Webcast Cure – Wilco Live From the 9:30 Club
Source: morecowbell.net
So, as many of you know from our last post, Travis and I were meeting up in DC (he was flying in from Minneapolis, I from work travel elsewhere in the midwest) to help out with the webcast for Wilco’s concert at the 9:30 Club. Trav was supposed to leave Minneapolis at 7:15 am and arrive in DC about 12:30 pm. I was leaving at 8:00 am and arriving around 1:45 pm. That should have been plenty of time for both of us to make sound check. After a few txt messages back and forth that went a little something like this:
Dude, I’m delayed 45 minutes!
Dude, I’M delayed an hour
Ok, now I’m deboarding the plane I was on, and we’re not leaving for two hours. See you at 4!
Travis got into DC around 1:15 and cabbed to club, there by 2:30. He met a lot of the staff at the 9:30 whom all turned out to be pretty cool cats. After some vegan jambalaya and vegan tacos, the laptops were needing to be setup. Soundcheck: 4:00 pm which included: Company In My Back, Radio Cure, Impossible Germany (new), and Monday. I managed to get to the club about 6:00, just after Wilco’s soundcheck concluded (sweet! Thanks again Northwest!) After soundcheck, there were some minor issues (i.e. seven hours of troubleshooting for a task that all-things-working-properly takes 10 minutes to get rolling) to get the webcast working. The webcast cure? It turned out to be a software issue that we never quite figured out. Oh, did I mention that we got it working 17 minutes before Wilco’s set time? Troubleshooting computers over the phone in the middle of the opener was interesting to say the least.
Wilco opened the set with Radio Cure, in our opinion: a perfect opener. It set the mood for the packed-house, let us all know that they were in control of the show and we were following their lead. The new songs sounded great, and shaping up to be tighter and tight each show.
Highlights:
- The crowd, became really excited at the opening chords of Handshake Drugs
- A really well-placed Poor Places With the District’s historic problems of poverty and wealth living 200 feet from each other, this chilling rendition seemed incredibly appropriate.
- The trio of Theologians, I’m the Man Who Loves You, and Via Chicago was a perfect main-set closer. Theologians – always seems appropriate in this political/religious climate in a political town. I’m the Man – Just always brings you to the time when you listening to YHF on a roadtrip, and rawking with the windows down. Via Chicago – 2nd to last show, you could tell the band was anxious to take the road show home.
The set finished up with the Randy Newman cover of Political Science, and Misunderstood sent everyone on their way, with a shout-out to the crew & Ken for their great work and then everyone else:
for nothing
Fast-forward to end of the show, and while we’re chatting and having a few beers, Ted Leo rolls up and says, “Hey.” My reaction (after stumbling over my words) – “What’s up Ted?”
It was nice meeting Johnny and Bob of NPR. Again, here’s their piece on the show. All in all, a solid evening from the 9:30. Thanks to Wilco for letting us be a part of it. Watch the Wilco Roadcast for an archive of the gig.
Signing off from DC: T & B
