Product Details

• Actors: Wilco
• Directors: Brendan Canty, Christoph Green
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Nonesuch
• DVD Release Date: April 28, 2009
• Run Time: 88 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001RTYKWM
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61,449 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Ashes of American Flags follows Wilco from Tulsa, Oklahoma (Cain's Ballroom) to Washington D.C. (9:30 Club) during its 2008 U.S. tour of ballrooms, clubs and concert halls, capturing the six-piece band, and three-man horn section, at such
hallowed venues as Tipitina's in New Orleans and the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. This feature-length DVD is a concert film of extraordinary intimacy, with the HD cameras focused primarily on the stage and often inches away from singer songwriter Jeff Tweedy's microphone or drummer Glenn Kotche's cymbals. Ashes of American Flags also functions as an evocative travelogue, a document of the band's physical and emotional journey. Co-directors Brendan Canty, the former Fugazi
drummer, and Christoph Green track Wilco's tour bus across the country, taking in both the wide-angle beauty and William Eggleston-like desolation of the highways and cities they pass through. At each stop, the filmmakers record candid moments
at sound check, back stage and on the bus, where band members offer insights into their lives on the road and their remarkably intuitive communication as a group.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Current Wilco at Their Very Best February 21, 2009

By Sweet Beacon

Format:DVD

"Ashes of American Flags" documents a short concert swing from about a year ago, with Wilco playing such classic small Southern venues such as Tipitina's in New Orleans and the Ryman Theatre in Nashville. They filmed five shows in their entirety, and picked out the best performances from them. The result is a 90 minute document of the current Wilco lineup at the their very best. The film-work is great, but mostly importantly, the performances are astoundingly good, and they cover a wide range or materials, from the super-rocking "Monday" from "Being There" to material from "Sky Blue Sky," including an absolutely remarkable version of "Impossible Germany." This is certainly a "must have" for any fan of Wilco, and I think even those who only know a little about the band will be moved by the powerful and profound performances.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars dvd/live cd in one April 30, 2009

By luckykz

Format:DVD

what's cool is that through the dvd, you can register and go online and download the performances as a live 20 song cd (which includes the bonus tracks), then do what you want with the audio tracks.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars BEST ROCK BAND ON THE PLANET AS OF 6/18/09 June 18, 2009

By Joseph A. Kengor

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

This document is very well recorded and shows this great, tight, professional band in a couple different sized venues doing their thing.
I just had the opportunity to see Wilco on Friday June 13, in Cincinnati, Ohio and they were amazing. One thing guaranteed about seeing Wilco perform, if you're not a fan going in, you will be one when you walk out. They played for 2-1/2 hours without a break; Jeff, what can I say about Jeff? Is he the coolest dude on the planet? But he does need a haircut. Pat Sansone has got the rock guitar god moves down! With the power windmill chords, etc.
Surely a lot different in June '09 compared to when I saw Wilco at the Graffiti lounge in Pittsburgh in '93 or '94 - Jay Bennett had just joined the band. My kids and I got to slap high fives with the band on their way to the dressing room after the show - that was cool.
I can't say enough about this rock group.
Jeff's words are poetry, not rock lyrics, set to interestingly melodic
tunes that spin in different directions, time changes, bridging space and
distance.
In Cincinnati, hearing 2,700 fans sing the words along with Jeff and John and Pat was amazing. Every song a sing-a-long.
The only better rock concert I've experienced in my 58 years of having ears was
seeing The Band at Syria Mosque in Pittsburgh in 1970. But that's another story.