#goitalone

dust storm blowin’ in a long black shadow Back on the Guero tours, Beck tried “Go It Alone” a few times, but it never stuck and he only ended up doing it around 15 times in 2005-2006.  It then vanished for a decade when, after the Morning Phase tour ended, Beck brought it back and it was very much a regular song from 2015-2017.  So when the Colors tour started in 2018, it continued to be a regular, though by the end of the year it had finally begun slipping away, appearing at just 5 of the last 20 shows. In total, Beck did it at around 35 of the main 59 shows on the Colors tour.  For this, I listened to 11 of them. Colors tour lineup: Beck Hansen - vocals, electric guitar Jason Falkner - electric guitar, backing vocals Roger Joseph Manning Jr. - keyboards, backing vocals Dwayne Moore - bass, backing vocals Chris Coleman - drums Alex Lilly - tambourine, backing vocals Cecilia Della Peruti - electric guitar, backing vocals Jake Sinclair - acoustic guitar, backing vocals 

The 2018 version of "Go It Alone” did not particularly change from the way they had been doing it in 2015-2017, though in some ways it has a different feel to it. In the prior years, there was a bit more of a raw energy to it, while with this current (bigger) band, I think it has a slightly more professional vibe. Stepping back, the way Beck developed the song for the stage in 2015 was to take the sleek funk of the recording and strengthen it for the stage. They extend the chorus (doing “you better go it alone” 4 times instead of twice), beef up the quiet bridge, and then skip the third verse entirely, going straight to an extended singalong chorus. This long chorus then explodes into a Zeppelin-esque guitar solo from Jason to end the song.  So basically it seems to me that they made the song more audience-friendly: extending the catchy parts, having a long bit where the crowd could participate, and then going out on a showy guitar solo. These things all remain in 2018, but the extra guitars and singers allow for a bit more decoration -- though there are points when Roger and Alex, for instance, are waiting to join in.  Jason’s guitar solo, though the same every night, is a lot of fun and in some ways feels unique for a Beck show (he only has a few songs that have full-on classic rock-style solos). At one point on this tour, Beck said in an interview that “Go It Alone” was a song he loved doing, which is interesting when considering they semi-phased it out over the course of the year. More than a couple times, Beck would introduce the track as a ‘greasy’ song, and mentioning how he wrote it with Jack White. Here is a version from Ottawa in July:

Xi urges fellow BRICS countries to reject go-it-alone trade

[ad_1]

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping said there would be no winner in a global trade war, urging fellow developing powers on Wednesday to reject unilateralism in the wake of tariff threats by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump’s warnings have given Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa fresh impetus to enhance trade cooperation, and their leaders found a…

Trump’s go-it-alone immigration strategy ends in chaos

[ad_1]

“You’re going to have a lot of happy people,” he said optimistically as he applied his sawtooth signature.

Jumping from position to position as migrant parents remained separated from their children, the President this week put his go-it-alone strategy of governing to the test. Images and audio of despondent childrenled to outraged calls for action, which prompted outsized reaction from…