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REM/WILCO RED ROCKS AMPHITHEATER SEPTEMBER 2003 This was our first visit to Red Rocks. A number of friends of mine have been living in the Denver area for years and they have seen bunches of shows here. Needless to say, we had to spend 2 days hearing them all wax poetic about how incredible this venue is. After seeing this show, I realized that every story was true and none of them could convey the grandeur of this facility. Without a doubt, it is the greatest theater that I have ever seen a show in. The sound quality surpasses any indoor theater and the view of Denver is surreal from the nest of the rocks. Now for the music. The show was great. John Hardcourt opened and he was really good. Kind of a cross between Wilco, Joe Jackson and Elvis Costello. Wilco
absolutely ruled! Opening
with a number of new tunes, the near religious moment came during Late
Greats. An anit-corporate radio theme with the tag line
“Best band that you’ve never heard – Cuz you can’t hear them on the
radio” and the refrain was
“Can’t hear it on the radio”. GREAT
song. Theme reminded me of Neil
Young’s “Payola Blues” (off of the Everybody’s Rockin’ CD – must
have that also includes Wanderin’). Songs
like Aquarium Drinker and Poor Places showed off the CD quality of their musicianship,
technical expertise with sampling and improvisational capabilities. Congs
like California Stars and I'm the man who loves you demonstrated an ability to
execute a folk classic or straight rockin' tune flawlessly. They
ended their set with the guys from REM doing Dear Manager (a Minus 5 tune which
is a Jeff Tweedy side project). REM kicked ass too. Did some classics like Orange Crush and Exhuming McCarthy. They did a 3 or 5 song encore with Wilco. Great version of Everybody Hurts with the 3 guitarist trading off solos at the end of the song. Probably the only good version of the tune that exists! They wound it all up with a 7 to10 minute version of End of the World as We Know It. Jeff Tweedy was playing a big hollow body Gibson and was just laying down the licks. Really tried to steal the show. We'll be back next summer for another show at the Rocks. BACK TO Concert Reviews |