Well…where do I begin…?

We went to have breakfast at Porches in the breakfast area. Most of Wilco and Wilco entourage were also getting breakfast. So there’s that. We didn’t bother anyone too much. We had a lovely chat to Charles, a Wilco photographer and I may have interrupted Nels and Yuka’s breakfast to give them some of our Wilco collector cards.

Breakfast was adequate.

We packed up and checked out of Porches – we have to go stay at the college dorms for the next 3 nights. No more luxury for us ha ha

As we were checking out I saw Jeff Tweedy – so I gave him some Wilcards. Nice one.

It was too early to check in to the dorms so we headed to Mass Moca to get our wristbands for the weekend and to check out the gallery a bit. We’re always so busy during the festival seeing bands that we miss out on seeing the art so it was good to have a wander around. First stop however was coffee at Tunnel City coffee at Mass Moca because, quite frankly, the coffee at Porches was a little lacking. While we were waiting in line for our coffee – Mikael from Wilco joined the queue. Well, I had to give him some Wilcards of course – and I ended up having a really great chat with him about all sorts of stuff.

We had lunch at the cafe at Mass Moca which was an efficient use of time. We are all about efficiency.

After lunch we dropped by the Stop n Shop briefly for some breakfast essentials and also a super quick trip to Walmart for a pillow before going to check in to our luxurious dorm rooms at Berkshire Towers.

Once we had settled in to our dorm room and worked out how to plug the fridge in, we headed off to Day One of Solid Sound.

First up for the day was a talk/documentary preview/discussion hosted by the aforementioned Mikael from Wilco with Bob James who is far too amazing to describe here. Just go read his Wiki page because I can’t possibly explain it. Anyway the talk was awesome. Y’know how sometimes those things can be a bit weird and awkward- well this wasn’t at all. It was funny and interesting and heart warming. So good!

After the talk we went to secure a spot to see Scott the Hoople aka Scott Mcaughey. Scott is a legend and has been at all Solid Sounds in one form or another. oh also we tried to see Billy Bragg who was playing in one of the courtyards but it was sooooooooo packed so we bailed on that idea.

Scott was amazing and after his set Steve gave him some Wilcards. Nice one.

We needed dinner at this point but the lines for food were INSANE! We lined up at one place for a while then realised it was cash only or Venmo. Yes we don’t have Venmo because we are not from round here. Thinking we were going to starve we finally found a place selling dumplings whose line wasn’t too long and who would accept our credit cards. They were good dumplings. Or was I just starving?

Then we watched UK punk rock legends Gang of Four.

Then we squeezed in to the crowd to get our spot for the Wilco and Billy Bragg Mermaid Avenue set. The part of the night everyone was waiting for.

It was an amazingly special show – a once in a lifetime thing to see. I actually don’t have words to describe it.

Then we danced to Ira and Georgia from Yo La Tengo who weee spinning some tunes until our feet could dance no more and we had to head back to our dorm room and collapse in to bed.

There are so many more stories tell but I haven’t got time for the all here. You’ll just have to ask us about it all when you next see us. Or not. Your choice.