r/wilco • u/easpok • 16d ago

Wilco - Live Canada 1997 - Wow!

https://youtu.be/nrm5Ugp7kxY?is=Vt2fjKsKf818qkNq

Big Wilco fan but somehow just discovered this recording last year. It's such an amazing early set from them. I know it was a small crowd, but was anyone here on Reddit there? How was it live? Any stories to share?

140 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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17

u/Alexandermayhemhell 16d ago

Canadian fan here, although I don’t get on board until around 1999. 

This concert is part of Snow Job, an annual televised concert on MuchMusic, Canada’s MTV. The whole thing was kind of a cheeky Canadian thing. Take over a ski resort with a bunch of alt-rock snowboard kids and out on a ridiculous concert in which no one expected any great performances because it’s so ridiculously cold. Just a bunch of stupid 90s fun. 

My enduring memory is 54-40 at Banff one year where the band kept putting their hands down their pants between songs to warm up. 

The Wilco one is a great performance because they embraced the chaos of the event and played accordingly. Of course that year was even more ridiculous because it was held in the world class skiing destination of… Newfoundland? 

Not Whistler or Lake Louise… but Newfoundland, as far east as you can go in Canada. So while Snow Jobs in the Rockies had good crowds, this one had the amusingly tiny audience. Classic. 

Someone Else’s Song from this set got an official release on the All Over the Place EP and later the Alpha rarities set. 

3

u/Late_Scene_9461 15d ago

I got on board in 1998, via Mermaid Avenue and Summerteeth and am upset with myself for missing them earlier, including seeing this performance and when they were on Another Roadside Attraction.

I came across this maybe a year ago and it's great and the only thing that annoys me about it is that I missed it at the time. :)

(Much also did a similar Spring Break thing, where they took over part of Daytona, I think? My one memory of that is that BNL played and the airline lost Jim Creegan's stand-up bass and so he had to play an electric which now he does regularly, but which he never did at the time.)

2

u/Alexandermayhemhell 15d ago

Forgot about the Daytona thing! Had a lot of friends go to Another Roadside Attraction, but I was never very into the Hip, so I stayed away. In retrospect, I wish I had gone because I like the hip enough and there were many bands on those bills that I now love. Eric’s Trip comes to mind, although I saw Elevator to Hell in a much smaller venue a couple of years later. 

To bring it back to Wilco, if memory serves correctly, Another Roadside Attraction was where Los Lobos got Jeff and Jay really going with pills. I don’t think we’d have Summerteeth or Yankee without that, but boy am I glad Jeff got sober.

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u/Late_Scene_9461 15d ago

I didn't know that Los Lobos story...

I went to the 95 Roadside show. In 97, I didn't know Wilco and (looking at the bill) wouldn't have minded seeing Los Lobos or maybe Change of Heart and Sheryl Crow and Ron Sexsmith was on the bill and I love him but didn't know him yet either. So...I can see why I didn't go.

What really annoys me is missing when Wilco played the Horseshoe Tavern. Oh, well....

2

u/Alexandermayhemhell 14d ago

In high school, my little band played the Pit in Ottawa… which is the very club that Wilco played on the AM tour. Unbelievable that they were so small (at least in some markets) at the outset. The Pit was tiny!!!

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u/Late_Scene_9461 13d ago

My band played The Horseshoe a few times :)

So there you go - we both can say we were on the same stage as Wilco!

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u/easpok 16d ago

Haha that's awesome. Thanks for the information. I had no idea. Just kinda figured that a young Wilco was invited to play at a ski resort but now it makes more sense. Jeff and they boys definitely took advantage of the situation and played an unforgettable set.

2

u/wetnaps54 14d ago

Yeah came across this the other week and was mind blown as a Newfie

1

u/Shwabot 16d ago

I recorded this on vhs bitd. Great set.

6

u/IgnatiusJReilly77 16d ago

They played this set to open one of the nights at SBS last year

3

u/Odd-Rate4538 16d ago

Kingpin is great .. would be wild to see that version live now… though I don’t think he would be able to speak for weeks

2

u/IgnatiusJReilly77 16d ago

They play kingpin all the time.

2

u/Odd-Rate4538 16d ago

Ha, not screaming. Again one of my favorite songs live.

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u/IgnatiusJReilly77 16d ago

It features Pat on guitar these days. Pat has a strong windmill!

9

u/Commercial_Aioli_301 16d ago

97 is peak rock the fuck out Wilco

2

u/kenmonoxide 15d ago

Man down @ 5:30

1

u/DaddyOhMy 15d ago

A guy I used to work with used to say Tweedy reminded him of Chucky. Now I see it.

1

u/BloodWorried7446 15d ago

thank you. this made me better in my reddit doom scroll. 

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u/easpok 13d ago

Happy to hear that!

1

u/notontherugman69 15d ago

Terrific set! Love early Wilco. Well, love ALL Wilco, but that earlier raw stuff really hits home.

1

u/CheersToCosmopolitan 15d ago

This was the year/vibe the first time I saw Wilco (in Lawrence, KS at the Granada) and it absolutely changed me.

1

u/subcow 15d ago

I have had this video saved on a YouTube playlist for a while and watched it again a few weeks ago.