Don't stop believin'

The greatest part of a road trip can sometimes the destination, and sometimes it's the [ahem] journey, but last night for Katie, Chris and me it was both. In our road trip to Davenport [road trips can be short too, you don't necessarily have to travel Route Sixty-Six, right?] to see Wilco play at the Adler Theatre, we experienced the fullness of life: joy, sorrow, laughter, pain, anxiety, hope and gaseousness. I started off the trip by examining Katie's iPod only to find the Journey power ballad, "Don't Stop Believin'", an idea, if you will, which would inevitably turn into the very essence of the trip.

We were blazing down iEighty, about forty minutes from DPort, messing around with the various fun frames on our camera phones when traffic stopped. And I mean, stopped. As we approach the nearest off-ramp at a glacial pace we see that a firetruck has blocked off the interstate and is diverting traffic onto the highway, beyond said firetruck, no accident, fire or otherwise traffic worthy stopping events could be seen. Just two empty lanes of pavement. After a brief thought of just gunning it down an empty interstate, we thought better and followed the detour convoy. We still have no idea what was beyond that firetruck.

The first town we came to was Tipton. While Katie and Chris taunted small town Iowa, I wished upon them God's calling to small villages in the Midwest. It appeared that the people of Tipton, Iowa thought that a parade had entered into their midst. They gawked at the long line of traffic that was passing through their tiny town. We noticed how appropriately named the Stoplight Cafe was [note the singular form]. Somewhere in between Tipton and New Liberty Katie discovered that her phone could also take short movies. She would attempt to sneakily capture our words and faces as we drove along the Herbert Hoover Highway. I would be talking along and turn around to find her phone inches away from my face. There was a lot of laughter on the HHH. In New Liberty I yelled out the window, a la "Slayering", at a boy that "Old Liberty rules!!" He waved back.

It was at this point that Journey's power ballad came and brought us the strength we needed to persevere. The show started at seven-thirty, and by this point it was twenty or more minutes past said time. We were more than worried that we would miss any part of the Wilco set. Thankfully there was an opening band, Low, to provide a buffer. As we traveled along the HHH we would blurt out lyrics to the ballad, hoping that we would not be the ones who stopped believing. It was also at this point when we started to question the song's lyrics [don't stop believin' - hold on to the feelin' - streetlight - people]. There was a quiet few moments when, I believe, we all started to think about what would happen if we didn't make it to the show on time, but then the light of day broke through and iEighty broke through the fields and we drew near to it.

I was giddy with anticipation as we strode towards the Theatre. We reminded ourselves that we hadn't stopped believing and would thus be rewarded. As we rounded the corner and entered the doors we knew that our entrance coincided with the break between Low and Wilco. Perfect. My giddiness continued as we made our way to our seats and was told by my seat-neighbors that Low had been "boring", so maybe we didn't miss much at all.

Darkness fell, music began. It was glorious. They opened with "A Shot in the Arm" and played through most of the great songs off of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, A Ghost is Born and their latest, Sky Blue Sky. The only other addition was "Via Chicago" [of course]. I honestly don't believe that I will ever experience as good of musicians [outside of classical and elite jazz] as I did last night. They were amazing. Nels Cline is absolutely incredible, and really fun to watch. What blows me away is that they are able to play all of the YHF deconstruct-rock live. And not only live, but to play it with such precision. To build up this huge wall of sound and come out of it perfectly into a chorus... just amazing.

They played through the first five or six songs without talking in between playing. But eventually Jeff warmed up to the crowd and began to chat with the people sitting in front of him. For one song he sang without hiding behind a guitar and shook the front rower's hands like a politician [Tweedy/Kotche in Oh-Eight? They already have my vote]. Luckily the songs were so loud that Jeff, or anyone else, couldn't hear if any members of the audience were talking. And there were only a few yellers; a guy several rows behind me was probably pretty bummed that they didn't play "She's a Jar". At one point during the curfew-shortened [BOO DPort!!!] encore there was a fight on the other side of the auditorium which caused for Jeff to call for security, then the band stood on the edge of the stage to make sure that everything was taken care of. "Never let the bastards win," Jeff reminded us as one young man was lead away with the crowd booing him. And then they launched in the sprawling closer, "Spiders (Kidsmoke)".

It was a long ride home. Chris and I intermingled the silence with brief conversations about our top three concert events ever. The iPod was nearly dead, but it had enough juice to play one last encore of "Don't Stop Believin'", as we crawled into Des Moines around one-thirty in the morning. It was a good trip, even the five or six hours of driving. It was worth it; the laughs, the music, the frustration, the entire experience. If this is any sign of what this summer is to be like, I'm ready for it, and you know that I won't stop believin'. you have my love.


songs played [not necessarily in order]:
A Shot in the Arm [opener]
Side with the Seeds
Kamera
You are my Face
I am Trying to Break Your Heart
Handshake Drugs
War on War
I'm the Man who Loves You
Jesus, etc.
Hummingbird
Theologians
Late Greats
Via Chicago
Impossible Germany
Sky Blue Sky
Shake it Off
Hate it Here
Walken
Spiders (Kidsmoke) [closer]