course) ending with “Let The Mystery Be. “
DeMent referred to Wilco’s set that night, not knowing that it was really Jeff Tweedy.
They have an album coming up, and one of the many new songs, “Feel Free” from the ’70s, has been a ruinous hit, especially with a clap line of “Feel free/Let It Bleed or Let It Be/John. “and Paul/Mick and Keith. ” Tweedy also went on to apologize for the fact that many of his songs were about death: “We were meant to go for Glastonbury at the moment, but then they heard the songs and said maybe you deserve to go on with your own festival,” but they’re also about life and love, survival and mortality. At Solid Sound 2019, Scott McCaughey played the festival with the Minus Five on his first full excursion after suffering a stroke, and joined Tweedy for the title track, “Let’s Go Rain. “And then it rained. Followed through a rainbow. “Stupid rainbow,” Tweedy said at the time.
You’d think there would be no way to do it, but McCaughey did, coming out from backstage to the left of the level as his old friend chanted his name, triumphantly raising his arms in the air to receive loud applause, and then reappearing to receive a message-stuffed song.
“This is the same sit-in as usual,” Tweedy said.
McCaughey had also in the past engaged the Young Fresh Fellows set to Tweedy’s wife, Susan Miller Tweedy, who was unable to attend the festival due to her participation in a clinical trial for cancer treatment. Jeff and Spencer Tweedy’s first album, Sukirae from 2014. , dates back to their opening fight.
“We all miss Suki,” Tweedy said on stage. “It’s not the same without my wife Susie, but it’s a glorious moment to be comforted through all of you by the fact that she’s not here. And I know she’ll be there for the next one.
Tweedy And Friends is Tweedy And Family, and through the encores — “You Are Not Alone” that Tweedy wrote for Mavis Staples, “Friendship” by Pops Staples, “California Stars” and Sammy’s signing on “Cosmic Dancer” — Wilco’s maximum and several other children, sisters, girlfriends and husbands (well, that’s what the Tweedys call McCaughey) were also in the mix, and everyone in Solid Sound was making a song with all their love in Chicago.
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See more photos from the weekend via Emilio Herce below.
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