Yeah, it was missing something.
You would think My Morning Jacket and Wilco with Bob Dylan plus some other guy would be awesome. The show was good, not great. (Good thing my showmates were great company!)
Well, first the “other guy” on the bill turned out to be Ryan Bingham — who was terrific and has surely peaked my interest for future shows…a good candidate for Mountain Jam 2014. Much love.
Watching Jim James and My Morning Jacket… it is obvious that they are a powerhouse, but their set felt like rehearsal. They were playing (while it was still light outside) inside a half full secondary market arena with a sound system built for Dylan’s band. Not the atmosphere they would get if outside on the ironically American baseball field.
Wilco was band #three to take the stage. They were better than My Morning Jacket.
(BTW…the air-conditioning was a HUGE plus for fans, workers and musicians alike.)
I like Wilco. There is alot to like…great live show, great musicians, great songs, great personalities, great fans…you get the picture. I like them, but only because there is a lot to like.
This Wilco set was good, not great though. Maybe it was the sound (the sound stage was geared for Dylan) or lack of lighting intimacy (last time I saw them was in bandshell at Brooklyn’s Prospect Park…a tough act to follow), but something was missing. For some in the audience that have never seen them live the “bar” has not been raised “to the eyebrow level”…they may say they were great, which is fine with me.
Today, I figured out what it was. They didn’t play for long enough…and of course the sound sucked.
But, now for the second time in as many trips to the plate, I must say Dylan sucked. He was different than at the Capitol Theatre show…in which he tried to be weird (see Willy Wonka comments). This time he was trying to play some of his best songs, just the sound quality wasn’t good…the mixing board that over compensated for Dylan’s mumbling and cavernous sound from the half empty arena were the most obvious culprits.
I spent the last few days listening to My favorite Dylan album “New Morning” and have recharged my Dylan battery. I just love that album…there is a lot to like.
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