Wilco
06/13/09
What Stage @ Bonnaroo
Manchester, TN

Source: DPA 4022 (FOB, 5′ ROC, 8′ up, ORTF) > Lunatec V3 (digital out) > Edirol R44 (24/48)

Transfer: SDHC Card > PC > Wavelab 5 (Fades, Resampled via resampler 192, MBIT+ Dither) > CD Wave > Trader’s Little Helper
Taped and Transfered by: Brian Hadella

Disc 1:

01. Wilco (the song)
02. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
03. Company in My Back
04. Handshake Drugs
05. Bull Black Nova
06. You Are My Face
07. One Wing
08. Pot Kettle Black
09. Side With the Seeds
10. Shot in the Arm
11. At Least That’s What You Said
12. Jesus, Etc
13. Impossible Germany
14. California Stars

Disc 2:
01. Misunderstood
02. Spiders (Kidsmoke)
03. Hummingbird
04. You Never Know
05. The Late Greats
06. Hate It Here
07. Walken
08. I’m the Man Who Loves You
09. Hoodoo Voodoo

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
06/15/08
Bonnaroo Music Festival
Manchester, TN

Rich Woman
Leave My Woman Alone
Black Dog
Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us
Through The Morning, Through The Night
So Long Goodbye To You
Fortune Teller
In The Mood
Black Country Woman
Bon Temps Roulez
Trampled Rose
Green Pastures
Down To The River
Nothin’
The Battle Of Evermore
Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On)
One Woman Man

I’m one of the few people I know who didn’t particularly care for Raising Sand. I had high hopes for it, though as I think about it I’m not sure why (I’m not much for Led Zeppelin, I know very little of Robert Plant as a solo artist, and while I love Krauss’ voice, her songs I usually find to be lousy.) Perhaps it was the hype, or perhaps I dug the idea of an old rocker teaming with the bluegrass queen. Whatever the reason, the record never did it for me.

I like parts of it, some of the songs are good and intellectually I dig the match-up plus the use of old blues numbers, but at the emotional gut level it leaves me kind of flat. The brooding, dark production didn’t help either. Every song felt like death knocking at the door. Which was maybe the point, but it sure didn’t make me want to listen.

This concert though, I like a lot more. The dark production is still there, but less so. In a live setting the songs breath a little more, the Tennessee sun is allowed to shine just a bit. Or maybe they just scatter in a few uptempo songs.

I particularly like their take on a couple of old Zeppelin songs. Listen closely to “Black Dog” it is less godofthunder then the original but a lot more spooky.