Jeff Tweedy

Tweedy has hit on the fact that those who love Dylan would have probably found something very special in this performance by the Wilco man.

Both Dylan and Tweedy share a devotion to Woody Guthrie. Some years ago Wilco teamed up with Billy Bragg to set old unused Guthrie lyrics to new music. The project was a fascinating one (and led, apparently, to some spite between Tweedy and Bragg), and produced some wonderful music written in the mould of traditional American folk music, harking back to Guthrie's own style.

These songs provided the backbone of the concert. Throughout, Tweedy stood in a tiny spotlight cutting a tiny figure. But songs with passionate lyrics written with all of Guthrie's socialist zeal, led to moments when I do believe I was hearing, dare I say it, protest songs. And powerful ones at that.

Jeff played his guitar hard and sung clinically. Remember The Mountain Bed, Someday Some Morning Sometime and Christ For President were audible documents of the legacy of Guthrie, Dylan and others that Tweedy is continuing.

Tweedy's setlist also included material from the whole spectrum of Wilco's back catalogue. Leading up to the concert Tweedy indicated that most of what he would play would be early Wilco from albums AM, Being There and maybe Summerteeth. Certainly, these would lend themselves better to an unplugged setting than the comparatively deranged Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born.

He played these songs from Wilco's infancy with great measure and proficiency, crisp guitar playing complementing his earthy vocals quite magically. Being There's Was I In Your Dreams and Summerteeth's She's A Jar were the pick of this material.

Intriguingly, he did perform songs from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born. The latter's Muzzle of Bees was transformed into an intricately woven ballad worthy almost reminiscent of Nick Drake, while Theologians was reinterpreted with graceful subtlety. Reservations, Heavy Metal Drummer and the brilliant I'm The Man Who Loves you reminded us how damn fine Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is too.

Of course, all these songs were radically different from the sonically enhanced versions on record. But it is brought home here that this is how all Tweedy's songs begin life, and when you consider that and then hear them in this setting, you realise that for all their savvy technology, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born are really just collections of folk songs. 21st Century folk songs.

Happily, Jeff decided he would talk to us tonight. He has a justified tendency to not, not wanting to interrupt his concentration. Tonight he good-naturedly responded to uncouth outbursts by rabid fans and made reference to his health troubles (addiction to painkillers, panic disorder) in his humble singer-songwriterly way. He was clearly very relaxed and comfortable on stage, something appreciated by his loyal audience.

In the encore he played John Wesley Harding in tribute to the old fella playing across town, a final reminder that Tweedy is flying the flag for that great tradition of American songwriting that melds hallowed tradition with cutting innovation.

I am the first to admit that the recent coverage given to Wilco on this website (by me) has been an exercise in fawning sycophancy. This concert gave no reason for this to change.

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