exposed

     Audience gathered in line waiting for the venue door to open

Finally the last night of a this residency at their home town Chicago . This day is as good as any day for me to say something about this band Wilco.

This is the 2nd run I got to photograph them in an extended period of time. The first time being the West Coast tour in August of 2007. Then, I flew up to get on board with them in Redmond, Washington and rode-along southward covering all the shows in Troutdale, Oregon, Berkeley, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Jay Leno show taping in Burbank. All this was possible because of  their lead guitarist Nels Cline, my top friend. He vouched for me. 

When I met this band for the first time, I only had vaguely heard of them. The most preparation I got before the trip was to look up wikipedia for the band members’ names. I jumped in and pretty much fell in love with this band before the end of the first show. 

What makes this band outstanding in my view is first and foremost, the great catalog of music. The more I hear, the more I feel, the more it was right. The quality of the work is the core. Then the personalities around it, the work ethics and structures, the drives, the coordination, were all functioning. The most impressive thing of all was the amazing crew of people who were outrageously nice. All the managers Jason, Abby, Ben, Tony, Nate the drum tech, Steve the monitor guy, Matrix & John the guitar techs, Andy the merchandise manager, .. everyone all the way to the truck drivers were so very friendly and kind. It’s definitely a family.

Maneuvering around this was then easy. Everyone was so inspiring.

So here I was – day 5 of a very special event. By this time I was already used to with the cold lifestyle. For no other reasons than watching my cousin pulled together her daily routine without and issues. I was very comfortable in this city. Even the Wilco fans were a lot of the same sweet people I saw over the 5 shows. Dedication, love, and community – What an amazing entity in itself.

Picture round up :

Will Call stationeer

Securities in place, about to open the door

dashing for the best spot

Audience anticipation

Pat and Mikael figuring out the samplers or .. the modules... or the plugins..

Sheet Music for the "Total Pros"

mic'd amp

Mikael

Nels Cline's petals and effects

Pat

Mikael

Ken streaming live music and stills

John

Zoran Orlic, the Wilco photographer

Nels

Mikael

Jeff signing some posters

Ben Levin and some people

Glenn and Ben

Jeff

John

Wilco last night , last song ending the 5 show residency

Yes. I was there. But … I can’t find the negatives from this whole night. 
They – will – turn – up —-

Day 3 of the show : I was so excited to bring with me my 12 year old second cousin, (or niece in Thai term), with me to the show. This was crazy amazing mainly because it will be her first concert ever. Her best friend also coming along with her. Manager Jason was super cool that he gave them “working passes” so they can run around with me freely.

John with acoustic bass guitar and Glenn

Mikael and Pat keys moment

Andrew Bird and Glenn Kotche

Pat, Jeff, and Glenn before show

Nels during the show

Pat during the show

John and Glenn during the show

Glenn

Guest - Andrew Bird

Jeff

Wilco on stage day 3

Day 2 of so many things :
Day 2 of Chicago winter.
Day 2 of reconnection with family
Day 2 of  Wilco-centric photography

snacks

Nels and Glenn discussed yet another music related item

Mikael Jorgensen and Manager Extraordinaire Jason Tobias

Jeff going through some songs

Mikael

Glenn

Andrew Bird sits in with Wilco

Pat does his thing

Jeff during the show

Nels during the show

Glenn during the show

Wilco on stage

A short flight from New York over to Chicago was simple. I arrived early in the morning to situate myself for the next five days of my stay in the city. The first concert was happening later the same day. The midwestern dead winter cold had been a challenge to me. It was the first time I experienced the temperature under … 30º! It snowed a tiny bit. It was the first snowing action I’d seen, ever. It was like powder…., yes, a profound observation here. I think it was 8º or some silliness. I don’t get how humans can live in such dramatic weather conditions? Looking at the buried drive ways and vehicles, it made me want to rebuild everyone’s houses to be underground with a heat pad roof top. But I speak purely out of humor at the expense of my own ignorance. Here I was looking forward to Wilco’s 5 day residency at the Riviera Theatre in Uptown Chicago. By the time the plane landed, I was  more queasy about meeting up with my family who I hadn’t seen in over a decade. I’ll be staying with them.

I’ll skip the family part for a different blog.

Later in that afternoon, I took the train from 10 miles northwest of the venue to arrive around 4pm to catch the soundcheck. The theater was a good size holding about 2500 people. All of the the 5 nights were sold out. What was most impressive to me was to see a line of people in freezing cold outside waiting to get in so they can get the best spots. The door opens at 6, but people arrive as early as 9 or 10 am! (I photographed some of that in later days. It took me more than a day to get used to being out in the element, and finally I got the guts to go take pictures of people huddling outside.) This band is so loved, and rightfully so, I think.

tampered

John – Soundcheck

Jeff - residency day 1 The Riviera Theatre, Chicago

Pat's side of stage - residency day 1 The Riviera Theatre, Chicago

Nels - residency day 1 The Riviera Theatre, Chicago

Glenn - residency day 1 The Riviera Theatre, Chicago

Glenn