I took my 9 month old son to the show for his first concert.  We sat just outside the cone of the speakers but I had his ears protected anyway.  It was rainy and cold enough for Mr. Tweedy to wear a hat all night but I needed to show my boy my favorite band.  He had a blast (or at least I did) while he fell asleep dancing to the band in my arms.

I did catch their previous peformance in Duluth about a year before that, but stories like vicarious' have continually caused me to kick myself for not trying harder to squirm out of work the night of the legendary Bayfront performance. And the kicking continues now that my trip this weekend has been canceled and tickets are sold out. I'm afraid the stage will be set for a future rife with pummeling of myself if I don't try my hardest to get these tickets. Please stop the violence.

I have several fun memories from the show and the night before the show.

- Low had its sound carried away by the wind and rain, and I was worried that the same thing would happen to Wilco. When Wilco started playing, the sound was clear as a bell. That was a cool feeling.

- The night before the show, my friend Chris called me and said, "Hey! Wilco is hanging out at Hell's Kitchen." I was at work, so I called him back a little while later. He told me that they had asked him to recommend a good dive bar. He told them to check out RT Quinlan's. My friend and I went over to RT's later that night and spotted a couple of members of Wilco sitting at a table, one of whom was Glenn Kotche, whom I had met the previous summer because I let him into the Great Lakes Aquarium for free (I was a custodian there at the time). We started talking to them and hanging out and a Wilco song came on the jukebox. My friend said, "Do you think they even know that there are members of the band here?" Glenn just smiled and said, "I hate it when that happens."
We ended up on the guest list for the Bayfront show that year, so I guess I really don't deserve to win tickets to this Wilco show.

Vicarious: If I remember correctly, the guitar solo you are referring to was during "Impossible Germany, Unlikely Japan."

Tony D: Yes, I think it was "Impossible Germany"...the most soaring of Nels Cline riffs!

Purple: I think you're right. The band saw Jeff staring at the ship, and then they all turned and looked, apparently with equal awe. I think his comment was something like, "Damn". Or, "Jeez". Or, "Holy shit".

That show was on a Tuesday night, I'm excited they decided to give us a Friday night this time.  My son was 11 days old on 9/04/07.  We were pretty strapped for cash since we needed to take some time off from work to take care of the little one.  That evening we went to a friends house that lived on the Hillside and sat on their back porch and listened to the first couple of songs.  I got the chills when they started playing Either Way.  The sound up on the hill would be really good for about 10 seconds, get muffled for a few, and then clear up again.  We ended up driving down to the parking ramp next to the Depot and watching there for a bit, but we just couldn't stick around for too long in the dreary weather with an infant.  To me it was well worth it all, because now I can tell my kid the first band he ever heard live was Wilco.

Cappy wearing his bright yellow smiley face slicker. Plus the Monroe sisters and some tequila. There was peeing behind parked cars by the slip also.

Ugh, it's too bad the show is sold out. Wilco's the best!

Doodle Bug:

Didn't actually purchase a ticket to the show, but three of us sat upon my friends porch watching the cold fog settle over Bayfront, you could see some lights from the stage, one could mostly see what looked like Bayfront covered in a blanket of smoke.  My friends lived off Skyline near 8th and 5th I believe, with their front porch perched up on one the steepest hills in Duluth, we could hear every eery, fog filled, glorious echo of the band.  By far the best FREE concert I have ever seen.

Protest! Protest! Half-hearted protest!

Soooo, begging and multiple-posting works, eh? I see how it is.

(walks away sulking and mumbling to self)

Thanks! (keepin' this one short...)

C-freak: you are singular.

C-Freak, I agree with Adam; you're singular. I'm taking another single mother/ Wilcohead who could also not afford a ticket.