more wilco

On Saturday, May 17, we went back to the Pageant for the closing night of the tour leg.

Between being the end of a leg and the band having like a month off afterward, and it being St. Louis - which, I say again, is a freaking great place to see Wilco - we knew the show was going to be good. Did I say Thursday's show was good? Saturday's show pushed Thursday's show around in front of the girls, took its lunch money, and pretty much gave it a swirly.

This night the place filled up earlier - whether because it was a Saturday or because of the final night thing, I'm not sure. However, we were still able to get rail - precisely the opposite of Thursday, at the other side of the stage in front of the other guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone, who is totally talented and looks like he's about fifteen years old and is Beck. He's not as fun to watch as Nels Cline, but nothin' wrong with him.

In fact - these two shows were the first time we got so close for Wilco - and really I've only been able to SEE Pat maybe once before in Cincinnati. Since he's at the end, and goes back to the keyboard a lot, he ducks out of sight depending on where you are.

If I hadn't been profoundly depressed and barely able to speak - long story; I'm over it - I would have had a lot more fun and would also be able to remember a lot more about the show. (We have a bootleg coming, which will help!) However, nothing could have kept me from hooting when Jeff came out in his Grand Ol' Opry Suit.

Set list from http://wilcobase.com/:

1. Misunderstood
2. Blood Of The Lamb
3. You Are My Face
4. Hummingbird
5. A Shot In The Arm
6. ELT
7. Pot Kettle Black
8. Handshake Drugs
9. Side With The Seeds
10. She's A Jar
11. Box Full Of Letters
12. Airline To Heaven
13. Jesus, Etc.
14. Impossible Germany
15. Pick Up The Change
16. Too Far Apart
17. Theologians
18. I'm The Man Who Loves You
encore 1:
1. Hate It Here
2. Walken
3. Monday
4. Kingpin
encore 2:
1. Bob Dylan's 49th Beard
2. Heavy Metal Drummer
3. Just A Kid
4. Red-Eyed And Blue
5. I Got You (At The End Of The Century)
6. Casino Queen
7. Hoodoo Voodoo
8. Outtasite (Outta Mind)
encore THREE!
1. I'm A Wheel

I don't even know what to say about that set list. THREE ENCORES. THIRTY SONGS. Three songs from the woody guthrie projects. She's a Jar - I love that song with all my being. Kingpin! I'm the man who loves you! I mean, I'm basically speechless. That show kicked my ass and took my name.

some snaps (don't forget to check out Jeff's suit!!) Oh, and they all wore Obama buttons.:

jeff & nels


ditto


john


Beck Pat


john


jeff

playing catchup with wilco (5/15, the pageant)

So Wilco did a three-night stand in St. Louis at our favorite venue on a thursday, friday, and saturday may 15-17. J and I went to the 15th and 17th (I messed up the presale date for the thursday show, but then they added the friday show later yay!). Wilco is a Chicago band - yes - but St. Louis claims them very heartily. Jeff Tweedy's from St. Louis (basically; he's famously from Belleville on the Illinois side, but still) and the band is deeply embraced by STL.

So on the 15th we were thinking about finding seats, but even though we weren't exactly early, the Pageant continues it's weird-ass trend of everyone finding seats early and then filling up the floor slowly and late, and so J and I went down on the floor and, although the middle was pretty full, we had leisure to check out the right side and the left side before settling at the rail on the left, directly before guitarist Nels Cline.

It's not like I didn't respect Nels Cline before, but seeing him play from that vantage point was amazing. He moved abruptly far up my short list of guitarists. I mean, talented, yes, innovative, yes, but also just so freaking into it and crazy. You could tell he wasn't throwing himself and his guitars around to showboat, but just because he was so swept up by it. And no wonder. Cat got skilz yo.

I didn't keep a setlist because, well, once in a while I just want to have fun, dammit. Between taking pictures and keeping a list, sometimes my concert tasks get kind of annoying, or at least a bit distracting. Here's a review from the RFT, where I yoinked the setlist until I found that it was screwed up, so I went to wilcobase, which did not let me down:

1. Sunken Treasure
2. You Are My Face
3. Hummingbird
4. Ashes of American Flags
5. Company In My Back
6. Handshake Drugs
7. Pot Kettle Black
8. A Shot in the Arm
9. On and On and On
10. Misunderstood
11. Far, Far Away
12. Impossible Germany
13. New Madrid
14. Jesus, Etc.
15. California Stars
16. Walken
17. I’m the Man Who Loves You
18. Heavy Metal Drummer
Encore one:
1. Spiders (Kidsmoke)
2. Hate It Here
3. Kingpin
Encore two:
1. Passenger Side
2. Red-Eyed and Blue
3. I Got You (At the End of the Century)
4. Casino Queen
5. Outtasite (Outta Mind)

I mean just look at that freaking list will you?!? My god. We were virtually speechless when we got out of there what seemed like six hours later. It was fantastic, the best (up to that date) of the wilco shows we'd seen and just brilliant all the way around.

Nels' pedal board


Nels himself


Nels w/lap steel


He was like a Dr. Seuss character, sort of, and seemed like he was about nine feet tall. Weird sumbitch.


Jeff w/acoustic




jeff & john singing


jeff acoustic


Jeff


jeff & john


Awesome awesome show. Jeff makes the most hilarious audience banter. You feel like he's perpetually amused but always ready to tell you to fuck off if you need it. Or, in one case, "Sir. Please. put your shirt back on." He always gives his family a couple of shoutouts and usually plays Casino Queen for his dad. He said his dad had requested New Madrid this time because of the earthquakes this spring. "It woke us up in Chicago too."

Pere Marquette State Park

Still catching up!

Here's a bit of a recap of our early March eagle-watching trip to Pere Marquette State Park.


After the Feb. 29 DBT show, we’d spent the night near STL and got up the next day and headed over to the Grafton area. Grafton itself is a part-quaint, part-dilapidated little town right on the river and very near our further destination, Pere Marquette State Park.

On the way, we drove through Alton, Illinois, home of Robert Wadlow, whom my dad once met.



We also saw the Piasa Bird .


In Grafton we went down to the water. The first day, there was visible ice in the river, and we did spot a mob of (american white) pelicans hanging around out by little islands as well as soaring around, as well as a few eagles on the far bank (thanks, binoculars!).

We walked around a little, watched the ferry come and go, and had an awesome late lunch at a little bar/restaurant overlooking the new marina. Sweet!

The state park is where we had an aborted visit last winter just before J’s mom got sick and we had to hurry away. This time we were able to hike some of the trails and get some awesome eagle spotting. I also ID’d a group of male canvasback ducks in the river by the lodge.

The trails were far more, not rugged exactly, but primitive than the ones at Starved Rock State Park, and some of them were pretty muddy. There were times I really thought, geez, they should have some kind of rail here so people don’t PLUMMET to their DEATHS, but we hung on to trees for dear life and made it through all right. The weather was all over the place because it was bright and sunny the whole time, but then we’d be right on the water or atop a totally unprotected hilltop overlook with cold wind howling in our faces. But that, too, was enjoyable, because really the weather was just right – cold enough that the eagles were still there, warm enough for us to get out and hike and look. The second day there was noticeably less ice in the river, so we just made it!

These pictures aren't really in order, so here's just a bunch of 'em:

river view, with pelicans


J on trail


View, with J




our room at the lodge was huge. Much more awesome than the tiny room we had at Starved Rock, although we were in the 'old' wing there, in fairness. Starved Rock is a more awesome park overall and the lodge restaurant is better, but I like the Pere Marquette lodge better generally.


The lodge has an awesome stone terrace overlooking the water down below.


hey, eagles! I named 'em Sam and Abe. :-)


bird nerd!




The lodge from down by the water


The statue of Pere Marquette at the park – J and I always think it looks like he’s chasing geese or shooing kids off his lawn. *snort* Hey! You geese!


grafton - love those cliffs


nerdsville at grafton


We also went to the army corps of engineers museum at the lock and dam near Alton. The views around the lock itself weren’t all that, because we couldn’t really get up and above, but it was interesting, and it was a nice little museum.


With a small Jay Farrar display.


Eagles overhead! Best picture of the trip.


Except maybe this one at the museum. Haha! We had to take individual pics, because there are just two of us, and J merged them later.

Thanks, Bo

I walk 47 miles of barbed wire,
I use a cobra snake for a necktie,
I got a brand new house on the roadside
Made from rattlesnake hide,
I got a brand new chimney made on top,
Made out of a human skull,
Now come on take a walk with me, Arlene,
And tell me, who do you love?

Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?

I got a tombstone hand and a graveyard mind,
I'm just 22 and I don't mind dying.

Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?

I rode a lion to town, use a rattlesnake whip,
Take it easy arlene, don't give me no lip,

Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?

Night was dark, but the sky was blue,
Down the alley the ice-wagon flew,
Heard a bump, and somebody screamed,
You should have heard just what I seen.

Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?

bhtm

In the spirit of Where Dave Is, it's never too late to play a little catchup.

That said, here are a couple of pictures and a setlist from Big Head Todd at the Pageant March 7.

J and I went to BHTM with our friend and his drummer P, with whom we went a few years ago - she really likes 'em too, which is awesome. Last time she was with us, we were on the floor, but this time we got seats, so the pictures weren't as great. But the performance was! Floor next year.

setlist:
1. Cashbox
2. Please Don't Tell Her
3. Again & Again
4. Ellis Island
5. Broken Hearted Savior
6. Fortune Teller
7. Ever Since You Pulled Me Under
8. Angela Dangerlove
9. Tangerine
10. Blue Sky
11. Cruel Fate
12. Sister Sweetly
13. I Will Carry
14. the Moose song
15. Spanish Highway
16. Dirty Juice
17. Bittersweet
18. Easy Love
19. Silvery Moon
20. Conquistador
21. Boom Boom
22. Circle
encore
1. All the Love You Need
2. Beautiful Rain
3. Her Own Kind of Woman

Hearing them do their awesome version of Zeppelin's 'Tangerine' again was great. I love that one. And the Moose song! Have I ever gotten to hear the moose song? It was strange not to hear Vincent of Jersey/The Leaving Song - this has to be the first time I've seen them not perform that one. But that's what happens - bands put out new albums and have to shuffle things around. But in the shuffling, sometimes you get a Monument in Green or a Flanders Field or a Moose Song.

That said, they were just as ever, Rob's longhorn horns on his amp, Brian playing hard, Todd's seductive vocals, etc., etc. I love that false sense of being old friends you have from seeing a band repeatedly through the years.

Coupla pix (basically the same pic):

Beatle Bob in Blender Magazine! plus Patterson Hood.

Although I can't seem to find the actual article on their web site, Blender magazine has a respectably large profile of Beatle Bob this month!

I'm dying laughing. I swear, I like that man more and more.

google results for Beatle Bob

Beatle Bob's myspace page!

Beatle Bob at wikipedia.

Totally unrelatedly, husband J pointed me to this interview with Patterson Hood of the Drive By Truckers in Harp magazine. The interview seems to take place in a record store; it's not too long, but is amusing.

Drive By Truckers, STL, feb 29, 2008

Our fourth Drive By Truckers show was as wonderful as ever (okay, technically it probably tied for second, but the feelings I'm left with are as wonderful as ever).

We were early enough to run by a hotel we used to like; it used to be a Pear Tree (is that ramada?) but we couldn't find it online this time. Explanation: it's now a Motel 6. well, it was cheap, but ... they offered me a choice and I made the mistake of asking for a smoking room, because a lingering aroma of cigarette smoke doesn't bother me. Ugh, this room seriously reeked. Also dig this crazy bedspread.

OUCH MY EYES IT BURNS ME

Well, now we know. It's too bad; we liked that place. I was also quite unimpressed by the lobby staff and their creepiness and general lack of teeth.

Anyhoo, the Pageant has a floor that's oddly slow to fill (I think we go to geezer shows) and GA seating behind that. We were hoping to get decent seats. We've been up close and personal with the truckers twice now and, honestly, we wanted to get to hear them; it's a tradeoff, but up close you can't make out the vocals because you're getting all stage sound and no mains. But I digress. The parking lot wasn't very full yet, and we hadn't walked far when J decided to leave his coat in the car. He took my keys and handed me the tickets; I tore the pair of them apart and tucked them away. We walked past a scalper or two and around the corner and to the door, where I found that I'd managed to lose the tickets. In less than a block. Well. We backtracked and found one of them, and the scalpers were still there, and the tickets were only $20 anyway, so all was not lost, but ... *FACEPALM*. I mean, really. We all learned a valuable lesson: I learned that I can't be trusted with tickets, and J learned why I always make him be in charge of the tickets!

Anyway, the seats were fairly full, but we managed to find a great little area with unobstructed view and right at the edge of the section instead of the middle. The opening act - no pun intended - the Felice Brothers were interesting. I would really like to hear more of them. They were a five-piece, three of whom I think were actual brothers: drummer, bass, singer/guitarist, big John Popper-like party who played accordian and keyboard, and auxiliary singer who played washboard and stomp board (although you couldn't really hear the stomp board well). They were kind of hard-driving like the Avett Brothers or Old Crow Medicine Show.

Truckers set list:

1. The Man I Shot
2. Three Dimes Down
3. Putting People on the Moon
4. Carl Perkins' Cadillac
5. Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife
6. Daddy Needs a Drink
7. A Ghost to Most
8. I'm Sorry Huston
9. Sinkhole
10. Ronnie & Neil
11. Self Destructive Zones
12. Home Field Advantage
13. Road Cases
14. Checkout Time in Vegas
15. The Righteous Path
16. Lisa's Birthday
17. The Living Bubba
18. Shut Up & Get On the Plane
19. Lookout Mountain
20. Let There Be Rock
-encore-
1. Marry Me
2. 18 Wheels of Love
3. Women Without Whiskey
4. Eighteen (Alice Cooper cover)
5. Buttholeville/State Trooper
6. People Who Died

I always like the classics: People on the Moon, Carl Perkins, Sinkhole, Ronnie & Neil, Living Bubba, Shut Up & Get on the Plane, Lookout Mountain, and Let There Be Rock. I LOVE Sinkhole and Lookout Mountain. Among the new stuff, 3 Dimes worked really well, and I love Ghost To Most, it's one of my favorite of the newer ones. I'm Sorry Huston went well too.

The encore was exciting and very traditional Truckers. I had never gotten to see '18 Wheels of Love' before. Actually I filmed it, but it was pretty dark, and, well, we have dialup, so it would take forever to load, and it's like 12 minutes long, and youtube has a ten-minute limit, so we'll see. (I also filmed The Living Bubba, but I'm having trouble getting it to load despite leaving it to do so overnight and again this morning while I was at work.) Patterson added a whole section before the 'song' kicked in about Chester and a health crisis he'd had and recovered from. It was awesome. They were really smoking. I could live without Buttholeville/State Trooper, but they were really into it, Patterson passing the bottle of Jack out to the crowd (and getting it back), Shonna on her knees at one point, Brad kicked a cymbal and drum off the riser, and just when you thought they'd left it all on the stage Patterson whipped into People Who Died in a speedy frenzy. I mean, I couldn't really understand a word except DIED! DIED! It seemed really unplanned, and it was great.

Man, I love the Truckers.

Here are a few pictures and a (dark, but it lightens up toward the end) film of Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife.


Cooley




Patterson, showing the backdrop










Two Daughters

R.I.P. - Jeff Healey

Jeff Healey died.

R.E.M., Pollstar

R.E.M. has added more dates, but not in St. Louis as yet. *frets*

Tom Petty's at what I persist in thinking of as Riverport Amphitheater in August, and tickets already went on sale. Seems like when I was younger and even poorer, we'd hear about upcoming concerts, then weeks later tickets would go on sale. (and we'd call ticketmaster and hit 'redial' for 45 minutes at best and a couple of hours at worst!) These days we hear about a concert and it's like "and tickets go on sale tomorrow! No time to decide! Don't even get me started on the presales and fan clubs and passwords and stuff. By the time tickets go on sale to the general public, they've been on sale for weeks.

Anyway, I sent an e-mail to Pollstar lamenting their cessation of service, and got a response:

We are in the midst of a total site redesign and expect that with it's
launch sometime later this year that a new Premium subscription product
will be introduced. In the meantime, we hope that you will be able to
use our Free Auto Notify service to keep you up to date on your 10 most
important artists or venues.
Thank You For Using Pollstar!

So yay! It can't come to soon. I'd pay substantially more than the $10 a year they were charging.

DBT, BHTM, REM, and junk

I finally picked up the new Drive By Truckers" album, "Brighter Than Creation's Dark," today - I made the mistake of not calling ahead to reserve a copy at Recycled, so they were out Tuesday, which is good for the Truckers but bad for me. Mark said they had like four other people on the list for the batch he ordered for today. It's good to know that there are, you know, a half-dozen truckers fans in this town.

Anyway, on first listen, I liked it a lot. We'd heard several songs from the album already, some live and some bootlegged. I think Patterson's stuff is especially strong, but in the reviews, I think Cooley and Shonna are getting all the praise - Shonna for finally writing and singing, bless her (I'm of the firm opinion that she's a sweety), and Cooley for his material. Don't get me wrong, I love Cooley's stuff generally, but a couple of them sounded a lot alike on first mention - and a lot like "Panties in Your Purse" musically. Which isn't a bad thing, and I find that songs that sound alike on first listen tend to differentiate themselves after I've heard them a few times, unless they're by Coldplay. Anyway, I join Rolling Stone and Paste magazines in giving it four stars.

I mean, I am a fan.

We liked the new Big Head Todd album, All The Love You Need, a lot too. I remain a faithful BHTM fan and will continue to purchase and attend, but that went without saying. Let's face it, the album could totally blow and I'd say the same. Still, if you're not a Todd-Head, do check them out. You probably at least know something from "Sister Sweetly," like "Broken Hearted Saviour."

It's been a long winter, but with Truckers and Big Head Todd tickets sitting in their wee ticketmaster envelopes just waiting for the end of February, I see a glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel that is the punishment that is a central illinois winter.

Not only that, but I have a new R.E.M. album to anticipate. I know they've had their ups and downs, but I will always be faithful. R.E.M. is the first band - and maybe the only band - that I've liked from day one, from the first stuff I heard from their first album when it was new. Which would have been "Catapult" from Murmur. A lot of bands, I might like their whole ouvre, but I was late getting there, or the wrong age to have been in on it from the first album, or something.

(edit: I liked Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains and Soundgarden beginning with their first albums, for instance, but I didn't stick with them loyally through all the ups and downs like I have R.E.M.)

And a new R.E.M. album implies a tour, of course. We've seen them the last three tours - last time at the Fox we had really good seats, too.


And, non-musically, I reread Jane Austen's Persuasion not too long ago to get the taste of a really bad book out of my head, and just finished finally reading The French Lieutenant's Woman for the first time, and now I'm all about visiting Lyme Regis some day. (That's Lyme Regis.)

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days o' auld lang syne

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.


Wikipedia entry on "auld lang syne."

DBT in STL

Pollstar.com says Drive By Truckers at the Pageant Feb. 29!! Oh, yesss.

omg! They have an Original Pancake House in St. Louis now???

Why was I not informed?

I am SO THERE.

year in review

In January we went to Big Head Todd's annual show at the Pageant. (well, it's been four or five years in a row now, anyhoo.)

In February I went to the Obama announcement here in town.

J's band's cd release party was at the Hoogland at the end of March and it was awesome.

Our first wedding anniversary was April 19. However, come May we'd been cohabitating for 16 years all told.

We went to Son Volt at the Pageant in April. I stood next to Beatle Bob.

J and I spent a couple of great days hiking and relaxing at Starved Rock State Park around May 21-22

J's oldest nephew graduated from high school on June 1, making us quite ancient indeed.

In July we saw the Police in St. Louis. Bottle Rockets and later the Avett Brothers here in town. We went to Toad the Wet Sprocket in Chicago and hung out with friends, then to Eric Clapton's Crossroads festival the next day, which was ... incomparable. I thought nothing could top Pink Floyd, but if anything could, that did.

In August, Joe Walsh at the state fair, and the Braves series in St. Louis. I'm seriously missing baseball right now.

In October, Dylan and Elvis Costello in Bloomington, then the Drive By Truckers in Chicago the next day.

In November, Jason Isbell, then the Smokies, and then Neil Young.

That's probably about it for us this year, but I see that Big Head Todd, Jay Farrar, and R.E.M. are announcing dates.

Neil Young at the Fox, St. Louis, 11/19/07

At first we couldn't decide whether to go to Neil or not. Okay, actually, J couldn't decide. I'm the one who always wants to go, irrespective of scheduling, finances, and other minor considerations, and I'm acutely aware that we haven't seen Neil nearly enough. With some of these legends you gotta keep one eye on the clock and take advantage of any opportunity you get. At least, that's my philosophy. Secondly, tickets were kind of steep. And thirdly, the show was on a Sunday night, the last night of a vacation that involved a lot of driving before we had to go back to work.

Nevertheless, I perservered.

It struck me around Saturday, though - I realized I didn't want to spend a couple of hours in the car Sunday either. However, I'm glad we had something to do even had the show not been awesome - it kept us from just moping on the couch watching the hours tick away, you know?

Anyhow, I do love the Fox. Our seats weren't too great but they weren't too bad. Actually, I think they were just far enough back that Neil didn't seem like such a geezer, you know, but close enough that we could see quite well and unobstructedly. As always, we sat in front of a group of talkative dumbasses. I exercised great restraint and only shushed them once during the acoustic set, but come on, dude, shut the fuck up during the quiet parts. You know the people who have to comment on the stupidest stuff. "He's gonna sit in a chair!!" "I bet he plays harmonica!!" You just want to kill 'em. We didn't notice them so much during the second set, of course.

There was an announcement before he started, asking us not only to refrain from recording and photos, but to refrain also from cell phones and from shouting out song titles. "Tonight's set list has been pre-selected by Neil Young." That didn't stop everyone, but it did cut down on it a lot. Oh, and if I ever meet the "I LOVE YOU, NEIL" chick from halfway back in the balcony, I am going to choke her with a low 'E' string. Because what she was really saying was "I love myself more than I love you, Neil!"

The acoustic set was great. I love Neil's acoustic playing. It's so full and rugged and fierce. Sometimes between songs he'd get up and kind of wander between the organ on one side, the piano on the other side, and back to the guitar station, cogitating. I always forget how low his speaking voice is. He did lose his place during "After the Gold Rush" and started again on "Well I dreamed ... no I didn't," and played until it came around again. He talked about how hard it was sometimes to play a song you're so familiar with and play so often because it has so many memories and so much weight on it from all the times you've played it before, whereas newer songs are easier to remember. It kind of reminded me of the NPR interview when he said that he can only write one song at a time, otherwise "they fight." And when he started playing "Love is a Rose," he stopped and said, "You oughtta be clapping your ass off, man." Died laughing. and "Harvest" and "After the Gold Rush" was one blissful back-to-backer. His voice was a little shaky on some of the highest bits of "Gold Rush," but as I said, only Neil and bats could sing that bit to start with, and he's always had that weird light skinny voice sometimes anyway that heads for the stratosphere of its own accord, so it was cool.

acoustic set:
1. From Hank To Hendrix
2. Ambulance Blues
3. Sad Movies
4. A Man Needs a Maid
5. No One Seems To Know
6. Harvest
7. After the Gold Rush
8. Mellow My Mind
9. Love Art Blues
10. Love Is A Rose
11. Heart of Gold

For the electric set ... well, let me say that the stage set was a bit odd. It had the stage qua stage around the front, but behind that was a kind of artist's warehouse loft theme, including a guy on the back left - in a red suit and panama hat kind of getup - actually painting. So during the second set, the artist guy presented each song by coming to the front where there was an easel and putting up a painting sort of that song with the title written on it, then going back to his area and painting during the song. um, it was pretty strange, but he knew his business, so there wasn't a lot of waiting for him or anything.

Anyway, if you've been hesitating to go to Neil Young because he's old, or if you've been thinking a guy his age doesn't BRING IT anymore, think again, because I'm here to tell you that Neil BROUGHT IT. It was great to see him kind of randomly thrash and stagger about the stage in his patented Neil Young lurch, and he didn't stint on the playing, either, although to be brutally frank, I could have done without at least five minutes of the at least 15 minute version of "No Hidden Path" he closed with. But it was awesome nevertheless. "Dirty Old Man" was particularly pleasing.
And wait till you see the encore.

Electric set:
1. The Loner
2. Everybody Knows this is Nowhere
3. Dirty Old Man
4. Spirit Road
5. Bad Fog of Loneliness
6. Winterlong
7. Oh, Lonesome Me
8. The Believer
9. No Hidden Path
Encore 1
Cinnamon Girl
Cortez the Killer
Encore 2
The Sultan

After Cinnamon Girl, Neil went over to the bassist and talked about what he wanted to play for several moments, and you could tell he was going off list. We waited ... waited ... and then the first note sneaked out and J and I flipped out. If you'd asked me what single-but-unlikely Neil Young song I'd have liked to hear, well, I'd have most likely said "Cortez." It was that moment at a concert where you think, I really could die happily now, for lo, I am fulfilled. If you're unfamiliar with "Cortez the Killer," shame on you. Try to find a live version. So that was a fabulous surprise. Then to our surprise he came out for the second encore, and they brought out a gong, and a guy ... dressed kind of like ... a sultan ... with the turban, and the flowing trou, and the boots, and the gong mallet, came out and stood serenely by the gong, near the easel that said "THE SULTAN," and, well, he played his part with tempered enthusiasm, and it was very strange, but very good.

Here's a review from the St. Louis paper (I am beholden for parts of my set list, for it was very, very dark in there and I honestly can't read some of my own writing).
click here.

Cortez the Killer

He came dancing across the water
with his galleons and guns
looking for the new world
in that palace in the sun

On the shore lay Montezuma
with his coca leaves and pearls
in his halls he often wondered
with the secrets of the worlds

And his subjects gathered round him
like the leaves around a tree
in their clothes of many colors
for the angry gods to see

And the women all were beautiful
the men stood straight and strong
they offered life in sacrifice
so that others could go on

Hate was just a legend
war was never known
the people worked together
and they lifted many stones

They carried them to the flatlands
and they died along the way
they built up with their bare hands
what we still can't do today.

And I know she's living there
she loves me to this day
I still can't remember when
or how I lost my way

He came dancing across the water
Cortez, Cortez
what a killer

Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit/St Louis 11/11/07

Jason Isbell: guitarist, singer, songwriter, former Drive By Trucker.

Jason Isbell dot com.
Jason at Wikipedia

After we bought the tickets, we were disappointed to learn that Jason was opening for Cracker. I don't mean to disparage Cracker, but the plain truth is that I don't know anything about them at all and don't know any of their music. We wanted to see a whole night of Isbell. On the plus side, we were starting a vacation, so making an early night of it meant we could make some miles after the show - we ended up leaving shortly after Jason's set, didn't hear any of Cracker, and spent the night in Marion, Ill on our way to the Smokies, so it was good.

Side note: Jason's keyboardist is that Derry De Borja from Son Volt. Added bonus!

Set list:
1. Grown
2. Ain't Never Gonna Change
3. Chicago Promenade
4. Down in a Hole
5. Assassin
6. Goddamn Lonely Love
7. Psycho Killer
8. Razor Town
9. Magician
then with guy from Cracker
10. Hurricanes & Hand Grenades
11. Outfit
12. Try

It was a pretty healthy mix of his own solo stuff and some of his Truckers stuff. I was happy to hear Goddamn Lonely Love, but Outfit really made my night and that of a lot of people, I think. Assassin, of course, is a track from Trucker Patterson Hood's solo album, and it's a good song, so it was good to hear. It wasn't a huge crowd, and the floor was mostly empty at first, so we stood kind of at the back of the floor with about eight people. It was a clear view and also much better sound than right up against the stage. As the show went on more people came out on the floor and we shuffled forward until around "Outfit" we ended up against the stage and there were, oh, twenty or thirty people on the floor? After Jason's set he came to the edge of the stage and talked to people and signed a few autographs. Really nice guy to his fans, just like when we saw the truckers at mississippi nights (our last show there! wail!). He asked each person their name and signed "Thanks, (whoever!)" and his name. Not the best photo conditions, my poor little camera, but it's plucky, and so am I. Jason gave a good show, he played hard and the band was really together and smokin'. He really held his own as a solo artist.







with guy from cracker (david lowery or johnny hickman, I guess)




signing autographs