The Show That Never Happened

If anyone was wondering where I've been since the end of last week the answer is simple: the Winnipeg Folk Festival.

As the largest folk festival in North America, it's always a fun gathering of musicians and music lovers and this year was no exception. The weekend was full of good music and fun hangs. This is the 4th time that I've attended Folk Fest and the second year that I've volunteered there. 

The volunteering piece has been quite entertaining, as I lucked out and somehow managed to wind up working in the Green Room for the main stage. (This isn't as luxurious as it may sound as it involves cleaning bathrooms as much as it involves talking to famous people, but it's not a bad gig all in all.) 

This year, I was half excited and half sad to be working the Green Room on Sunday night because Wilco was closing out the festival and they are one of my favorite bands. I was excited because it meant I would get to meet them (or at least smile at them and offer them food and beverages), but I was sad because typically when one is working the Green Room one is too busy to get to hear much of the music when the bands are actually performing. I wanted to hear this concert so much that "meeting" the band didn't quite temper my disappointment at not getting to watch from front of house. 

But then, no one else wound up getting to hear them either as a torrential downpour that came on suddenly, lasted over an hour, closed out the show and sent everyone packing. Adding a sad face to this line will not begin to account for how much of a bummer this was, but I will add one anyway. :-(

In the meantime, a fellow Green Roomer and I did manage to get Wilco and their crew their post-show-back-on-the-tour-bus food without it being either too soggy or too cold, and then we went back to the Green Room to help clean up. In Wilco's abandoned trailer I found this:

It made me even sadder to see how many songs that I love were on this set list and never got played that night, but I will make myself a playlist* with the entire set list and console myself with that. 

And now we return to the real world...

*If anyone else does the same it should be noted that the entire set was going to be performed acoustically so try to line up acoustic versions for maximum consistency.