The Big Wu Has Gone Down Hill

I really enjoyed watching The Big Wu for many years in the 1990's. I saw them most Wednesdays at the Cabooze in Minneapolis and also in numerous cities including a great show in San Fran.

I think the band lost a lot of its mojo when the lead guitarist Jason left the band to spend more time with his new daughter instead of traveling so much. This was a great decision on Jason's part, but The Big Wu lost momentum over the next few years.

Lately, Jason has been back playing with The Big Wu. Many fans have been excited that maybe they will return to their glory days. The problem is that most of their recent shows have been disappointing. The Big Wu seems to have forgotten how to put a show together. They get some momentum going and then they kill it by taking a longer than usual break between songs or by playing a slow or less than jammy song.

I went to their New Years Eve show in Minneapolis. The first couple of songs after midnight were great. The crowd was pumped up and the place was rocking. Then the band sabatoged their own show with a poor song slection and the mood and momentum was gone. A few more poor song choices and the crowd starting leaving.

The same thing happened the other night in Milwaukee, WI. The opening band was good, the crowd was good, but many people starting leaving at The Big Wu setbreak.

Some of this might be a need for more practice on the bands part, but I think the big issue is song selection. Most people go to see The Big Wu because they have the reputation as a jam band. Most of us go to the shows because we want to jam and have a great time. We don't want to sit through slow songs or long breaks between songs.

I hope The Big Wu can turn it around if they plan to continue on as a band. As a big fan of theirs, it is painful to go to bad shows where people are leaving at the set break.