Jeff Tweedy takes on a raucous crowd in Minnesota......

Who: Jeff Tweedy of Wilco with opening band Snowblink

Where: Mayo Civic Center, Rochester, MN

When: Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Highlights: One Wing, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, Walken, Jesus, etc., Hummingbird, Theologians

Photo by OpenEye/Mike Flickr (photo not from Rochester show)

Jeff Tweedy had his hands full last night.  Playing solo to an audience of 1,170 the magnetic Tweedy had to deal with the following: a man child in the front who brutishly shouted, "nailed it" after one song, a balcony girl who chirped, "whatever" when he claimed all the songs he was playing were requests (Tweedy, rightly so, jokingly replied that she had a "shitty attitude"), a girl next to me repeatedly screaming "I love you Jeff Tweedy" and the pièce de résistance: after a pause from Hummingbird lyric, "remember to remember me, standing still in your past, floating fast like a hummingbird" a high pitched, singsong male voice echoed, "hummingggggbiiiird" causing the audience to erupt into fits of giggles, leaving Tweedy to reply at the end of the sing-and-whistle-along song, "Nice job, nice job, except for that one guy back there.  He kept jumping the gun."  


I quickly concluded that intimate concert settings don't make people act any differently than they would at an arena concert with 10,000 people.    


Tweedy handled the attention-starved hecklers with wit and his infusion of lively conversation was a delicious bonus to his unquestionable talent.  Tweedy surrounded himself with six acoustic guitars on-stage and cracked out the old harmonica for a few numbers.  His thumb picking was hypnotic, but then you've got his voice.  Does Jeff Tweedy not have the best rock and roll voice of all time?  Ok, ok 2nd best, because I have to give first place to Eddie Vedder.  You can argue with me all you want, but I'm sticking to it.  It's raspy, spirited, deep, sometimes nearly a whisper.  When he launched into the heart achingly beautiful "One Wing" singing, "you were a blessing and I was a curse, I did my best not to make things worse for you" the ice-block I've been encapsulated in all winter began to melt a little.  


"Jesus, etc." and "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" had the audience shyly murmuring the lyrics, while "Theologians" and "A Shot in the Arm" injected buoyancy.  After a standing ovation from a voracious crowd, Tweedy took the stage to deliver a boisterous "Casino Queen", followed by the sweet little Golden Smog tune "Pecan Pie".   


For the second encore we were treated to a truly raw performance - no microphones, no amplifiers, just Jeff Tweedy and his guitar, at the edge of the stage, belting out the lyrics to "Walken".  The man is a Midwestern wonder.   


And I simply cannot write this review without mentioning the alluring opening band Snowblink.  Featuring the luscious, velvet vocals of Daniela Gesundheit with Dan Goldman on guitar, Snowblink immediately captured the crowd's attention and it wasn't simply because of Daniela's antler-adorned guitar.  Together the Toronto based duo creates a quirky sound of ethereal folk, which translated into a wonderfully soothing, enrapturing performance.