Jeff Tweedy and Ottawa Together At Last

Wilco’s front man Jeff Tweedy has been embarking on a 21 show solo tour in North America and stopped at Ottawa’s Algonquin Commons Theatre on Wednesday night in front of a sold out venue.

Opening the night was a young act from Chicago, OHMME, consisting of Macie Stewart and Sima Cunningham who combined their perfectly harmonies voices with soft acoustic guitars and violin. The two woman ensemble has been gaining momentum collaborating lately with Chance the Rapper, Whitney, and Twin Peaks, and most recently with Wilco’s Tweedy. I have a feeling we will be hearing a lot more of OHMME in the future.

Tweedy arrived on stage with thunderous cheers in front of a visibly excited crowd. He started his intimate set with Wilco’s ‘Via Chicago’ and ‘One Sunday Morning’ , and the audience was sold already.

Few voices from the crowd were shouting compliments in between the first few songs, making Tweedy joke about the voices in his head, before randomly deciding to say how he had just gotten out of the jail on the Canadian border when one of the crew members “might have” forgotten some weed in their bag.

He then went on to joke how he is “just adjusting to the life outside” and for him to spend enough time in jail “to pickup a boyfriend and a face tattoo”, as a segway to “the song he wrote in the joint”, Golden Smog’s Lost Love.

When one clearly inebriated audience member expressed his dissatisfaction of Ottawa’s crowd’s quietness quite loudly, Tweedy said he was “perfectly happy” with the night’s audience, and dedicated the Wilco song ‘You and I’ to the culprit.

Tweedy navigated smoothly through the show, performing a wide variety of his catalogue from over the years with different ensembles concentrating mainly on Wilco songs, bantering in between the tunes and interacting with the crowd making the whole venue howl with laughter from time to time.

He received a standing ovation after the regular set, and thankfully came back for a five song encore, starting with Mavis Staples cover ‘Ain’t No Doubt About It’ with OHMME.

Before finishing his show with A Shot In The Arm, Tweedy joked about the advantage of not having one particular hit song, and not having to disappoint the crowd not playing it, and urged the crowd to just get up and leave if they already heard their favourite song, so he would know he has already played them.

Overall, by word’s of a fellow SCE’er Leigh Bursey, who also attended the show, Tweedy’s self deprecating style of storytelling, mixed with humour and modest is quite adorable. Could have not put it better myself.

By Laura Collins.

Setlist:

1. Via Chicago
2. One Sunday Morning
3. I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
4. Evergreen
5. New Madrid (Uncle Tupelo song)
6. Lost Love (Golden Smog song)
7. Hummingbird
8. You and I
9. Laminated Cat (Loose Fur song)
10. Bull Black Nova
11. Passenger Side
12. Born Alone
13. Jesus, Etc.
14. Noah’s Flood (Let’s Go Rain Again)
15. I’m The Man Who Loves You

Encore

1. Ain’t No Doubt About It (Mavis Staples cover with OHMME)
2. Misunderstood
3. The Ruling Class
4. I’m Always in Love
5. A Shot In The Arm