So on Tuesday night it was off to see Jeff Tweedy (of Wilco, Uncle Tupelo, Woody Guthrie/Billy Bragg fame to name but a few...) at Shepherd's Bush Empire. Wilco is one of Kevin's must see bands so we had seen him earlier this year as Wilco, but this gig was him doing an acoustic set.
I'm not best fond of SBE as a gig venue anyhow (see earlier posting on getting soaked with beer at Salmonella Dub for starters...) and also Wilco at SBE are a particularly bad memory for me. They played a legendary gig there a few years ago - legendary for all the wrong reasons I might add. They were at the end of a long tour, and I went along expecting some nice alt-country music (which was all I'd heard of them at that point) and I got an evening of noise, an incredibly surly singer (aforementioned Jeff Tweedy), which was topped off by a roadie singing on stage during the encore. At which point I finally came to my senses and left.
So I had always sworn to Kevin that I would never go to another Wilco gig... And that resolve lasted a few good years. But I went earlier this year and they were good (great according to Kevin) so was happy to go along to this gig. But I was a tad worried - I was tired, it was freezing out, and I didn't feel like going. But...
It was amazing. He was brilliant. It is now in one of my top 3 gigs of the year (Fat Freddys Drop being one of the others - jury is still out on gig 3). It was just superb. His singing was incredible, the songs were great, and his banter with the audience (including a reference to the infamous last appearance at the Empire) was very funny. Did a great stream about how the audience was his psyche talking to him. Did a song about absent family as well which made me tear up a bit (I'm a sucker for a sad song...). So check out the review in the Independent here, and if you're really keen, his set list here. There are some very keen Wilco fans out there... It was just one of the best gigs I've been to for ages, pure and simple.
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