I am fortunate enough to live almost smack-dab in the middle of two major metropolitan areas. Well, one takes a little longer to get to than the other - thanks, I-94 rebuild/widening/whatever! Illinois even expects we'll go 45 mph in the express lane, to which there is no other response but "hahahahaha, nice try". (But oh, it is always a bad sign when people brake to merge into the express lane.)
Thanks to living where I do, I can almost always find some sort of musical event to attend, and usually for less than I spend in gas to get to the venue. I guess that's kind of a plus, right?
Earlier this year, Wilco played five nights at the Riviera Theater in Chicago and by wearing my lucky sweater and clutching an ugly plastic Jeff Tweedy doll - yes, they exist - as I refreshed Ticketmaster, I somehow managed to score the five-night package. And by "score", I mean "spend almost $200 on concert tickets in less than five minutes".
Before this, I'd been kind of wary of driving to Chicago. Tolls are expensive! Where would I park my car? How much would I have to pay to park my car? But Wilco has been one of my favorite bands for years and I had never seen them in their hometown. So I was getting over my fear of going to Chicago alone, and doing it.
I put 625 miles on my car driving to and from the Riv. I spent $100 on gas, $70 on parking, and $15 in hand-and-foot warmers so that I could stand in line. I spent eight and a half hours standing in line, and it was freezing. I met a lot of amazing people, folks who offered to share their blankets and hand-warmers and snacks (and one homeless dude who offered everyone a shot of from a bottle of Jaeger - who knows what was actually in the bottle). I talked to people who had flown across the country just for the shows, people who were not used to freezing their asses off on a windy Chicago street corner. At least there was a Starbucks across the street and a Borders down the block, I think we were half their business for those five days.
The idea behind the Residency shows was for Wilco to play every song from their studio albums: A.M., Being There, Summerteeth, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, A Ghost is Born and Sky Blue Sky. And they did it all, even the things that Jeff Tweedy kind of whined a little about having to perform, such as "I Thought I Held You" where he kind of laughed at himself during "I'm like a songwriter / you're the reason I've run out / run out of metaphors" part. There was also a healthy amount of material from the Mermaid Avenue albums, and a smattering of b-sides like "Magazine Called Sunset" and "Bob Dylan's 49th Beard".
Altogether, I watched fifteen hours' worth of Wilco performing over those five nights. It was worth every second of driving and every second spent in the cold to be in the front row for two nights, even if my face did end up on the official Wilco website looking like someone had smacked me around with a glacier. It was worth it because I got to hear songs that they had never performed, and songs they've never performed with the current lineup, and songs that they might not ever play again.
Plus, hometown energy is amazing. There's just something about the entire audience breaking into applause during "Via Chicago", or the crowd shouting along with the lone chorus in "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart":
I am trying to break your heart,
I am trying to break your heart,
But still I'd be lying if I said it wasn't easy,
I am trying to break your heart.
And that's the epitome of a good concert, to me. In two hours, the band breaks your heart... but they put it back together again, too.
