Tweedy Solo Is a Treasure

Three songs into his solo acoustic set, Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy explained to the San Francisco crowd that when he was growing up near St. Louis the word "cock" had a very different meaning. It was used in phrases like "Man, your sister is cock," "[Former Cardinals shortstop] Garry Templeton is cock," or "Your roller skates are cock" . . . He then pointed out an audience member's afro and said, "That hair is cock." But if anything was really cock on Thursday and Friday night at the majestic, albeit intimate, Great American Music Hall, it was Tweedy himself.

Bloated, bearded and bloodshot, Tweedy's appearance was even rougher than his voice. He opened both nights with "If Not for the Seasons," a Summerteeth-y new song about the "unified theory of everything." Being There's "Sunken Treasure" -- the best song about rock & roll since Neil Young 's "My My, Hey Hey" - followed, hitting a powerful note during the outro when he twisted the line "I was saved by rock & roll" to "I don't need rock & roll." Tweedy may be a little annoyed by the labels that have been thrown his way, from "alt-country pioneer" to "alt-country God" to "sell out" for Summerteeth's poppier sound, but he's being good-natured about it. At several points during the evening, he mocked the hype, dropping lines like "back when I was inventing country rock" or "when you're a big rock star."

At times melancholic, at times raucous, at times heartwarming and at times embittered, "Heavy Metal Drummer" encompassed all things Tweedy: storyteller, funny man, lonesome guy with a guitar. Relaying the story of losing a girl to the title character, each verse began with a bit of ironic and nostalgic humor, but Tweedy pulled the heartstrings when he hit the chorus of "I miss the innocence I've known/Playing Kiss covers beautiful and stoned." He then mocked his own new tune (just to make sure the sentiment wasn't too sweet) during the last verse by repeatedly replacing Kiss in the lyric with bands like Trixter and Dokken .

Resurrecting the Mermaid Avenue albums, Tweedy played Woody Guthrie's "Airline to Heaven," "Remember the Mountain Bed," "Hoodoo Voodoo," "Hesitating Beauty and the beautiful "California Stars," which had the crowd singing along both nights. Thrown in were Tweedy's own uber-catchy classics "Passenger Side," "New Madrid," "Acuff Rose," "Red Eyed and Blue" and "I Got You (At the End of the Century)."

Tweedy also unveiled new gems "I'm the Man That Loves You," which is propelled by a chunky guitar riff, and "Ashes of the American Flag," a plaintive ballad that encompasses wonderment, loneliness and the American Dream. Cock, indeed.

BOB FERDMAN
(March 13, 2001)