Guys, if you haven't seen Big Thief live, do yourselves a favor and attend their show. One of the loudest shows I've been to. Even if their sets are kind of short for their catalog (especially given the length of their latest album), they are unbelievable live. I didn't get to hear Mary, which I had been hoping for, but it didn't matter. All the new songs sound incredible. Not is a beast live as expected, and I was happy to hear Masterpiece, Simulation Swarm, Cattails, and Spud Infinity (a highlight in the album and the show - the mouth harp really made people laugh). Lenker is a treasure, and her guitar playing is unbelievably good.
Also saw the Wilco YHF anniversary on Friday, and I was super emotional for that. I can't believe that album, which has been so important to me and for expanding my music horizons at the time, is already 20. Hearing those songs in their proper order and with arrangements that were deliberately close to the album was stunning (even if that meant no Nels solo on Ashes of American Flags, though they even kind of played its fake intro to Heavy Metal Drummer). They had a string quartet and a full brass section, so even overplayed songs like Jesus Etc and I'm the Man Who Loves You were refreshing to hear. What a stone cold classic that album is. I was most looking forward to the closing trip - though I think I had heard all of the songs before, it was still a beauty to hear the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot radio voice at the end of Poor Places leading into Reservations. It was quite touching to see them, Jeff especially, recognize Jay Bennett and sing a couple of his songs. I can't wait for the YHF reissue that will come out soon, as the B-sides and alternate takes from that era are really great, and they have done a great job with Being There and Summerteeth already. The only bummer is that for whatever reason they played a super short set the night I attended - basically YHF followed by a three song encore. They were back to a longer set the following night.
