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Day Seventy Six (Year Two)

What struck me the most about the Wilco show as a whole was just how much like the records they sounded live.  It shouldn't really have been a big surprise, after all, the same lineup has been together for 8 years now.  It's not like it used to be, where the band members changed after every record.  It only makes sense that they'd be a finely tuned, well-oiled music machine.

They played so many of the longer, let's stretch out and just rock for a while, kind of songs: "Impossible Germany," "Art Of Almost," "Bull Black Nova," "Handshake Drugs," "One Sunday Morning," etc. and yet, the show seemed dominated more by songs than by extended jams.  This, I suspect, is also a product of superior musicianship and a well written setlist.  There were oh, so many things that I would have loved for them to play; "Casino Queen," for example, but at the end of the day, I didn't leave disappointed, because I couldn't see a spot where they could have fit anything else into the setlist other than what they played.

Haven't been able to find the Nick Lowe setlist from the show yet, but I know he played the following:

1) "House For Sale"
2) "Cruel To Be Kind"
3) "Alison" (Elvis Costello cover)
4) "Peace, Love & Understanding"
5) "When I Write The Book"

It was great to see a classic artist in a solo acoustic setting (and from the 7th row, no less), just to be able to watch his hands closely.  He kept wrapping his thumb around the fretboard, and then removing it to create a walking bassline.  Cool trick for solo acoustic performing.  Something I should have already known, but something I will also never forget, considering when it dawned on me.

It should also be noted that I came home and immediately set to work building an itunes playlist of the setlist.  So I now have reconstructed the show I saw in its entirety (including Nick Lowe's version of 36 Inches High, which was as close as I could come).  It may not be a live bootleg, but it tries to be, and will have to suffice until I can find a live bootleg.

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