(where i've been)

A few weeks ago in Iowa City, while Tom Conrad looked at me and the person who's become one of my closest friends in the past year like we were crazy for showing up, I said, "It's not just for your band, you know. I'm getting to go places I've never been before!". And it's true, true, true. Now every few weeks I get the roadtrip bug and just want to get in my car and drive. Fortunately for Speedway's profits, there's been someplace to go every few weeks. (I was really excited when gas prices dropped below $3/gallon here.)



Up until August, I was keeping a running list of all the shows I've been to. It's so much longer than I ever thought it would be when I started keeping track. From shows I went to because part of me needed to go, like Jeff Tweedy's solo show at the Vic Theater, where he sang two songs without the PA and it was so silent everyone could hear (because people who pay $100 to see something like that know how to behave), to shows I went to just for the hell of it, like Gym Class Heroes at Park West, there has been something amazing at all of them. Even when there have been stupid people in the crowd, or opening bands that fail to impress, there's been something amazing at every. Single. One.

So here's the full list so far:

1/26: Jeff Tweedy @ the Vic Theater / Chicago, IL

1/27: Empires @ the Beat Kitchen / Chicago, IL

1/31: The Cab, Metro Station, We the Kings, Cobra Starship @ The Rave / Milwaukee, WI

2/15: Wilco @ the Riviera / Chicago, IL

2/16: wilco @ the Riviera / Chicago, IL

2/18: wilco @ the Riviera / Chicago, IL

2/19: wilco @ the Riviera / Chicago, IL

2/20: wilco @ the Riviera / Chicago, IL

3/5: Empires @ the Metro / Chicago, IL

3/18: This is Me smiling, Debello, The Hush Sound @ the Beat Kitchen / Chicago, IL

3/20: Empires & the Ting Tings @ AV-Aerie / Chicago, IL

4/6: Bang on a Can All-Star with Glenn Kotche @ Pick-Staiger Concert Hall / Evanston, IL

4/10: Gym Class Heroes @ Park West / Chicago, IL

4/11: Beardog, Empires, Mark Rose @ the Beat Kitchen / Chicago, IL

4/14: Charlotte Sometimes, The Cab, Valencia (and random Mark Rose), We the Kings @ the House Cafe / DeKalb, IL

5/14: The Cab @ Beaumont Club / Kansas City, KS

5/18: Walrus, Empires, Air Traffic @ Reggie's Rock Club / Chicago, IL

5/25: Phantom Planet, The Hush Sound, Motion City Soundtrack, Panic at the Disco @ Eagles Ballroom / Milwaukee, WI

6/4: Jane Vinyl, Made in Hollywood, Chris Gutierrez, Empires @ Subterranean / Chicago, IL

6/10: Empires @ Debonair Social Club / Chicago, IL

6/15: The Fabulous, The Rememberwhens, Beardog, walrus @ Subterranean / Chicago, IL

7/11: Kindle, Apteka, Empires @ the Metro / Chicago, IL

7/13: Empires, Gavin Rossdale @ the House of Blues / Chicago, IL

7/18: The Cab & The Hush Sound @ the Rave / Milwaukee, WI

8/05: Empires (acoustic) @ Angels & Kings / Chicago, IL

8/07: Empires & Mark Rose @ Doug's Rockhouse / Aurora, IL

8/08: Empires & Mark Rose @ the Bluebird / St. Louis, MO

8/09: Walrus, State & Madison @ the Beat Kitchen / Chicago, IL

8/19: Empires & Mark Rose @ the Grog Shop / Cleveland Heights, OH

8/23: Kim Clements, Par Avion, Paper Rival, Empires @ the Beat Kitchen / Chicago, IL

9/26: Mark Rose @ College of DuPage / Glen Ellyn, IL

10/4: Walrus @ Subterranean / Chicago, IL

10/9: Jane Vinyl, Last Fast Action, State & Madison, Mark Rose @ Subterranean / Chicago, IL

10/11: Empires & Mark Rose @ Illini Union Courtyard / Urbana, IL

10/24: Empires & Mark Rose @ the House Cafe / DeKalb, IL

10/25: Empires & Mark Rose @ the Picador / Iowa City, IA

10/26: Rolligator, Par Avion, Mark Rose @ Coffee Nation / Bloomington, IL

Coming up: Cavashawn tomorrow, three Empires shows with Steel Train, Forgive Durden and Dear and the Headlights next weekend, with a Cab show right after, an Autumn Defense show that I am really excited about (it's two members of Wilco), hopefully making it to the Family Order record release show, some more Empires dates, and Mark Rose at the end of December. Leave me a comment if you're going to any of these things!

(PS: I take terrible concert pictures, but the one of Dmitri and Charlie is probably my favorite picture I've taken all year.)

what you once were

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.