Jeff Tweedy once made an infamous speech at the Crystal Ballroom about audience behavior at concerts; he took on rude fans who were talking and watching the show through the screen of a cell phone. As frustrating as it may have been at the time, he was able to joke about the incident in his return to the Crystal, and even offered up advice to the sold-out Portland crowd:
“If you want to see the darkest side of humanity, read the comments section on that video.”
Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately), no other rants occurred.
Tweedy is a band anchored by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and his son Spencer, a drumming prodigy. The two made the album Sukierae together after learning that Sue Miller, Jeff’s wife and Spencer’s mother, relapsed in her battle against lymphoma. The tour and album are how the Tweedy’s dealt with the problem. She is scheduled to finish radiation this week, as Spencer told the Oregonian in an interview.
The first portion of the concert focused solely on material from Sukierae. The five piece band played the highlights from the just-too-long Sukierae, giving new life to the mellow album. “Summer Noon” and “Low Key” were particularly good, but “Diamond Light Pt. 1” allowed Spencer and bassist Darin Gray to fall into a locked groove while Jeff produced a feedback fueled guitar solo.
Jeff Tweedy performed the second portion of the set alone, playing Wilco classics such as “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart,” “Via Chicago” and “Jesus, etc.” To substitute for the intensity of Wilco’s version of “Via Chicago,” Jeff incorporated a harmonica into the narrative of dreaming of an ex’s death, and it played like a brilliant Bob Dylan impersonation.
The most memorable event was during the encore when Jeff Tweedy railed off a guitar solo, then asked the audience if making pained expressions makes a solo more convincing. It then devolved into a guitar fart experiment after he determined the only time making faces of such anguish are appropriate when “taking a shit, or farting. Playing guitar is easy and making faces will never make it tougher.”
The band closed with an encore of cover songs, which featured a powerful cover of John Lennon’s “God,” in which changed the lyrics to “I only believe in Spencer and me.” The final song was “California Stars” from Billy Bragg and Wilco’s Mermaid Avenue Vol. 1. which allowed both guitarists to trade off soloing while Jeff and Spencer held the easy beat, smiling the whole time.
Call this dad-rock all you want. Jeff Tweedy is literally touring with his son on drums on this tour, but remember that this is also a man who has struggled with drug addiction, depression and a wife battling lymphoma. To see him cracking jokes, interacting with the audience and leading a family band with a smile on his face for the whole show was refreshing. The show was never anything other than fun, proving that if you pay attention during a concert, a truly special experience can occur.
Follow Craig Wright on Twitter @wgwcraig