M and I went to see Wilco last night. I had spasmed over a month ago, missed out on tickets and then thankfully found two on ebay that, as far as I could gather, weren’t too bad at all. Yeah – I was looking at Row K in the stalls, we were actually up on the lounge balcony, about one row across from where I sat watching the immortally luscious Jeff Buckley quite a few years ago. [sigh]

Back in January 2003 I had one ticket to go and see Wilco at the Palais, but to my fury I missed them due to logistical crap and an excellent party. I now realise that I really should have gone along. The thing is, I don’t want to sound like a music snob wanker, but I know three of their last five albums in depth. I love them. Summerteeth, and A.M. We renovated to them in Queensland. Then Yankee Hotel Foxtrot came out and I loved that – even snaffled the ‘engineers tapes’ recordings of the album. I was/am also besotted by both Mermaid Avenue albums.

The albums I don’t really know are Being There and A Ghost is Born. I did get hold of their new one, Sky Blue Sky, but I’m not that familiar with it yet either. I think it was a combination of being quite far away from the band, not knowing some of the songs and having just seen the Pixies play the best show I’ve ever been to – made me feel a little bit disconnected from the whole thing.

Don’t get me wrong. They were completely fantastic. The mix was utterly sublime – even M, the live sound king – waxed lyrical about it. The band were tight, and the Palais is a truly gorgeous venue. I think I enjoyed the first half, and then all of the three encores the most. Oh. And did I mention the lighting – excellent. Glenn Richards opened up with a solo set (with Keiran Box on harmonica for a few songs), and he was in great form, despite being a bit under the weather. M used to mix Augie March, and was their road manager on a tour or two – it’s been ages since we’ve seen them/him play.

Back to Wilco – the sound was lush and swirling. Their lead guitar guy is a total gun, and looked like an escapee from The Clash. There was a slight excess of guitar wankery, but this was almost always rescued by brilliance. California Stars, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, Heavy Metal Drummer, Too Far Apart – anyway, they played for about three hours. There are a couple of cool photos here and here.

The best bit was when a few people had finally lost faith in another (fourth) encore and started to leave, and Jeff Tweedy came out with a steel string acoustic, walked right past the floorlights to the very front of the stage, and played a song – about 2000 people in the Palais were holding their collective breath – even the dickheads that had been calling out during the show for particular songs and trying to be witty – it was both magic and spooky. It got the biggest cheer of the night, and M and I left on a buzzy high – which helped us on the hour long drive back to trailerland.