Dad Rock

I went to a Wilco concert last night. It is the second time I have seen them in concert. The last show was much better. They really mixed it up and played a wide variety of material from older and newer albums. This time they played almost every song from "a ghost is born" and not enough older stuff. Too bad. Also, last concert they played "California Stars," my all time favorite Wilco song (yes, I know it is from their joint effort with Billy Bragg). This time, no such luck. Jeff Tweedy was kind of ragging on the crowd at the beginning of the concert because we weren't into it enough. I think it is because they were playing their "ghost is born" stuff, which, for the most part, isn't really "hard rockin'." The crowd warmed up as they started playing more rock & less ballad. The crowd was pretty old for a concert (average age of about 32 I would say). That is because Wilco is, as my husband says "Dad Rock." I always think of Dad Rock as Bob Seger, but I guess that was my dad!

I was standing behind some monstrously tall people, and for a good part of the concert, couldn't see a thing. Obviously I could still hear, but I like to watch. One really nice aspect of the concert was that they were filming it, so they weren't allowing smoking in the auditorium. I actually saw security go after some smokers. I wish they did this at every concert! Unfortunately, during the 2nd or 3rd encore, they kind of gave up on policing the smoke, and things got a bit smoky. Yuck. Still, it was a fun night. The show started at 8pm, so I actually thought I would be home by 10:45 or 11, but they played so many encores (which were great), that I didn't get home to midnight. I am very glad that I didn't have to sub until 10:30 am today. I am too old to be out late and then to work early!

I really enjoyed myself, though. I like going to concerts where I know most of the music. Saturday I am going to a Built to Spill concert. I don't really know much Built to Spill music (I enjoy it, but I don't know it), so I am not looking forward to it as much as I was Wilco.