Living in southern Spain is fantastic but Marbella is a resort town and doesn’t offer as many cultural opportunities that larger cities do. The good news is that Seville, Malaga and Granada are all within a couple of hours drive and all regularly feature good concerts of popular artists and their current tours. Madrid is easily accessible via Malaga; either a quick 50 minute flight or the new AVE fast train non-stop trip direct to Madrid Atocha station in about 2.5 hours.

Another large city is Murcia, about a 3.5 hour drive up the coast from the Costa del Sol and on Spain’s sleepy Costa Calida (the warm coast). I was pleasantly surprised to see that Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and Uncle Tupelo fame had booked a few solo acoustic shows in Spain in early September. I quickly rounded up three friends and we made plans to drive up the coast for the Saturday, September 6th show.

I first saw Jeff Tweedy along with one of his various side-projects, Golden Smog, an alternative rock supergroup comprised of Gary Louris of the Jayhawks, Tweedy and some others. This was back in 1995 in Chicago at the dearly departed Lounge Ax on Lincoln Avenue. The former co-owner of the club, Sue Miller, is Tweedy’s wife. But, I digress..

Tweedy’s solo gig was very similar to the concerts documented in Jeff Tweedy – Sunken Treasure – Live in the Pacific Northwest
whereby Tweedy plays a 2 hour set surrounded by about 8 acoustic guitars and then finishes off with some unamplified songs sung from the front of the stage.

This was back in early September and Tweedy is now back on the road with Wilco, opening up for Neil Young’s USA Arena tour. The Murcia show was intimate and in an immaculate modern venue; our seats were about 30 feet from the stage and it was well worth the drive up to Murcia.

Here is the set list from Tweedy’s September 6th show in Murcia, Spain:

01. Sunken Treasure
02. Remember the mountain Bed
03. One By One
04. Muzzles Of Bees
05. I’m Trying To Break Your Heart
06. Forget The Flowers
07. New Song
08. Sky Blue Sky
09. Jesus Etc
10. Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard
11. A Shot In The Arm
12. Spiders
13, Theologians

14. Passenger Side
15. The Rulin Class
16. The Late Greats
17. Impossible Germany
18. When The Roses Bloom Again
19. Heavy Metal Drummer
20. I’m The Man Who Loves You

21. Someone Else Song
22. Acuff Rose