Set Break

If you're at all familiar with the culture of jam bands - music I love but a term I hate (more about that another time) - you know about the set break. I don't know the history of the set break but as all things in the jam band world seem to spring forth from the Grateful Dead, we can give them credit. Where the Dead got it from, I don't know.

Maybe it came from their days of playing clubs where bands were expected to play at least two sets. Or it grew from the acid tests and the set break was for the band to reload. Or, maybe the Dead were imitating their jazz influences by playing multiple sets in a night.

Wherever it came from, it's now a staple in this scene. Punk bands don't take set breaks. Indie bands don't take set breaks. Country acts don't take set breaks - unless their audience needs time to booze up more and kick the shit outta that asshole sittin' right there....I digress...and stereotype... Lady Gaga And Katy Rerry have costume changes but as far as I know they don't take set breaks. The set break seems to be the milieu of Broadway, sports, and jam bands. And here I thought Broadway was the exclusive partner of insanely successful pop punk bands.

That's a long and laborious lead in to saying that I'm in a set break right now: a Wilco set break. I saw them last night at Red Rocks. I'm seeing them again tomorrow night in Salt Lake City at Red Butte Gardens. It's a 46 hour set break! Definitely enough time to go to the bathroom, get another Diet Pepsi, and convince myself that i really shouldn't spend that $30 on a t-shirt...but I really want it...or am I just using material things to fill up a spiritual hole...but I digress...



Every Wilco show is a chance to be remind me why they are so good. Wilco brings  great - almost genius - songs and a really tight band (nowdays). The key is that within that great songs/tight band structure, they're loose and find room to experiment and challenge their audience.

On Father's Day, I blogged about Dad Rock and used Wilco as the perceived standard bearer. I was not being derisive as some are with this term. Seeing Wilco again last night and anticipating tomorrow night, I know it's a pretty off-base characterization. Does Wilco appeal to an older demographic? Sure. If you're around for 20+ years, your fans are going to age. Laws of nature, baby. But I also see the band appealing to a lot of youngsters, oldsters, middle-agesters, PBRsters, stoners, hippies, high schoolers, music nerds, and pretty much any category you can come up with to label someone.



Wilco seems to operate in a unique place of indie superstardom. They don't sell a lot of records at least by normal superstar standards. One gold record (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot) and the highest U.S. chart position being #4 reached by two of their albums.  So if you're looking for cultural phenom that is on the lips of America, Jeff Tweedy ain't it.

Yet, Wilco playing two nights at Red Rocks was a big deal. Dare I say there was a buzz about it? And Salt Lake City is sold out (albeit a smaller venue than Red Rocks).  It goes back to the fact that within the world of people looking outside the mainstream for their music - and honestly, who isn't these days? - Wilco has a large and pretty diverse following.

Those chasing the next big buzz band long ago abandoned Wilco (and any other band with more than one album and tour under their belt). There's a graveyard of those bands. I know; look at my vinyl collection from the 80s. Meanwhile, Wilco just keeps moving forward - and through a lot of band members. Though the current lineup really has something special going (God bless Nels Cline!).

I don't really have much of a point today. Except to say that I'm totally in the tank for Wilco. Funny how a band that can sound so quiet and sad one minute, so crazed and dissonant the next, makes this Dad feel all warm and fuzzy inside (awwwwww......).