Wilco!

I’m always looking for ways to distract myself from finishing projects.  Nothing beats some good rocking as a distraction.  So Tuesday night was Wilco night here in St. Louis.  Actually Tuesday night was a lot of things in St. Louis — Obama’s visit, a Cardinals play-off game and some kind of event at the History Museum (that we got stuck in traffic at trying to avoid the Obama traffic).

My office is right downtown and on opposite corners from the Renaissance Grand where Obama was visiting.   Just about quittin’ time, the street started to go on lock down for the President.

That’s a view out my window from my desk.  It is really interesting all the security measures they put in place for the President’s visit.  I escaped to the MetroLink and met up with JT in Forest Park to avoid the hub-bub.

This night though I was more interested in someone else’s visit — Jeff Tweedy and co!  First up was opener Nick Lowe. 

Great picture right?  I know.  When Nick Lowe came back out to play with Wilco during the encore , Tweedy joked that they were now called Wick Lowe.    We came in while the lights were down so we didn’t get much of a chance to take in the scenery.  The Peabody Opera House just reopened a few days prior to the Wilco concert and it was pretty obvious — a large group of seemingly regular concert attenders without any idea of where to go or how to get there.  Everyone kind of just milled around.  When the lights came back up, here was the results of all the renovation:

I had never been in it when it was the Kiel Opera House so I don’t know if they stayed true to the original.  The one thing I didn’t care for?  The carpet.

Not only were the colors kind of blah, it has stylized musical notes on it.  Not a fan.  And this is coming from a person who has used alphabet carpeting in a children’s library.   Sometimes that works.  Here I was hoping for something a little less theme-y and casino-esque and more sophisticated.  But I digress.

Finally, what we came for.  Wilco!  Maybe all I need is a shot in the arm . . .

When I hopped onto YouTube, I found some actual Peabody Wilco footage here.  Not sure how legal that is, but it shows how great the stage looked and Oh! the music. 

Have a great weekend!