For as well and as long as I’ve loved the Old 97s, I’ve only seen them live three times — and before last night, I’d never seen Rhett solo. He flew down for a one-off favor-for-a-friend benefit show in Raleigh, and it was absolutely a perfect set. He’s charismatic and funny, he’s one of the best songwriters working today, and the crowd was reactive, into the show, and not so tightly packed that I couldn’t breathe.
“Champaign, IL” is a new song, for the upcoming 97s record, and it’ll be a Rhett Miller/Bob Dylan — no shit — joint production. The first time you hear it, listen for a Dylan song in the melody. You’ll know it immediately, if you know your Dylan.
Worth the ticket price, and then some. It was exactly the show I needed last night, especially since this morning I have come down with some variety of allergy related plague and have basically spent the last four hours lying on the couch like a lump.
Setlist: Niteclub/The El/Nobody Says I Love You Anymore/No Baby I/Barrier Reef/Singular Girl/Victoria/Carolina/Doreen/Wish The Worst/Question/Champaign, IL/Indefinitely/Come Around/Rollerskate Skinny/I Need To Know Where I Stand/Big Brown Eyes/Our Love/Encore: Salome/Time Bomb
brand new kind of photography 
“Champaign, IL” may be on the forthcoming record, but it is not a new song. Miller wrote it years ago.
Fair enough — it wasn’t a song I was familiar with, and when he said that it would be on the upcoming record, I made an assumption.