Yes they were phenomenal. Yes their songs are interesting. Yes they have a very high cheese factor. Yes we still love them.
Yes, Steve Howe is 78 years old. And he’s starting to slow down.
Here’s what I said to Gina about the whole thing: Amazing and awful. The younguns in the rhythm section (Billy Sherwood and Jay Schellen) are astounding (and Jon Davison too). But Steve Howe and Geoff Downes have lost the edge and can’t find the groove. So it was both magical to see the songs we love actually performed, and also frustrating to feel the train car push and pull of a busted machine.
Lots of love on the stage though. And you have to be forgiving of a 78 year old stunt guitarist.
FWIW, the audience was definitely in worse shape than the band. A bunch of creaking hippies and OG dungeonmasters. But it was Yes, and that was a thing. The Warner Theater is almost a good place to see a show (VIP treatment is still not very V).
Regardless of all that. These songs stand the test of time. Wow.
Getting into the new building provided respite from the crowd of 50,000 protestors. But honestly the curation is somewhat uneven and lacking. Lots of “trying to hard” in our view.
The Moon.
The most interesting piece we saw was called Bugs and was animated by Victoria Crib. Incredible.
Ethereal. Scandanavian. As deep as the ocean. You can get all of those things without seeing Sigur Ros live, but when you do. Just wow.
We started our evening this time at The Grill on the wharf. Of the three restaurants we’ve been too lately, it is the best. That’s not saying that much though. Hanks Oyster bar needs work. La Vida is workaday. And The Grill? One notch over workaday. This is what happens when good restaurants are “suburbanized” for new development. Alas.
But really who cares when there is a band in from Iceland? With an orchestra.
The anthem was dressed for a concert with seating everywhere.
The show was out of this world. Well more like it was of this world in a different cultural context. We need more feels like this in the modern American experience.
It started with 8.
And it didn’t pick up from there as much as settle in. Even the tech bro in the row behind us shut up and ate his words.
Straláfur
Untitled 1 from ()
There were some crowdpleasers (songs that we love too), but the songs from () were excellent.
Lots of pictures and videos from our recent visit to Nationals stadium to hear some rock and roll. Springsteen does not disappoint (especially if you happen to be a long time fan). This show was originally scheduled for 2023 but was postponed a year. Our original plan was scrapped, and we went to the show with Julia and Porter (down from Boston).
Bruce started playing just as I made it to the front of the cocktail line. Yeah, there were “cocktails” of sort.
Our seats were excellent.
Lonesome Day
Darkness at the Edge of Town
Springsteen has so many hits.
Hungry Heart
Long Walk Home
Backstreets
Clippy…
Born to Run (partial)
The Rising
The crowd was pleased.
Dancing in the Dark (partial)
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out (partial)
And the 37th encore…
I’ll See You in my Dreams
And then we walked part way back with 40,000 of our best buddies.
As always the art is up on 4. It’s up to you to figure out how to get there.
Word play was fun, but kind of annoying with a voicemail overdub droning on like a message from the ’80s.
Of course we interacted. We Obey!
The whale exhibit was a good idea with very lame execution. Maybe that was intentional? Who knows. Computers do much more than the rendering engine the artist decided to use was capable of doing.
Then there was the excellent work of Firelei Báez. Well worth the price of admission.
Wilco puts on a great show, and the Thursday night show at Wolf Trap was no exception. Almost. The venue has great sound but does sap energy. By the end of the show the band had everyone up on their feet dancing (finally).
Here are some pictures and videos from the show. We’ll start with my very favorite Wilco song, Impossible Germany…extended jam version.
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
Extended Wilco Jam…
I’m Always In Love
Jesus, Etc.
Heavy Metal Drummer
—
A Shot in the Arm
About the only thing that needs work here is the Wolf Trap ticketing system…which just sucks. It forced us to sit separately from our super fun Wilco friends. Alas.
But at least we had a great picnic before the show.
