A cover of Golden Smog’s “Lost Love” opened the door. Jeff Tweedy had already worked through four songs to open his set at Tampa Theatre, but he took a moment to address the crowd and politely ask someone in the front to consider talking less.

Photos: Jeff Tweedy and James Elkington at Tampa Theatre — March 14, 2019.

“People are gonna get upset,” the 51-year-old Wilco frontman said before explaining that he, too, used to get riled up over similar things. “I used to feel like that, but then my wife got cancer.”

A hush fell over the room.

“She’s OK now,” he clarified as the silence turned into a wave of relieved laughter. A series of heckles then rained down on Tweedy, who patiently went back-and-forth with the crowd before putting a short pause on the fun.

“I need to steer this back into a show — it'll go off the rails again don't worry.”

That was a good moment to let the crowd inject itself into the show because what followed was a run through fan-favorite “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart” that managed to exorcise one last bit of rowdiness from the room.

“Get it out! I didn’t know you had so much in you!,” Tweedy joked as hoots and hollers rang through the historic theater. “You knocked my guitar out of tune.”

CL has heard its share of loud-mouthed shows. Some, like a March 2018 Ritz Ybor gig from Fleet Foxes, were wholly offensive. Others, like Iron & Wine’s November 2018 set at Tampa Theatre, were tolerable. Thursday night’s affair was mild by comparison, but watching audience members shushing and glancing angrily at fellow concertgoers was disheartening. Not because we shouldn’t advocate for a quiet and respectful live music experience (especially at a venue like Tampa Theatre), but because Tweedy’s 22-song set featured some of the most empathetic selections in his repertoire.

While some tunes were scathing in their own pointed way (read: the still-unreleased “Family Ghost,” where Tweedy grapples with his patriotism), most of Thursday’s 95-minute acoustic show was marked by Tweedy’s heart-on-the-sleeve love for humankind. “Bombs Above,” the downtempo meditation on suffering that opens Tweedy’s new solo album, Warm, immediately led into “Some Birds,” a bright and cheery number about helplessness that asks listeners to take a chance in caring for other people (or at least believing in the best of them). Another unreleased song, “Guaranteed,” explicitly reminded the audience that things go wrong and that tragedy is a sure thing for all of us. “Don’t Forget” — Tweedy’s open letter to his son and occasional bandmate, Spencer — came with this simple, dagger-to-the-heart reminder that there’s not a lot that should keep someone from enjoying their numbered days on Earth: “We all think about dying. Don't let it kill you.”

And nothing could kill Tweedy’s easygoing vibe.

A big sing-along on “Let’s Go Rain” quickly turned into an off-time clapping clusterfuck, but the songwriter shrugged it off and playfully restarted the song while offering another slice of his hilarious charm.

“I can’t play along to an audience clapping… just don’t do that,” he said, laughing. “The part’s coming up where you can sing — isn’t that enough?”

The clapping almost started again on “California Stars,” and the crowd even tried to whistle a melody on a sped-up run through “I’m the Man Who Loves You,” but the smile on Tweedy’s face at the end of “Passenger Side” was a testament to how far the once-embattled Americana hero has come since an addiction to prescription painkillers sent him to rehab in 2004. So much of Tweedy’s music addresses inner turmoil in the context of this interesting epoch of American history we are living in, but there was a semblance of peace on Tweedy’s face onstage. His reaction to audience outbursts was proof of that inner calm.

Senselessly talking over a show is different from singing along. Heckling an artist just to be a funny guy is not quite the same as not being able to contain yourself and cheering loudly. People get excited sometimes, and we all express elation in different ways. While we don’t always agree with that expression, being painfully upset about someone else having a good time, or “ruining yours,” probably says more about you than it does about them. If you’d like to have an antiseptic listening experience, there are troves of hi-fidelity recordings and sound-canceling headphones at your disposal.

There was a moment during “Jesus, Etc.” where a woman in the audience cradled her young son, almost horizontally, inside of her right arm. The song is a Wilco live staple; its melody is well-known. If it wasn’t such a good tune, you could even call it overplayed. A person in the section to the right was definitely bouncing along. I’m sure someone in the building was quietly singing along. It made me think about the fan in front of me who changed seats very early in the show.

If they’d stayed, they might’ve seen this mother mouth the lyrics to “Jesus, Etc.” to her kid and gently kiss him on the forehead. They might’ve heard Tweedy sing the song’s third verse, too. It says, “Our love is all we have… everyone is a burning sun.” I’ve seen those lyrics on an Instagram page of horrible inspirational quotes, but in the hands of Tweedy they were a reminder to not take stuff so damn seriously all the time.

Live music is flawed. There is no such thing as a perfect show. At the end of the day, so much of what happens on and off the stage is completely out of our control. We go to shows because we need to hear the songs in real life. Being with others is part of that experience, and some of us experience and express all of that in different ways. There’s no point in getting washed up in your own frustration when a show doesn’t go the way you thought it would.

So much of Tweedy’s music is about the unpredictable nature of life in general, but all of it is a reminder that we’re all that we have. Embrace all of it it, friends, and definitely don’t let it kill you.

Setlist

Via Chicago
Remember The Mountain Bed
Bombs Above
Some Birds
Lost Love (Golden Smog)
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
Family Ghost [New Song]
Alone
Having Been Is No Way To Be
Guaranteed
New Madrid (Uncle Tupelo)
Impossible Germany
Hummingbird
I Know What It's Like
Jesus, Etc.
Let's Go Rain
California Stars
Passenger Side
I’m the Man Who Loves You
—
Don't Forget
Misunderstood
Acuff-Rose (Uncle Tupelo)