Wilco not the first non-classical act at Tanglewood
Published in Berkshire Eagle, 8/8/08
By Jeremy D. Goodwin
LENOX—It was August, 1970. Only two years before, Miles Davis had jolted the popular music world with his shift to an electrified, free-form style that shocked purists and inspired the adventurous.
He stood onstage in a gold lame vest and billowing gold pants, playing his trademark horn lines as his sizable ensemble unleashed a searing, bubbling sound that was probably unlike anything the audience had heard before.
Just another night at Tanglewood.
Yes, Virginia, there was a time when these hallowed lawns of Lenox gave witness to acts like The Who (1969 and 1970), Janis Joplin (1969), Santana (1970), Sly and the Family Stone (1971), and Miles Davis as he entered his late prime. (A film of Davis' set circulates privately among collectors.)
Complaints about decibel level and unruly audiences, perhaps inevitably, led to a suspension in 1972 of the Contemporary Trends series (as it was then called) and its re-birth the next year with softer hues.
Goodbye, Iron Butterfly. Hello, Seals and Croft—and yes, James and Livingston Taylor.
Since then, the Boston Symphony Orchestra has scheduled plenty of adventurous programming featuring contemporary composers. But the pop music booking has shifted, with the occasional exception, squarely in the soft rock direction.
Tuesday's appearance by indie/alternative rock darlings Wilco is unlikely to inspire the end of Berkshire civilization as we know it. There is no handwritten sign at Loeb's Foodtown in Lenox Village advising to "Plan your Wilco concert food needs in advance," echoing the sign posted in advance of James Taylor's concerts in July. But it is a booking much appreciated by forward-looking music fans of all stripes, which just may portend more musically relevant programming to come.
According to Margo Saulnier, the assistant director of artistic planning for the Boston Pops, the Wilco date flowed out of the Pops' emphasis in the past three years on collaboration with progressive-minded artists like Elvis Costello, My Morning Jacket, and Natalie Merchant. (Even Phish's Trey Anastasio was briefly booked, though the show was cancelled shortly after tickets went onsale.)
Contacts in the popular music scene are fresh, says Saulnier, and when Wilco's people came knocking this February in search of an unconventional Northeast venue boasting lots of natural beauty, the match was obvious.
Her purview is the Boston Pops, not Tanglewood in general, but from Saulnier's perspective this is a great direction to follow. Coming a year after the appearance by warmed-over nostalgia act The New Cars, the Wilco show seems auspicious.
"Wilco is one of the most important band of this generation, and Jeff Tweedy is brilliant. So they're the exact types of artists that we would want to have in our Popular Artist Series in the future," she says.
In 1975, the series of seven pop music concerts (including James Taylor's second appearance; his first was the year before) yielded nearly 31% of Tanglewood's total attendance of 338, 021, according to a contemporary account in the Berkshire Eagle. (This year's set of two Taylor concerts and one Wilco visit will likely account for a bit more than 50,000 patrons.)
After the style of programming shifted, the noise complaints didn't stop (there was a lengthy legal dispute in 1975 and 1976), but the "bad trips" reported in a 1970 Eagle report (as well as the groups of youths who collected lawn litter for disposal, also noted) were gone.
When Roberta Flack and Blood, Sweat and Tears re-inaugurated the popular music series in 1973, an unnamed policeman was cited as observing that the new crowd "seemed older."
And so the die was cast.
LENOX—It was August, 1970. Only two years before, Miles Davis had jolted the popular music world with his shift to an electrified, free-form style that shocked purists and inspired the adventurous.
He stood onstage in a gold lame vest and billowing gold pants, playing his trademark horn lines as his sizable ensemble unleashed a searing, bubbling sound that was probably unlike anything the audience had heard before.
Just another night at Tanglewood.
Yes, Virginia, there was a time when these hallowed lawns of Lenox gave witness to acts like The Who (1969 and 1970), Janis Joplin (1969), Santana (1970), Sly and the Family Stone (1971), and Miles Davis as he entered his late prime. (A film of Davis' set circulates privately among collectors.)
Complaints about decibel level and unruly audiences, perhaps inevitably, led to a suspension in 1972 of the Contemporary Trends series (as it was then called) and its re-birth the next year with softer hues.
Goodbye, Iron Butterfly. Hello, Seals and Croft—and yes, James and Livingston Taylor.
Since then, the Boston Symphony Orchestra has scheduled plenty of adventurous programming featuring contemporary composers. But the pop music booking has shifted, with the occasional exception, squarely in the soft rock direction.
Tuesday's appearance by indie/alternative rock darlings Wilco is unlikely to inspire the end of Berkshire civilization as we know it. There is no handwritten sign at Loeb's Foodtown in Lenox Village advising to "Plan your Wilco concert food needs in advance," echoing the sign posted in advance of James Taylor's concerts in July. But it is a booking much appreciated by forward-looking music fans of all stripes, which just may portend more musically relevant programming to come.
According to Margo Saulnier, the assistant director of artistic planning for the Boston Pops, the Wilco date flowed out of the Pops' emphasis in the past three years on collaboration with progressive-minded artists like Elvis Costello, My Morning Jacket, and Natalie Merchant. (Even Phish's Trey Anastasio was briefly booked, though the show was cancelled shortly after tickets went onsale.)
Contacts in the popular music scene are fresh, says Saulnier, and when Wilco's people came knocking this February in search of an unconventional Northeast venue boasting lots of natural beauty, the match was obvious.
Her purview is the Boston Pops, not Tanglewood in general, but from Saulnier's perspective this is a great direction to follow. Coming a year after the appearance by warmed-over nostalgia act The New Cars, the Wilco show seems auspicious.
"Wilco is one of the most important band of this generation, and Jeff Tweedy is brilliant. So they're the exact types of artists that we would want to have in our Popular Artist Series in the future," she says.
In 1975, the series of seven pop music concerts (including James Taylor's second appearance; his first was the year before) yielded nearly 31% of Tanglewood's total attendance of 338, 021, according to a contemporary account in the Berkshire Eagle. (This year's set of two Taylor concerts and one Wilco visit will likely account for a bit more than 50,000 patrons.)
After the style of programming shifted, the noise complaints didn't stop (there was a lengthy legal dispute in 1975 and 1976), but the "bad trips" reported in a 1970 Eagle report (as well as the groups of youths who collected lawn litter for disposal, also noted) were gone.
When Roberta Flack and Blood, Sweat and Tears re-inaugurated the popular music series in 1973, an unnamed policeman was cited as observing that the new crowd "seemed older."
And so the die was cast.
