Review: Wilco at Crossroads KC
Above: Jeff Tweedy opened a box full of letters Saturday night at Crossroads KC. Photos by Tetona Dunlap/Kansas City Star
In front of a sold-out, rapturous crowd Saturday night, Wilco closed out the inaugural concert season at Crossroads KC at Grinder’s with a perfect performance from a band at the peak of its powers.
Wilco performed as many songs – four – from its first album, "A.M.," released back in 1995, as its current one, "Sky Blue Sky." Those albums are different creatures, but the transition was seamless. While the crescendo and subtlety of "Hate It Here" stood in sharp contrast to the straightforward rock of "Box Full of Letters," the juxtaposition of each song actually made them reinforce each other.
Wilco’s compulsion to explore the dark corners of its songs brought an energy and freshness to the performance. Show opener "Via Chicago" was a perfect balance of power and nuance and noise and melody. The song started quietly, but a cacophony erupted during the chorus when each band member blasted away independently on his instrument before suddenly rejoining the ensemble for the verse.
Nearly two hours after taking the stage the sextet re-emerged for a second encore, which featured the nonstop haymaker punches of "Red-Eyed and Blue," "I Got You," "Casino Queen" and "Outtasite (Outta Mind)." Already excited, the audience was whipped into a joyous frenzy that found many bouncing up and down involuntarily.
If the audience was delirious, the band was having as much fun. Jeff Tweedy broke into a hambone dance during "Hummingbird," bass player John Stirratt frequently jumped around the stage, and Pat Sansone struck a Pete Townshend pose with a couple windmill strums on his guitar during "Outtasite." Even the sound guys were bobbing their heads.
The show also demonstrated why in just one summer Crossroads KC has become the city’s best outdoor music venue. The capacity grounds were crowded, but not uncomfortable. The promoters probably could have packed another 100 people inside.
Thanks to loads of fresh mulch laid down by the grounds crew, the turf was firm and dry despite a hard rain that began before dawn and lasted until noon. In an age of skyrocketing ticket prices Crossroads KC has hosted several of the summer’s best performers at prices that don’t require a second mortgage or even a second thought.
The evening ended with a ferocious delivery of "Spiders (Kidsmoke)," which culminated in a fireworks display and a gentle jab from Tweedy at the opening act at the Sprint Center, just a few blocks north: "Take that, Elton John."
| Joel Francis, Special to The Star
Set list: Via Chicago/Company on my Back/You Are My Face/I Am Trying To Break Your Heart/Pot Kettle Black/Handshake Drugs/Side With the Seeds/A Shot in the Arm/She’s A Jar/Impossible Germany/Pick Up the Change/Box Full of Letters/Jesus, etc./Too Far Apart/Walken/I’m the Man Who Loves You/Encore 1: Hummingbird/Hesitating Beauty/Heavy Metal Drummer/Encore 2: Red-Eyed and Blue/I Got You (At the End of the Century)/Casino Queen/Outtasite (Outta Mind)/Spiders (Kidsmoke)
the opener andrew bird also needs mentioned. he came out and played an hour long set all alone, with several songs not even extending beyond his violin and looping pedal. the audience, despite being a wilco audience rather than bird's audience, stood rapt as andrew ripped thru tunes mainly from his last two albums ("why?" being the lone older song). personally, i've never seen one individual performer hold such a large audience's attention the way that bird did.
Posted by: dontneedanything | October 14, 2007 at 05:01 PM
The Crossroads is KC's best outdoor venue?? Let's not get crazy, now. It hosts some fine bands, but when all is said and done, it's still a dump. It looks like someone's landfill with a stage at one end. Having been to several shows there, I have NEVER felt comfortable there. The sound quality also varies widely from show to show. If this is the best KC has to offer, then we are in trouble. There HAS to be a better spot to slap an outdoor venue in KC, but The Crossroads ain't that venue.........
Posted by: Co Jones | October 14, 2007 at 09:07 PM
Who goes to shows based on the venue not the act? For an outdoor venue, Crossroads KC is fine. The sound was great last night, and the venue made an effort to make the place "comfortable" despite the rain. I'd go back.
Andrew Bird does deserve a mention. I'd never heard his music before, but I'm intrigued. I hope he comes back to KC as a headliner.
Posted by: murph | October 14, 2007 at 09:21 PM
So Murph, I assume you would go to a nuclear waste site as long as the bands are cool? Sheesh....Wilco rules, even though I had tickets to that OTHER show last night.
Posted by: Co Jones | October 14, 2007 at 09:49 PM
As one of the partners in Crossroads at Grinder's I want to thank all of the fans who attended shows in our venue's opening season. If the general public knew all of the trials and tribulations involved with getting this place up and running they would certainly cut us some slack considering we opened just six months ago and have had to try to construct permanent elements in the time between shows. Everyone involved is excited about ways to improve Crossroads to make next season even better. If you look at the variety and quality of the music in our first season, it is a minor miracle to have pulled it off. This is thanks to countless hours of work from our partners and our workers. We are music lovers first and foremost and we are putting our money where our mouth is to try to create something very special for KC. We are committed to making it one of the best, most affordable venues in the country. Also, remember guys, this is done by locals with OUR OWN MONEY, no tax breaks or taxpayer handouts here! So please bear with us as we grow and improve and I know that you will be blown away when next season's shows start being announced! Thanks again, we love you all and please remember that at Crossroads at Grinder's, our motto is: "In Music We Trust!"
Posted by: Michael T. | October 15, 2007 at 12:16 AM
Compared to City Market or the parking lot in Westport, Crossroads is the Taj freaking Mahal. And no one mentioned the low ticket prices -- without Ticketmaster.
Posted by: RaiderHawk | October 15, 2007 at 07:09 AM
I thought Andrew Bird performed a great set. I would have mentioned him in the review, but it was already getting a bit long.
I saw four shows at Crossroads this summer and at all four shows the sound was excellent, there were no sight obstructions, the grounds were clean and cared for and the atmosphere was great.
Can you picture the grounds crew at Verizon taking such care with their lawn after the storm we had Friday night? Everyone would have been standing in mud up to their ankles.
In addition all tickets are very resonably priced (about $30 gets you in the door for most acts) and you can easily swing by the venue and bypass "convenience fees." Plus, Crossroads KC are run by a local group who care about our city, not Live Nation or Ticketmaster who have no priorities beyond profit.
You are welcome to disagree, but this was my reasoning.
Thanks for reading.
Posted by: Joel Francis | October 15, 2007 at 08:49 AM
It's a "landfill," now it's a "nuclear waste site." Uh-huh.
Based on comments I'd read here, I thought I'd have to get a tetanus shot before going to CrossroadsKC. Nothing is further from the truth. Are the facilities spartan? Sure. But I can understand why from a business standpoint. There's a local group taking a big gamble here. Based on the crowd Saturday, I'd say it paid off.
I don't expect much from a venue other than it's clean, the sound and view are good, there's decent beer, and the staff isn't a bunch of jerks. Crossroads passed on all counts.
Posted by: murph | October 15, 2007 at 09:40 AM
If you want comfort and pampering, stick to the Linda Ronstadt shows out at Starlight.
Posted by: RaiderHawk | October 15, 2007 at 09:56 AM
The woodchips at the Crossroads are no bueno. The footing is uneven and uncomfortable to stand on and by the end of the night you have two batcaves full of dust boogers from all the woodchip dust that gets kicked up in the air and breathed in.
Sod or grass may not be practical but hay would be better than woodchips.
After that my only other concern would be the females working the beer lines who repeatedly "accidentally" give people back short change and then play dumb when someone actually corrects them before walking off and not counting their money before shoving it in their pocket. Talk about shady...
Posted by: JG | October 15, 2007 at 10:05 AM
Show was, in typical Wilco fashion, brilniant. As someone who drove four hours to see this show, The Crossroads is a great venue (see: parking, people, sound, booze AND pizza? So what are you whining about again?)
Just one small request, someone get that testosterone-fueled, screaming, insipid, douche bag away from the microphone. You know the one I'm talking about. The same douche-bag that referred to the same beautiful, inspiring Wilco show as a "monster truck rally". And he was SCREAMING. If something bad ever happens to him, it was me wishing for it hard enough. Everything, except for that douche-bag, was brilliant.
Thank you KC and thank you Wilco.
Seacrest out.
Posted by: The Bugle | October 15, 2007 at 11:01 AM
Show was, in typical Wilco fashion, brilliant. As someone who drove four hours to see this show, The Crossroads is a great venue (see: parking, people, sound, booze AND pizza? So what are you whining about again?)
Just one small request: someone get that testosterone-fueled, screaming, insipid, douche-bag away from the microphone. You know the one I'm talking about. The same douche-bag that referred to the same beautiful, inspiring Wilco show as a "monster truck rally". And he was SCREAMING. If something bad ever happens to him, it was me wishing for it hard enough.
Everything, except for that douche-bag, was brilliant.
Thank you KC and thank you Wilco.
Seacrest out.
Posted by: The Bugle | October 15, 2007 at 11:03 AM
Um Co Jones, you fail to actually offer an outdoors venue that is better than Crossroads. The only one that I can think of is Starlight, but Wilco wouldn't have been better there. Grinder's was excellent (granted it was my first show) on Saturday. I thought it was great, I just hope they diversfy next years line up away from jam bands and 90's alternative staples.
Posted by: G Holiday | October 15, 2007 at 11:08 AM
I bed if you asked them kindly, them math-challenged females at the beer lines would clean the mulch dust from your nostrils for you. For a fee.
Posted by: RaiderHawk | October 15, 2007 at 12:36 PM
Oh no.......mulch!!!! The humanity! What a crybaby, whining about standing on mulch. Sit on your couch, put your iPod on, maybe fire up the chatroom. Someone could of used your ticket that would of just appreciated a band that plays for the music.
Posted by: PeachPit | October 15, 2007 at 12:43 PM
Hey I thought this place was great! Wilco was awesome and if it weren't for my son Chris, I would not have known it! I am now a new Wilco fan. Was lucky enough to get the record signed by the whole band thanks to a little help from stretch! I would not hesitate to see a show at Crossroads again. Also, want to thank the servers and cooks inside who handtossed my pizza and had it ready in 20 minutes, and the price was very reasonable. Keep up the great work and keep the music going. Thanks!
Posted by: Carla | October 15, 2007 at 01:49 PM
I've been to four shows at the Crossroads this summer... the first being june 1... bob schneider... with no covering over the stage the show was pushed back over an hour...and then only played 5 songs...damn rain...can't help that at an outdoor venue. even with that rocky start - i'm terribly impressed with the quality of musicians they've been able to welcome our city... Old 97s? Wilco? as well as many others. just fantastic...so what if i'm rolling around on the extra large "wood chips"...at least i'm rolling to some good tunes. thanks for a fantastic season - can't wait til next year.
Posted by: flowerparts | October 15, 2007 at 02:59 PM
wow... I, like many others who posted, attending my first show at Crossroads KC... and LOVED it. Of course, WILCO certainly helped, but it was a GREAT venue. Granted, I was in the VIP section, so maybe that helped, but I'd go back over and over and over again. It's got way more character and progressiveness than that rat trap in Bonner Springs, Verizon/Sandstone/Who Knows What...
The show rocked, to say the least. I've been to several WILCO shows, and this one was by far the best... You couldn't have created a more perfect night.
I did get a pretty good video of Hesitating Beauty - check it out on my blog at www.jasoncupp.com/blog, if URL's are ok here.
Go CrossroadsKC! Don't worry about some of the comments, I'd say most everyone there had a GREAT time, with an AWESOME show and an INCREDIBLE crowd.
Cheers...
Posted by: jason | October 16, 2007 at 02:34 PM
The Crossroads is a GREAT venue, Jason? That's an absolute crock! I will go see bands there if their tours unfortunately land them at the Crossroads, but I'd rather see them elsewhere. OK, so a lot of people defend the place, because they obviously don't mind dumps. They probably live in dumps themselves. I'm just saying that a unlevel plot of land filled with wood chips is a lousy place to see a show. If I wanted to prance around on wood chips, I would have been born a hamster.......
Posted by: Co Jones | October 18, 2007 at 10:23 AM
Right: ankle-deep mud is much better than --- eeeek! wood chips!! Stick to your Barry Manilow shows at Starlight
Posted by: RaiderHawk | October 18, 2007 at 11:19 AM
Your bitching about un-level ground? I've only been there once, but seem to remember that it sloped towards the stage. To me, that sounds like un-obstructed views all the way to the back! Can't beat that. Sure, the mulch might not be ideal, but the cost to pave over the lot would most likely be passed on the concert goer, in the form of higher ticket prices (or higher beer prices). I can only imagine the shit storm, when Wilco or Old 97's tickets cost $40 next time they come to town. And then all the pretentious farts will gripe that it's $40 to see a band in a parking lot! Anyone that has stood on hot asphalt or concrete at the River Market or the lot across from the Beaumont, would gladly take the mulch. As long as they keep bringing in diverse acts on the cheap, who cares?
Posted by: sincitydisciple | October 18, 2007 at 02:04 PM