I Got You Covered.

June 25, 2013 4:31 PM

Q: What do you call a Wilco concert, with no Wilco songs?

A: Awesome.
posted by timsteil (37 comments total)

"It was out of our comfort zone, obviously, so we thought if we couldn't play it, we'd play their version over the PA and put on motorcycle helmets," Tweedy told Rolling Stone.

Awesome, indeed.
posted by eenagy at 4:40 PM on June 25, 2013

A good friend of mine liveblogged this as it was happening while I sat here, 20,000 miles away, and felt a kind of envy I've not previously experienced. Sounds like it was an amazing show.

At one point, Tweedy apparently asked something like "does anybody mind that we're not playing any of our songs tonight?" and then feigned disappointment when there were no objections.
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:43 PM on June 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

The covers were classic (Beatles, Stones, The Band), alternative (Replacements, Pavement), and pretty much everything in between

"The covers were music from fifty years ago, music from twenty-eight years ago, and pretty much everything in between."

Whatever, this is cool.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 4:44 PM on June 25, 2013

Well, they did play Kingpin.
posted by LionIndex at 4:45 PM on June 25, 2013 [2 favorites]

Yeah, they also played "Get Lucky." Hope their servers recover soon.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 4:47 PM on June 25, 2013

I really wanted to go to this festival, but I'm moving this week and I have to fly to Tennessee for a wedding and my job is kind of a shitshow.

Now slightly more depressed. Will have to listen to this.
posted by brennen at 4:49 PM on June 25, 2013

Northeast Massachusetts?
posted by Miko at 4:52 PM on June 25, 2013 [4 favorites]

"But I'll admit that the trip from the eastern coast of New York State to Northeast Massachusetts there-and-back in one day was quite a lark..."
posted by koeselitz at 4:55 PM on June 25, 2013

That joke also works for Creed.
posted by nathancaswell at 4:56 PM on June 25, 2013 [3 favorites]

I live about ten minutes drive from where this happened, and even had tickets because a friend of a friend couldn't use them, and I still didn't go. Now I feel kind of lame.

But not as lame as the guy who thought he was in Boston the whole time.
posted by ook at 4:57 PM on June 25, 2013

I would love to see them like this. I stopped going to see Wilco or solo Tweedy after realizing that I'd seen them so many times I could anticipate which canned banter Tweedy would use, when.
posted by padraigin at 4:58 PM on June 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

This disclaimer:

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

is pretty funny given that they are basically saying "Please don't help us keep our bandwidth costs down by distribute this content that the band supports distributing freely and that we are already trying to give away for free to anyone who wants it"
posted by burnmp3s at 5:05 PM on June 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

Came to see if an all-covers Wilco show would include an Uncle Tupelo song. Was not disappointed.

All the audio file links, however, are dead.
posted by ardgedee at 5:05 PM on June 25, 2013 [2 favorites]

"But I'll admit that the trip from the eastern coast of New York State to Northeast Massachusetts there-and-back in one day was quite a lark..."

I'm just kind of o_0 because where this happens is Western Mass.

I've wanted to go to this event for years. It always falls at a busy time where I work. I love the idea.
posted by Miko at 5:11 PM on June 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

Torrent of the show is available here:
http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=564880
posted by Ike_Arumba at 5:12 PM on June 25, 2013 [3 favorites]

Man I was *just* about to come in here and bitch about this getting posted on metafilter while I was still waiting for download links, and why the hell wasn't it a torrent.

Now, I guess all I can do is demand SEEDS NOW! Oh never mind it's only got 3 minutes left.

Um good job everybody!
posted by hap_hazard at 5:23 PM on June 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

I saw Wilco once this year, and I really wish I loved them as much as somebody like me should love them. I do love AM, though, and I can't wait to listen to this. I sorta wish they didn't do Daft Punk though.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 5:24 PM on June 25, 2013

I was there. It really was an awesomely fun show. A standout was following "Waterloo Sunset" with ABBA's "Waterloo." Also standing a few feet away from Reggie Watts during it all, that was fun too.
posted by chowflap at 5:39 PM on June 25, 2013 [4 favorites]

good thing you were standing a few feet away from, rather than right behind, reggie watts... he must be given such a hard time at concerts. it's like being the token tall guy, but so many times worse.
posted by raihan_ at 6:08 PM on June 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

This is kind of a long standing "thing" with Tweedy. Uncle Tupelo, even with a couple albums under their belts, used to do shows as "Coffee Creek" and do nothing but old country covers. Brian Hennemann, UT's guitar tech/guitarist/leader of the Bottle Rockets, actually put together a local "supergroup" just to do covers, too.

(speaking of missing things, ook, I hated UT when they were still together only because my nemesis liked them. And Matthew Sweet. Now I know better.)
posted by notsnot at 6:08 PM on June 25, 2013 [2 favorites]

(I believe there are at least three Coffee Creek shows that were taped and are available here and there. Worth getting.)
posted by notsnot at 6:09 PM on June 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

Wilco was really the soundtrack of me at 30-something. I loved the Jay Bennett stuff, and YHF reminds me of my first son being born.

I've seen Wilco recently. They're awesome live, but it's a fundamentally different band now.
posted by KokuRyu at 6:15 PM on June 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

Brian Hennemann, UT's guitar tech/guitarist/leader of the Bottle Rockets, actually put together a local "supergroup" just to do covers, too.

It's called Diesel Island.
posted by timsteil at 6:31 PM on June 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

Wilco was really the soundtrack of me at 30-something. I loved the Jay Bennett stuff, and YHF reminds me of my first son being born.

Yeah, I bristled when I first heard them start being described as "dad rock" but then I remembered that time that my husband and I and all our friends brought our toddlers to sit on blankets at the Greek in Berkeley to watch them...yeah, it's parent rock.

Also I realized my "Wilco: The Tote" canvas tote bag is nearly interchangeable with a public broadcasting tote bag.
posted by padraigin at 6:52 PM on June 25, 2013 [4 favorites]

I do recommend torrenting the files (still seeding!) if only for the Marquee Moon, that's just outstanding stuff! Not a lotta bands could pull that one off, though I guess if they had Nels Cline then maybe...
posted by hap_hazard at 7:04 PM on June 25, 2013

timsteil: "It's called Diesel Island"

Dang, I forgot to mention the name. Used to watch them once a month at Fred's Music Lounge back in the day.
posted by notsnot at 7:41 PM on June 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

Listening to Marque Moon right now and downloading the torrented files. Sounds great.
posted by octothorpe at 7:57 PM on June 25, 2013

Dang, I forgot to mention the name. Used to watch them once a month at Fred's Music Lounge back in the day.

Self-plug? There is a chapter in my third book about Henneman, and a night at Fred's with Diesel Island.
posted by timsteil at 8:50 PM on June 25, 2013

Also standing a few feet away from Reggie Watts during it all, that was fun too.

Oh Jesus Fucking Christ. You really had to mention this tidbit too? You didn't realize the rest of us were chasing our four year olds back into bed while we were changing the baby's diapers and answering our work email that night? Fuck off.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 8:54 PM on June 25, 2013 [2 favorites]

Your favorite band sucks. Oh. Wait. They're my favorite band, too.
posted by double block and bleed at 9:20 PM on June 25, 2013

I'm not a big one for nostalgia, but man, right now I'm 22 and at a Tupelo show in Cicero's basement bar, half-lit and nomming down cheese fries.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 9:51 PM on June 25, 2013 [4 favorites]

Nice!
posted by a halcyon day at 12:31 PM on June 26, 2013

I sorta wish they didn't do Daft Punk though.

Boo, hiss.
posted by brennen at 2:22 PM on June 26, 2013

I will always regret being too tired to drive to St. Louis to see Uncle Tupelo and Nirvana on the same bill. I will always remember how much I loved Uncle Tupelo in the late Eighties and early Nineties. But I must say, I put on the old records for my son this year, and I was disappointed. I should've left it at memories.
posted by Mo Nickels at 2:38 PM on June 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

Mo - really? I still listen to all four albums regularly.
posted by notsnot at 5:14 PM on June 26, 2013

Most excellent!
posted by Tasmanian_Kris at 8:03 PM on June 26, 2013

Wow, I'm listing to the full show and I'm impressed. Most of the songs sound like they've rehearsed and worked on the arrangements instead of just faking their way through them.
posted by octothorpe at 8:22 AM on June 27, 2013