Fleet Foxes AND Wilco in Portland, on Different Days

Fleet Foxes threatened to be one of those bands who put out an amazing debut album and then disappeared. Thankfully, they came back with an incredible sophomore album that was quite possibly even better than the first one (which was extremely hard to do). Then, they did disappear and their hiatus seemed to be permanent. Singer/songwriter/leader Robin Peckhold seems to be the kind of musician who only writes and makes music when he's moved to. Thankfully, after 7 years away, Fleet Foxes came back into our lives with "Crack Up" and have been touring behind it. They played a few festivals and overseas before starting their summer tour in Portland, ME at Thompson's Point. I thought they did an incredible job bringing their melodic, atmospheric music to the stage. They even played through a blown amp early into their set. The night before Phish had played a cover of their song "White Winter Hymnal" and so, before they played that song, Fleet Foxes teased with a bit of Phish's song "Bouncing Around the Room." 


  1. I Am All That I Need / Arroyo Seco / Thumbprint Scar
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  2. Cassius, -
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  3. - Naiads, Cassadies
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  4. Grown Ocean
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  5. Ragged Wood
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  6. Your Protector
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  7. The Cascades
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  8. Mearcstapa
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  9. On Another Ocean (January / June)
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  10. Fool's Errand
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  11. He Doesn't Know Why
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  12. Battery Kinzie
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  13. Tiger Mountain Peasant Song
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  14. If You Need To, Keep Time on Me
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  15. Mykonos
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  16. White Winter Hymnal
    (Preceded by tease of Phish's… more )
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  17. Third of May / Ōdaigahara
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  18. The Shrine / An Argument
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  19. Blue Ridge Mountains
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  20. Helplessness Blues
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  22. Encore:
  23. Montezuma
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  24. Crack-Up
They brought along an amazing, indie singer/songwriter who has been making records in his house and touring relentlessly for a few years now, really making a name for himself. (Sandy) Alex G played for about 30 minutes to open the night and did a great job. 


..........................................................................
Last Sunday, the day before my birthday nonetheless, Wilco came back to Portland, playing at Thompson's Point this time (last time, it was the State Theatre) and they played for a solid 2 hours. They rocked out, jamming out on a few of their songs, which they define as "mid-tempo rock." They even got a bit of a laugh before they played "Heavy Metal Drummer" which they deemed their "almost, mildly successful hit song." Their self-deprecating humor aside, these guys can play really well together. 


Their opening band, Big Thief, I had seen all the way back in January, at a small club in Boston. They were headlining and thus given more time, celebrating the success of their amazing debut album aptly titled "Masterpiece." This time, as the openers, they really focused on songs from their newest album and still played a great set for 30 minutes. They are one of my favorite "new" discoveries and suggest that everyone check them out. The songwriting is absolutely amazing. 

Their set looked something like this: 


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