I am a notion... I'm all emotion... I am a cherry ghost

Jeff Tweedy played the Commodore last night. It was the Wilco singer's first show amongst a few westcoast solo acoustic dates.

Glenn Kotche, drummer for Wilco, opened the evening. His set was all-instrumental on drums and the performance was fantastic. There were some pre-programmed effects that played along in the background to accompany him. During the set, he would pull on strings attached to his snare drum that would produce a unique sound. During one song, he also took a metal rod and scratched it along one of his cymbals to create an interesting effect.



Glenn opened with the title track off his forthcoming second release, Mobile. The next song was a solo interpretation of the Balinese monkey chant. He also performed an interpretation of the Music For Five Pieces of Wood by Steve Reich.

In addition, he played a song adapted from the jungle sounds of the book Where The Wild Things Are.....one of my favourite books growing up. His last effort was entitled Projections of What Might. Set lasted 40mins.

Jeff Tweedy used 6 different guitars on this night. 5 shown here plus one he walked out on stage with.



Coming in, we knew it would be a special night at the Commodore. Not often does an artist like Jeff get to perform in Vancouver solo, and in such an intimate setting. Jeff came on stage with guitar in hand and harmonica attached, and sank right into an amazing version of Sunken Treasure. Throughout the night, he would tell some stories and crack countless jokes with the capacity crowd.



The audience was really responsive and appreciative of Jeff's performance over the course of the set. In between one song, someone threw a bag of B.C.'s finest export attached to a CD onto the stage. Jeff acknowledged it and mentioned since he got out of rehab recently, it would be best to pass on it.

Some other highlights over the 1hr 45min set included I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, Summerteeth, Theologians, Passenger Side and War On War. For the first encore, Glenn Kotche came back on stage to play drums for a couple songs. Heavy Metal Drummer featured Tweedy on the 12string and Kotche hammering out the drum riff at the end.



For the second encore, Jeff came back on stage solo and played a couple more for us. The much requested California Stars throughout the night was performed and the set ended with a solid version of Acuff Rose. A great ending to a terrific night of music and entertainment.

Setlist:

Sunken Treasure
(Was I) In Your Dreams
Please Tell My Brother
49th Beard (Bob Dylan)
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
The Ruling Class
All The Same to Me
Summerteeth
Is That The Thanks I Get?
Theologians
Shot In The Arm
Airline To Heaven
ELT
Passenger Side

1st encore w/ Glenn:
I'm The Man Who Loves You
Heavy Metal Drummer
War On War

2nd encore solo:
New Madrid
California Stars
Someone Else's Song
Remember The Mountain Bed
Acuff Rose