Mayor Ness giving key to the city to Wilco

The video is a tiny bit out of order, with Ness giving the band the key to the city in the beginning. Wilco talks about wanting the key later in the video. Ness drew one or wrote it on a sheet of paper. He was then hoisted up and made his way to the stage to give the key to lead singer Tweedy.

It was a nice family friendly show, but Wilco seems to have difficulty writing hooks in its songs. Good band and entertaining, but I am not sure what they think about all the local love. We may be coming off a little clingy.

26 Comments

Herzog

about 12 years ago

Clingy-like?  Well, Wilco is a clingy band, and this is a clingy age. Take the world's most popular band about 35 years ago, their hit was called "Stairway to Heaven," and they dealt with more mature themes, perhaps  allowing fans to be less clingy, maybe it was the mystery of the quotient, of not having an umbilical chord to your social media to feed your every whim, or being ripped out of your gourd on LSD, whatever lets you see the big picture, I don't think one person in this audience was in that state of mind, you can't even get psychedelics anymore, these are big differences here.

spy1

about 12 years ago

Andrew, I think you have difficulty enjoying music that might not have a hook. Your comment says more about you than about Wilco. Maybe they can do a personal show for you where they play Heavy Metal Drummer 24 times. And if our clingy love gets them to come back basically every 15 months, keep clinging. Watching a Wilco show in Duluth is worlds apart from seeing them in MPLS or other so-called hipper places. I'm not sure if I saw anyone at Bayfront with the "arms crossed, prove it" stance. A simple look at their set list, some which comes from requests made online, shows a pretty good evolutionary understanding of the band from the local fan base; i.e. Laminated Cat.

Ramos

about 12 years ago

Personally, if a band that I had paid good money to see told me that I had to "find something else nice to do for us," that's when I would start chucking tomatoes.

Maybe the mayor can give them a DEDA subsidy next year.

quirtep

about 12 years ago

My take is that hooks are overrated, unless you're listening to a pop performer like Britney Spears.  Wilco was one of my favorites even before I moved to Duluth 10 years ago, and I think Jeff's comment about finding more to do for us should not be judged so harshly.  Maybe in retrospect he would have phrased it differently, but we have lavished them with praise over the years, and it was just a stupid joke.

nicolai

about 12 years ago

Am I the only one that could care less about Wilco in Duluth?  I hope not.

spy1

about 12 years ago

Anyone could care less. Do you mean "not care less"?

in.dog.neato

about 12 years ago

You could be, but whining about it here isn't gonna get you any respect.

dky

about 12 years ago

Wilco = yawn

vicarious

about 12 years ago

Ramos does not understand humor or sarcasm, it would seem. If you want hooks, buy a Black Eyed Peas album. Good fucking Lord.

vicarious

about 12 years ago

Dky: that is a very nuanced observation. Thank you.

Barrett Chase

about 12 years ago

The question on my mind (serious question, no judgement) for the Wilco-haters: What band would you be excited to see at Bayfront? It has to be a current band. Something that could actually happen, even if it's an extreme longshot.

digit3

about 12 years ago

Wilco is completely filled with hooks IMHO. So much so in fact that their pop leanings have turned me away from the band that I have loved since the first tour in '94 post-UT breakup.

Andrew Olson

about 12 years ago

Not every band needs a hook in their songs, but so far the only hook-like thing I saw from them was our mayor gushing like an 11 year old girl at a Justin Bieber concert. A chart topping band needs hooks in their music or something in their stage show or overall appearance to be successful; like a gimmick.

There are gimmicks to rock and roll like Hendrix playing with his teeth or behind his back that reeled in people, but he could also write great hooks in his songs too. You can suck the audience in with a gimmick and then write songs with hooks so they buy your album. So far Wilco's gimmick is to be sooo friendly that you could bring your kids to a show in your SUV and they will dance away while our mayor turns all red and gives away the city to them. If I was mayor and into a band I'd probably do the same thing though.

My impression from seeing them for my first time was that Wilco doesn't have hooks in their songs, which is probably why they are what they are and where they are...IMHO.

Do they sell more CDs than posters and shirts at their shows?

Successful musicians or bands, like Badfinger for example, write songs with hooks in them. That is usually what separates a jam from a song.

It is also what may separate Trampled by Turtles from Charlie Parr. Black-eyed Snakes have a gimmick of being possessed by the spirit of the blues, but they have hooks in their songs too. 

"Stairway to Heaven" had a hook and Led Zeppelin had a gimmick of Satan that scared people into going to their shows. Wilco has a gimmick of friendliness, but with few hooks in their songs they become more of a jam band on stage... Not Phish jamming with psychedelics, but fairly sober jamming with the kids near by.  A buzzed jam.

I'm not knocking it, I'm just giving an observation.

Jeff Tweedy comes off as this overly humble guy on stage, but what I saw after the show made me think otherwise. 

There was a meet and greet after the show for about 30 fans with green sticker passes. Wilco's manager came out after the show and told the Bayfront staff that the entire park had to be cleared out before the band would come out of their tour buses for the meet and greet. The extra 10 or so people who were still in the park without green passes had to leave the gates and couldn't even watch from behind a fence. When they didn't leave the entire park fast enough the staff called over police officers to escort the handful of patrons who didn't have a green pass but were hoping for an autograph or just a glimpse of the band. One guy was a bit tipsy and the cops tried to arrest him when he protested leaving the park because a band's management demanded it. Luckily his female friends talked the cop into to letting him go, but are police really needed so a band can come out for a meet and greet? Why not let the 10 or so additional people in? Why not let them catch at least glimpse of their friendliness?

On top of that Tweedy never came out to the meet and greet. Too friendly I guess... Or maybe we didn't give him enough love as a city yet?

Ramos

about 12 years ago

I can't speak for the Wilco-haters, but I'd like to see Iggy Pop play Bayfront. Also the Melvins.

spy1

about 12 years ago

Andrew: Tweedy didn't come out because right after the show he obliged the mother of a boy in the burn unit at Miller Dwan who wanted to come to the show but was confined to his bed. Tweedy talked and strummed with him until well after midnight. So, yes, he's an asshole.

nicolai

about 12 years ago

"Do they sell more CDs than posters and shirts at their shows?"


I don't think any band sells more CDs than posters and shirts anymore.

I agree with Ramos, the Melvins and Iggy Pop would be great bands for the Bayfront.  There are not many mainstream acts that really captivate me at all.  So, I'm probably the last person to ask, "Who do you want to see at the Bayfront?"  I'd be much more inclined to answer the question, "What band do you want to see play in a sweaty, hot basement?"

GuyStunning

about 12 years ago

I was at the Wilco show with a friend from out of town who's a huge fan and takes my wife and I to the show in exchange for putting her up for the night. Their music has never done a whole lot for me, and I was thinking the exact same thing, about the "jam band" reference above. Not good or bad, just a personal observation. 

Going to see TBT, Band of Horses and My Morning Jacket down in Somerset in a few weeks. I think that'd make for a fun Bayfront show.

Herzog

about 12 years ago

Dude, the lead singer of Badfinger hung himself after poor sales brought the industry down on him like the Reaper. That was quite a hook, shock your fans into coming to your show because your band doesn't exist anymore! 
 
I actually wrote Gillian Welch/ David Rawlings a few months ago asking why they don't put any of their 'albums' on vinyl, and isn't vinyl cool again? They rarely ever play north of say Madison, as southerners don't like to come up here, so I recommended they do the Big Top and Bayfront, and lo, they added a date last minute to the former anyway.  I like to think I planted that seed.  Wilco is nice, and it's nice I didn't have to go because Mr. Posterman posted a clip. But sadly, they won't surpass the Mermaid Sessions in terms of quality in this lifetime.  And the 'Oh Wilco' stuff needs a bath.
  
Some like their spontaneity in the form of cats-being-tortured punk, or throbbing death metal beat, but the rest of us who can't find it anywhere in this country to suffice will just have to keep looking, fly to Morocco,  or perhaps rise to the challenge on their own two fret clamping feet. 

Things are pretty rehearsed and by-the-book now, the guitarist would've probably had to seek managerial approval to throw out a solo over five seconds long, or survey their fan base on Twitter beforehand.  It's no small wonder some are left wanting more.  This very discussion  has me on the verge of gagging, yet I persevere. WWLZD? I guess real vasilisa is the holy grail/needle in the hay of this generation.  So turn your computers off son, and turn your radios on.

To answer your question though, I would like to see the Buffalo Killers, or Heavy Trash.

Herzog

about 12 years ago

No wait! Bayfront One Man Band!

I was there dudes...

Andrew Olson

about 12 years ago

Spy1: I don't know where you got your info, but I had two friends who were at the meet and greet until after 10:30-11pm. Tweedy didn't come off of his bus, but another member of the band brought some items to him to sign for a few fans at the M&G. He signed the two items, but he was there and stayed on his bus.

I wish Chuck Berry wouldn't have canceled two shows at Bayfront. If Iggy Pop came it would rock. I really wish Jack White would play Bayfront! Black Keys, Wolfmother, Beck, Dr. Dog, or David Bowie would make for Perfect Duluth Days if they played too.

-Berv

about 12 years ago

[img]http://www.perfectduluthday.com/wp-content/uploads/comments/samuelL.jpg[/img]

Andrew Olson

about 12 years ago

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFZG8KQJni8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I guess some people just can't handle talking about music.

Hot Shot

about 12 years ago

+1 to the Black Keys, +1 to Wolfmother and Beck. Also to Jack White.

I would add Pixies, Tenacious D, Deer Tick, Best Coast, Muse.
Bayfront needs to be utilized!

in.dog.neato

about 12 years ago

If you've seen one Chuck Berry show in the past 40 years, you've seen them all.

I caught him opening for the (Grateful) Dead @ Portland Meadows in 1995. He takes stage, plays a solid 30-45 set. Exeunts. No banter, no encore. 

While it's nice to say "yeah, I saw the guy once" I was left a little disappointed.

digit3

about 12 years ago

Sh*t, I saw Chuck Berry play on a double bill with the Beach Boys at a Minnesota Kicks soccer game umpteen years ago. They were both washed up then, I cannot imagine seeing either of them live now.

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