When
mrs_leroy_brown learned of this she pressed a compilation on me and insisted I accompany her to last night's gig at the Troxy on the grounds that they were just my sort of thing and I'd love it.Damn, she was right.
Even though I only really recognised the songs from the new album and was thus excluded from a lot of the yelling at intros, it was all pleasant to listen to and fun to watch. There was a lot of the kind of acoustic guitar playing I can happily absorb for hours, along with thrashier electric stuff on a series of guitars of escalating awesomeness, and, in the grand finale, an LED tambourine.
mrs_leroy_brown is the kind of fan who knows the shoe size of every band member, so she also knew in advance that it was frontman Jeff Tweedy's birthday. He got a cake and glittery confetti, and the action stopped so he could blow his candles out and we could sing Happy Birthday at the funereal pace dictated by the PA. More gigs should feature a cake interval!During the encore we were encouraged to raise our arms in the air and clap our hands: "Come on! It's my birthday and all I want is for this to look like Wembley Arena! I want it to be like a Queen concert!"
Then he made us sing 'We Are The Champions'.
The band was kind enough to do a Mermaid Avenue track, 'Hoodoo Voodoo', as the very last song of the night, so I got to whoop and cheer at an opening bar after all.
For a more informed and excited opinion, I recommend Bec's review, which contains a full setlist and about eight fabric-based alternative names for Tweedy.
Wilco out.
