The Dead Part of You

So last night was part 2 of the whole Low/Wilco experience. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, just different.

First though - Low's set? Fucking brilliant amazing. Doesn't matter that no one was there to hear it.

Why am I so hopped up about this? Motherfucking "Do You Know How To Waltz" with Nels Cline. They haven't played it in Boston since maybe 1996 - before The Curtain Hits The Cast came out, they played it at TT the Bears, announcing it's title as "We Hate South By Southwest And Are Never Going Back Again". After their Northampton sat last Sunday, I thought that maybe they should just play DYKHTW for 45 minutes as their opening set, and that's just about what happened last night. The world's quietest band playing loud - taking full advantage of the PA system at the venue.

I went to the show by myself but ran into my friend Bob who's going to Lollapalooza with me. He was blown away by Low having never heard of them, while I tried to explain that their performance that night was really unique, and that they've never played like that before.

Wilco. You know, after seeing them in a venue the size of a backyard, I really didn't know if I'd like their pavilion show. It was an extremely similar set list - that was hugely disappointing to me, as I had them pegged as a band that would change it up from night to night. What was intimate Sunday was big old rock show last night - lighting in full effect, the intensity that was hinted at Sunday hitting full force last night.



Still, it wasn't enough to keep me there through the whole show. Since "Spiders [Kidsmoke]" had closed the main set, I decided to leave before the encores. Wasn't in the mood for crowds anymore, and it was a seriously fucked up crowd too. The joke's on me - I wound up walking in the rain to the silver line, only to be stuck on a bus with a screaming drunk from the show, that a couple of commuters looked like they were ready to take out.

And as I check out Via Chicago, it looks like I missed quite an encore. I thought their curfew was 10:30, so figured it was just going to be one encore [I heard "Heavy Metal Drummer" and "California Stars" on my way to the subway anyway]. I might have considered hanging out if I'd known how much longer they were going to play.

The show was different but equally good. The crowd last night sucked - too many hippies smoking dope and doing their hippie dance. Would I go see Wilco again? THE ANSWER IS I THINK I GOT IT OUT OF MY SYSTEM THIS WEEK.

PS - The Bank of America Pavilion actually isn't as bad a venue as I had thought, as long as you have a seat in section 2.