The opening sequence of Wilco’s latest DVD release “Ashes of American Flags” captures the band in sound check at Oklahoma’s own Cain’s Ballroom on March 8, 2008, spliced in with shots of the surrounding area in north Tulsa and views from their tour bus as it travels down Interstate 44 on their journey across America.
Midway through the first song, “Ashes of American Flags” lead singer Jeff Tweedy is filmed from behind, singing the final verse to an empty room, witnessed only by the ancient paintings of country musicians past that line Cain’s walls: “I would like to salute/The ashes of American flags/And all the fallen leaves/Filling up shopping bags.” 53-year-old guitar player Nels Cline then embarks on the song’s emotional culmination: a two-minute solo venturing everywhere from moody and sentimental to frenetic and soaring, with Glenn Kotche’s hard-charging drums plowing along behind.
The opening is profound and stunning. In addition to exhibiting the band’s incredible talent for live performance, it sets the theme for the entire DVD, one Tweedy best explained in interview with GQ magazine in March.
“Initially the idea was just to film some more shows that are interesting to us in terms of the venue,” he said. “The venues are places that represent something that kind of doesn’t exist anymore. Like Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for instance—just sort of a disappearing part of America. These are places that, I guess in a romantic way, we identify as the best parts of America, the most unique.”
The DVD is the band’s second such release, following “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart,” a black-and-white documentary of the band during the tumultuous recording of their fourth studio album, “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.” The DVD was released the same year as the album to few viewings outside of film festivals, though it provides fascinating insight to the inner politicking of rock bands and their handlers.
Ashes differs in that it’s a performance DVD with stunning footage chronicling the band on the road, all the while showcasing Wilco’s talents and quirkiness while at the height of their live game. It chronologically sequences film shot at five different shows on their 2008 spring tour, the first being in Tulsa. This concert would prove a formative evening in my young life, as I was roughly eight feet away from Cline while he shredded through tracks like “Side with the Seeds” and “Handshake Drugs” for two and a half hours.
Nostalgia aside, the film itself is marvelous. Filmmakers Brendan Canty and Christoph Green shoot 88 minutes worth of the band Chuck Klosterman once dubbed “the Midwestern equivalent of Radiohead” for their tremendous blend of influences and sound, ranging everywhere from alt-country and folk to progressive and jam. 20 of their best songs from each of the band’s studio albums (seven are DVD extras) make for a tremendous hour and a half of entertainment.
“The Late Greats” performed at Tipitina’s in New Orleans enjoys the benefit of a local horn section, the power duo of songs from Summerteeth, “Via Chicago” and “Shot in the Arm” go back to back in Nashville, and “Heavy Metal Drummer” cleans up at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
And for the nerdy fanboys like me, there are plenty of candid sequences of the band backstage and on the road. Keyboard player Mikael Jorgensen eats a banana and makes funny faces, and longtime bassist John Stirrat discusses how the small town where he grew up in Mississippi “was an early Wal-Mart victim”. Cline elaborates on the whiplash caused by his feverish guitar playing and waxes philosophic on bandmate Tweedy: “I don’t think he believes in truth.”
All told, the film is a tremendous document testifying to the band’s arresting live performance, interspersed by fascinating insight to Wilco’s life on the road. It’s a must-have for even the casual fan.
The DVD is available at record stores everywhere and on iTunes. Wilco also is set to release their currently unnamed seventh studio album in late June.
-Matt Carney is a professional writing sophomore.
Flips88 3 years ago
And for everyone that was there at Cain's, they'll know that the show has an * because Jeff Tweedy was on steroids. Also, the part where Nels Cline's guitar kept shorting out during "Walken" was hilarious and he eventually got to his awesome solo. Definitely one of the best concerts I've been to.
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