Americanarama - Atlanta Roll Call

[EverythingChanges]

Hopefully the voodoo gets us Nashville to Kentucky tomorrow!!

If you're going to the Indy, or Cinnci show, you should really try for O is the One!

[YimYodd]

Hopefully the voodoo gets us Nashville to Kentucky tomorrow!!

If you're going to the Indy, or Cinnci show, you should really try for O is the One!

GO O! (In Indy).
Nice to see that playlists have been varied so far.
Cool collaborations w/ Weir, but personally I'm happy to have Richard Thompson opening in Indy!

[Waddy Peytona]

Hopefully the voodoo gets us Nashville to Kentucky tomorrow!!

If you're going to the Indy, or Cinnci show, you should really try for O is the One!

GO O! (In Indy).
Nice to see that playlists have been varied so far.
Cool collaborations w/ Weir, but personally I'm happy to have Richard Thompson opening in Indy!

I think "Persuasion" would be a great Richard Thompson/MMJ collaboration. Jim could sing Teddy's parts. Beautiful.

[lpkell2145]

That show was magnificent! Every act was great but Wilco especially. They rocked my face of tonight!  I want more, I want more!!!

[MrWhippy]

I think "Persuasion" would be a great Richard Thompson/MMJ collaboration. Jim could sing Teddy's parts. Beautiful.

That's a cool idea for a MMJ/Richard Thompson collaboration.  I think another that would be really cool is something that enabled Thompson to really stretch out on electric guitar with MMJ. 

On the Cayamo Cruise last year, Richard Thompson came out during a set by Dawes and they played Thompson's song Calvary Cross.  Hearing Thompson and MMJ do that song would be amazing.  If that happened, I would be insanely jealous to not be there.

[nuggets]

smokin'
http://youtu.be/G04JrZhIH7Q

[Miyagi]

Last night was phenomenal.  MMJ & Wilco sets were some of the best live music I've seen in awhile.  The Rider was awesome- a few problem w/ the lyrics, at times, but just beautiful.  Great choice for a cover.  One Big Holliday will never get old...  The Dark was a treat.  PWW was exceptional- long a fucking good.  Victory Dance was nasty.  Good, good shit...

Wilco far exceeded my expectations.  One Sunday Morning, Dark Star > California Stars > Dark star really was sick.  Nels was nailing Jerry's noodling parts.  Art of Almost was fucking huge...

Hell, even the Bobby acoustic set was good.  I thought he sounded great.  Love me some Other One.

No Dylan for this guy.   Fight in the pit was hysterical.  Some People are stupid. 

Cheers

[bhyman]

HIMy thoughts on last night...

Bob Weir was a great opener. Really great sound from his guitar and his voice is still strong.

MMJ had a really solid set. Thanks Scosby for The Dark opener. Band sounded great, Jim seems to be in great spirits. I was hanging with a long time deadhead and he was totally into it, and when they played Rider he freaked out. PWW was great and Victory Dance terrifying. I thought Circuital sounded particularly good last night, but wishing they would let it rest for a while. I think they've played it in every one of the last 6 shows I've seen. Was I wrong thinking they might have had 5 minutes left in their set time when they left the stage? Maybe they needed to leave some extra time for Wilco's long jams.

So Wilco was on fire last night. Their set at Bonnaroo was a bit of a snoozer, and I had started thinking they had  passed their prime. I was so wrong. Airline to Heaven was such a good opener. I don't think One Sunday Morning is a good live song. It is great on their most recent album, but a bit slow and repetitive for such a long song. I think they lost the audience a bit on that one. But when Bobby Weir came out and  we heard the opening notes to Dark Star everything changed. My deadhead buddy's initial reaction was like "wait... that sounds like Dark Star". Then he looked skeptical, like it was a gimmick or something. But as the song progressed he closed his eyes and just soaked in the magic. Nels channeled Jerry's style perfectly and you could feel that something special was going on. Then the transition to California Stars happened and everyone was grooving. But wait, we're not done with Dark Star yet. Just wow. My buddy hugged me (we are not huggers BTW) when they finished and might have had a tear in his eye. This is what blew me away... he told me that he usually doesn't like Dark Star. It's a rarity, sure, but he prefers so many other songs. But he thought Wilco and Bob might have played the  best version of that song he's ever heard. That's big praise from a die hard Dead fan. Anyway, they never stopped from there. Noticeably absent from the set were Impossible Germany and Handshake Drugs, but kudos for them mixing it up so much. Their last 2 songs reminded me what a great rock band they are. Pure power pop bliss.

Bob Dylan was about what I expected based on the last time I saw him. Tight band, but his show comes off as a bit repetitive with that voice. I love me some Bob Dylan, but I prefer his studio work now. I hope he collaborates some to keep his show fresh.

So Americanarama exceeded my expectations. Bob Weir only opens one more time this tour. I'm so tempted to get in my car and head to Nashville. Weir's collaborations have not been repeated yet, so I expect a few more unicorns tonight. To think Wilco learned and performed the 15+ minute Dark Star maybe for the only time ever just blows my mind.

[MMJCOBRA]

Guys, I know everyone has their preferences, but that "short" MMJ set was one of the best sets I've ever seen from them. They were totally on fire and the entire set was just smokin from start to finish!  I know you rider was one of my favorite concert experiences of all time. And I'm a huge Wilco fan, but I just could not get into their set at all. I've seen Wilco quite a bit but their show just never seemed to get going for me, outside of dark star.

Anyways, looking forward to Tuscaloosa for sure.

[bartel]

love how the sets are ever changing... the chance to hear something like Evelyn or Phone in Camden would make the wait even more painstaking

[Shug]

Hopefully the voodoo gets us Nashville to Kentucky tomorrow!!

If you're going to the Indy, or Cinnci show, you should really try for O is the One!

GO O! (In Indy).
Nice to see that playlists have been varied so far.
Cool collaborations w/ Weir, but personally I'm happy to have Richard Thompson opening in Indy!

I think "Persuasion" would be a great Richard Thompson/MMJ collaboration. Jim could sing Teddy's parts. Beautiful.

If Wilco plays Dark Star with Weir sitting in then there is no reason they can't do Sloth or Calvary Cross with Richard Thompson sitting in.   

[evenflo46]

Wilco (ft Bob Weir): California Stars-Dark Star

[Colfax]

THE DARK...is going to open the ATL

Can we be friends? I'd like to know how you did this because I'm dying for a Highly Suspicious. I nearly lost my mind thinking of you when they started.

Anyway, on to the review. This is a pretty great lineup with a lot of overlap in audiences. I saw lots of folks around me either knew or just dug the hell out of MMJ and Wilco both. Lots of old deadheads in the crowd too. A few remarks that this was the most dancing ever at a Wilco show.

I thought Bob Weir was the MVP of the night. It's just him and an acoustic for his 30-35min set. I liked it. He picked great songs even tho I'm dying for an Estimated Prophet having moved from California this year. 20 minutes is pretty ideal for this kind of music as it eventually gets a little tiring without accompaniment.  The song with the most promise was The Other One (even without Phil destroying it with bass bombs), but Bobby had to "cut this one short and finish it tmrw" because he was running out of time.

But when Bobby joins MMJ and Wilco both, he really shines. His voice is great and strong and his guitar playing is amazing. He took 1 of the 4 solos in I KNOW YOU RIDER with MMJ. (Carl, Bob, Carl, Jim solo order). His solo was every bit as good as Carl's or Jim's too. Just a really strong performance. Bobby has been a hit or miss guest for me with some of the other bands I follow so I was thrilled at how great he was with MMJ especially.

Bobby was integral in the highlight of the night for me which was the Dark Star>California Stars>Dark Star in Wilco's set. There was this really long and greatly strange intro to Dark Star with lots of guitar licks trading back and forth. Then it was pretty standard fare for a bit. There was a seamless transition into CS which I'm not familiar with. They slammed back into Dark Star and the magic really happened. They got weir(d) and people all over the place were losing their shit. After they ended, Jeff remarked something to the effect of he "didn't realize this show was going to take that kind of turn."

I think MMJ and Wilco both benefit and are hurt by the abbreviated time slot. There is more urgency in their playing and when they are rocking, they are REALLY rocking. What hurts is building the peak of the show and having to devote so much time to slower and varied playing. Wonderful is one of my favorites. And I loved hearing it. But coupled with some of the other more softer tunes, it eats up  such a large chunk of the set when I want to go balls to the wall. I'm absolutely dying for a Highly Suspicious.

My last two MMJ shows here in ATL have been abbreviated sets and it just feels like they have X amount of energy to unleash in a show and these sets only allow for a little of it to slip out.

My MMJ's highlights started with After Dark of course - especially because of this thread. It Beats for You was the first really notable moment for me. They jammed out the ending of it and, coupled with the After Dark opener, made it seem like they were fired out of the rocket and were just going to blow us away the entire hour. Alas, they took it down here and there, but every song was played well and Jim's voice melts my soul every time I see him. It is truly a pleasure to hear that man wail.

(As an aside - I'm so in love with the fact that MMJ doesn't have any "bathroom" or "time to get another beer" songs. They write amazingly great songs and even the ones on my lower tier, I still love. That is a really amazing thing about them and unique to nearly every other band I follow.)

MMJ finished strong with a really great Victory Dance and the obligatory One Big Holiday. I call OBH my "(Phish's) Character Zer0" song. You know it's coming. You know it's going to rock. You know the frat boys are going to love it. Guess what? So do I. And I hope I always do. It's a great song, just like Character Zer0. Suck it haters.  (also, OBH was an encore as MMJ left the stage after Victory Dance. Haven't seen any songs on previous setlists listed as encore. Encore break was about 1 minute long)

I don't have too much to say about Wilco as it was my first time seeing them and only being slightly familiar with them. They provided the highlight of the night for me (Dark Star>California Stars>Dark Star) and I loved the way they finished their show with high energy tunes. They are great musicians, I'm just not sure if I'm on board or not. They don't move me and I'm not sure I like Jeff's voice honestly.

I have less to say about Bob Dylan. I've seen him a handful of times and have seen good Bob and bad Bob. My crew was pretty spent after MMJ and Wilco and we didn't give him too much of a chance honestly. It didn't really seem like "good Bob" was on stage tho.

Bob also has rules against any pictures or taping and the venue was doing its best to enforce it with jack boots on... especially, but not limited to, Dylan's set. They make a formal announcement before Dylan goes on to remind everyone to keep your phones in your pocket. It just felt so antiquated. And it sucks not to have any decent audio of these great Bob Weir collaborations every night. EVERYONE seemed to love Bob Weir joining their band whether they were Wilco or MMJ fans. I really dug that. Great audience.

My MMJ first timers came away true believers. That was awesome as I've been trying to get them into MMJ for over a decade now. MMJ are really one of the only bands I like that I think are really accessible to just about anyone - as long as they like some form of Rock and Roll. It's always great when they blow newbies away tho. I suspect they'll pick up a lot of fans on this tour. - Colfax

[Colfax]

One last interesting note from jambase.com reporters:

Guitarist Nels Cline was sporting Duane Allman's famed 1957 Les Paul guitar, on loan from the Big House Museum.

[Colfax]

a special thank you to those of you who captured a little bit of these wonderful shows and uploaded video and posted it here.

[el_chode]

Compendium from Atlanta:

http://www.jambase.com/Articles/118852/More-Bob-Weir-With-Wilco-And-My-Morning-Jacket-In-Atlanta

[EverythingChanges]

Reading reviews just makes me think that Dylan is super up his own ass.  Is recording that big of a deal?  No one wants to record him anyways, we want to record the bands who are actually up for collaborating with one another! 

[nuggets]

thanks for the review, colfax.

[MrWhippy]

If Wilco plays Dark Star with Weir sitting in then there is no reason they can't do Sloth or Calvary Cross with Richard Thompson sitting in.   

Great minds think alike, Shug, though I don't think it would ever happen. 

While a collaboration like that might make sense musically, unlike MMJ playing Dead songs which most everyone knows, 95% or more of the audience at these shows would have no idea what was going on if they played Calvary Cross or Sloth with Thompson.

[bhyman]

Hooray for tapers!
http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=565061

and if you want that Wilco set to complete the Grateful Dead covers...
http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=565062