Neil and Wilco

Still don't have the internet, and not because of the recent ice storm. I'm waiting till I get a job.
Did, however, see Neil Young and Wilco in Worcester last night. I didn't know that Wilco was even playing until the car ride down. Mike and Jesse, the two guys I went with, had never heard Wilco. Mike had never even heard of them.
We sat in the high rafters of the DCU center and down and to our left we watched Wilco open. They played the Spiders song, Don't forget the flowers, the Echo song, Jesus etc., I'm the man who loves you, and a few I didn't know. I may have forgotten a song or two. They didn't play for long.
A short break, and Neil rode on stage (not literally on a horse, but you could smell horse as he shuffled). But then he stopped shuffling. He teetered and rocked and jumped (a bit) and played with gusto and lust-o. Hey Hey My My, Cinnamon girl, Cowgirl in the Sand, Rockin' in the Free world, some more. He split these rockers up with acoustics, Old Man, Heart of Gold, Lonesome Me, Needle and the Damage done, and his voice was as strong as ever. No rust at all. He also debuted a bunch of new songs, I think Mike said something about a new album of his. The songs all dealt with gas, energy, cars, the economy- that kind of stuff. Couldn't really get into them, but I have to admit, I wanted him to drop the electric at times and snuggle up to the piano. He didn't do much at the piano.
For an encore, he did "A Day in the Life," and it didn't disappoint. He sang the bridge-"woke up, got out of bed" etc.- with so much enthusiasm, you could tell he loved what he was doing. After the long sustained chord (still the longest in pop music history?) he trudged up to the xylophone, grabbed the sticks and stood behind it like a tyronic alchemist, struck two plates (the wrong note) pretended to look for the right and then found the right one, struck it, looked out at the audience, satisfied, waved, then walked off the stage.