Wilco at the Bushnell

(Hooray for blurry cell phone photos that I get yelled at by ushers for taking!)

You know when you're pretty tired once you get to a show because it's the end of the long week? Yeah, that happened to me, but I got my second wind during this show.

This was Wilco's first appearance in Hartford, and my second time seeing them, and it was awesome. The first time I saw them was at Tanglewood, and I couldn't really see, even with seats because I had really tall people in front of me. This time I got an aisle seat and normal-height people in front of me. It was much better. This show in general was a lot better too - and it took me about 20 minutes to get there! My boyfriend read up on Wilco's set lists from recent shows, and we were expecting maybe two sets and an encore. About two and a half hours into the show, we realized they were just playing one long set. They pulled out all their old favorites and stuff from all of their albums. According to the Courant's Eric Danton, they played 36 songs for over three hours. (I'm glad he kept track because I didn't.)

"Wilco the Song" was a great start to the night, and then they went straight into "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" - two songs we listened to in the car, I might add. Basically, every song we thought they would play or were hoping they'd play, they did. My favorite part was toward the end after we had a sing-along to "Jesus, etc." They really rocked it toward the end, especially with "Heavy Metal Drummer" and then "I'm the Man Who Loves You" - two of my favorites. It was one of those cases where I could tell they played a long time and appreciated it, but I also couldn't believe they played for so long because it was so fun.

Wilco Coming to the Bushnell in April

So we just got our tickets for the Wilco show at the Bushnell coming up on April 9. Tickets, which are $35, went on presale today, and they go on sale to the public Friday.

According to Brian Lee on the Courant blog, Sound Check, it's Wilco's first Hartford appearance in its 15+ year history. Pretty exciting.

Saw them two summers ago at Tanglewood up in Lenox, Mass. We had seats, but we set up a picnic area with Garrett's dad and some friends since Tanglewood lets you bring food and drinks and enjoy them with your lawn seats. It was a great show. I couldn't see very well because there were tall people in front of me, but the band played all my favorites, and it was a lot of fun. A quick review of this concert can be found in this past round-up post.

8/25 -- Maroon 5, Sara Bareilles, Counting Crows (at the Meadows) and 8/12 -- Wilco, Andrew Bird (at Tanglewood)

I saw the Counting Crows, and they didn't play "Mr. Jones." One of my favorite songs of all time, one of the reasons I was especially excited about this concert, and they didn't even play the one single most people knew from them. They threw in a few "Mr. Jones" lyrics in the first few songs, so I started to worry that they wouldn't play it. I had some hope that they might have been teasing us and would play it at the end, but that didn't happen. Actually, not much happened during their set. Adam Duritz looked and sounded drunk the entire time, and I could barely understand a word he was saying. However, the band had a redeeming factor when they played the most angry, most emotional song I've ever seen live - "Goodnight Elisabeth," the "Fuck Your Christmas" version. That song was incredible. Duritz was emotional, and I think he made everyone hate whoever he was talking to. Still, it didn't make up for the rest of the set feeling too long, especially after a great set by Sara Bareilles.

Sara Bareilles is adorable and extremely talented. (Note: her website is also fantastic and adorable.) An announcer said the nicest thing about her - that in a year, she would have a big stage background of her own, much bigger than the banner she had up at the time, and that she would be headlining these shows. I really hope so. Yes, "Love Song" has become the romantic comedy song, but it's so catchy, and a really good song. I know and love all the words. The rest of her album is great, and she played a lot of it, and just everything about her -- with her simple ponytail, great taste in clothing, soft-spoken-ness and incredible piano skills -- is just lovable.

Maroon 5 reminded me that they were one of my favorite bands in high school, and they really reminded me why. This was my first time seeing them live, but Adam Levine is fantastic in winning over a crowd. He just walks across the stage with this ownership, and he really gets into all the songs. The band played all their singles - I can't think of a radio single they didn't play, which made the crowd happy. They played a lot of stuff from their first album in the beginning, which was great because that's mostly what I knew from when I was a huge Maroon 5 fan. (I think I am again, by the way.) They switched between big singles and some newer songs that some people may not have known. This line-up of songs is really ideal because it keeps the crowd interested, unlike the Counting Crows and their dragging set. Maroon 5 really kicked it up with a lot of power and energy, and I loved it. At the end of the encore, Levine gave a girl in the front row his white electric guitar. She was freaking out, and I was so happy for her. It was probably the best day of her life. It made me like the band even more, not just for their music and their show, but for their appreciation of fans.

A few days before this, I saw Wilco at Tanglewood in Lenox, Mass. I couldn't see very well from my seats because of the tall people and spacing, but I enjoyed the music, which was really what the concert was for. Their "Jesus, etc." was great, and the rest of their music was just calming and really good. Andrew Bird opened for him, which was perfect because his use of different musical instruments and the musical feel of the whole set was a great transition into Wilco.