Wilco, Liam Finn @ The Tivoli,Brisbane (30/04/2010)

Thu 6th May, 2010 in Gig Reviews

One man, a guitar and his loop pedals – this is Liam Finn ’s first solo show experience. You’d think that at this stage in his career that wouldn’t faze him, but he tells us he’s “shitting [him]self”, and entertains us with a lot of nervous humour. Finn looks boho and sounds beautiful, his sweet vocals rising above a washout of guitar. His songs sound so genuine, and so innocent, and you can’t help but think he’s inherited a lot from his father, Split Enz and Crowded House frontman Neil Finn. The welcoming crowd perk up for Wide Awake on the Voyage Home. Finn treats the audience to a tune from his new band Barb – telling us he thinks that their recently recorded album is “really good!”. Well of course you do, Liam! He complains that he wishes his band were with him, but there is something about his music that seems better suited to a solo show. For the last number he whips out a theremin and goes a little mad, falling over backwards before exiting stage right.

A creepy computerised voice welcomes tonight’s audience and lays down the ground rules – we are invited to enjoy ourselves, request songs and make audio recordings, but we are not permitted to take any form of still or video recordings. This is met with a predictable, loud “f**k off!”.

Out come Wilco, countering the negativity of their computer friend’s prohibitions with The Wilco Song and their love for us. Creepy computer comes back to introduce each band member during the song.

Bull Black Nova from last year’s Wilco (The Album) showcases the richness of the band’s guitar sound, and sees frontman Jeff Tweedy gazing up into the Tivoli Theatre’s balcony and taking in the Brisbane audience.

Wilco’s country influences appear in songs You Are My Face and Forget The Flowers, while straight-up rock gets a nod from Red-Eyed and Blue which sees lead guitarist Nels Cline have a fight with his guitar, or a fit. It’s quite difficult to decide.

With it’s tinkling piano, gentle, acoustic number I Am Trying To Break Your Heart is not only a crowd-pleaser, but a Tweedy-pleaser. Jeff really seems to be enjoying himself, his smile barely fading for the better part of the set. The stage turns red for A Shot in the Arm, the crowd enthusiastically singing along “what you once were isn’t what you want to be anymore”.

A thunder of drums introduces Misunderstood. Tweedy’s screaming of the word “_nothing_” getting louder and louder, pounding into our skulls and being met with rapturous applause.

The romantic I’ll Fight strikes a chord with the many couples in the room. A flurry of requests follow Handshake Drugs, prompting a response from a jovial Tweedy “I can’t understand you! Tough crowd…We’re trying our best!”. He’s right in declaring that we’ll love the next number, Deeper Down which is followed by another slew of garbled requests. “I’ve never been more afraid in my life! Are you sure you’re friendly? Our guitar tech is from here and he’s not friendly”. Perhaps to keep us quiet the band jump into Impossible Germany which gets a little creepy for anyone paying attention to Cline, who appears to be having an orgasm during his guitar solo. Tweedy goes on to declare various audience members are drunk, and asking us whether “[this is] where pirates come from”.

The understatedly powerful Poor Places ends in a noise wave that sounds like the sound effects of a theme park ride, the audience clapping along as Tweedy stands there, watching us. The endearing frontman puts his guitar away (one of many, the area side of stage has at least 20 guitars set up…) and leads three cheers for Brisbane – applauding our applause. He sings Hummingbird with folded arms, standing back and watching the audience before doing a little dance. He tells us we missed a mic swinging routine he’d prepared but had to scrap after he managed to hit bassist John Stirratt in the head…

Tweedy invites the audience to sing Jesus Etc. They take up the invitation willingly, chanting the song to the band until Tweedy joins in at “our love is all we have”. We’re told we did a “very respectable” job, the “best one of the tour”. Before the audience gets too cocky, he reminds us that this is the first show of the tour, although he adds that a recent Tokyo audience did a pretty good job of it too.

Booming kick drum thuds kick off You Never Know, and Tweedy looks ready to burst with happiness, while Cline shows off a double-necked guitar. Heavy Metal Drummer works the crowd into a frenzy, and we’re treated to a “special version” of Theologians. Something that certainly is worthy of the term “special” is the leg dance by a seated, slide-guitar-playing Cline during Walken.

Drummer Glenn Kotche hops up on his drum stool for an epic intro to I’m The Man Who Loves You. Tweedy manages to pull off playing a third of the song balancing on one leg, later treating us to a shoulder-shrug dance that ends the main part of the set.

After a huge crowd response a very happy-looking Wilco return for their encore with Hate it Here. Kingpin follows, and is dedicated to their guitar tech, doubling as an “apology” for the previous song by replacing “living in Pekin” with “living in Brisbane”, and an impressive pirate version of a call-and-response “how can I – ARGH!”. The set ends with I’m a Wheel. Wilco’s members let loose – with multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone breaking out a windmill-arm on his guitar, and Tweedy positively screaming into the microphone.

Not too many bands can boast being able to play for over two hours with such a level of enthusiasm. Wilco have the rare ability to pull together a variety of genres and styles and make them work together to form a very satisfying musical roller-coaster of an experience, and that’s just what we’re treated to tonight.