Bold Gestures

A hot and packed Riviera contrasted the cold Chicago winter night. A performance dedicated to the band’s 20th anniversary, and a night which unfolded as a seemingly three part showcase of the many sides of Wilco. First up, in general, was their more jammy, dynamic, noisy side. The tone was  immediately set with free-form off-key noise and gentle opener “Less Than You Think”. “Ashes of American Flags” varied from the delicate, introspective lyrics of “I can spend 6 dollars and 53 cents on diet Coca-Cola and unlit cigarettes” to an absolute chaotic soundscape. There is personal meaning for lines like “All my lies are always wishes, I know I would die if I could come back new” and grand scale significance for “I would like to salute the Ashes of American Flags”. Gorgeous tension-building playing ensued with front man Jeff Tweedy and lead guitarist Nels Cline trading off licks.  The hypnotic churn of “Bull Black Nova” was a song I had recently been listening to so was nice to hear.  Another noisy song that seemed more fleshed out than usual. One of the things I love about Wilco is the ability to concurrently play fragile folk while pushing boundaries sonically. The familiar opening riff of “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” got the mesmerized crowd moving. Again, the unique ability to comfort while creating disturbance. This segued into the beautiful “One Wing”, a song that inspires the desire to stay together.

“Blue Eyed Soul” was a complete reach back that reminded me of my first listen to this band.  The first notes of “Poor Places” took me to the all-consuming days of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, arguably one of my favorite albums of all time and obviously featured on this night. The avant-garde song destruction segued to “Art of Almost”, a beat-heavy song that must be seen to fully appreciate. After the chill and atmospheric “Radio Cure” which features “Distance has a way, of making love understandable”, Tweedy mentions he is playing one of the first shows he can remember without his wife Susie in attendance. She is recovering from cancer treatment, a well-known and sad piece of news among fans. Tweedy was quiet on this evening compared to his usual chatty self, and he seemed to open up after acknowledging his missing partner, even saying “Sorry I haven’t talked as much tonight, those first songs required a little more concentration.”

The Woody Guthrie penned “Hesitating Beauty” was a lovely highlight of the folk-blues mastery of this band, and the next section of the show would see them perform several of their more loose folk-rock numbers including “Box Full of Letters”, “The Late Greats”, and “Jesus, Etc.” At some point, Tweedy says the audience the night before was just “adequate” in joking fashion and then pokes fun at this audience and then himself, saying “Glenn, maybe just start a song without waiting for me”…..which Glenn Kotche, an incredible drummer and musician, does just that in mid-sentence…..to laughs from everyone. I was extremely happy to hear “Born Alone” from newest album The Whole Love with its descending riffs and it rocked, along with the surprising “Candyfloss” and the seamless segue into the seminal “A Shot In the Arm”.

An encore saw Wilco play the rare B-Side “Dark Neon”, which I had never heard before, the always awesome pop-folk song “Red Eyed and Blue”, and the bouncy rocker “I Got You (At the End of the Century)”. Overall, this show had a different vibe and pace than usual being it was an anniversary tour and contained a wider selection of songs spanning their lifework.  That would be true with an extremely memorable final encore. They came back with acoustics and banjos and played unplugged at the very front edge of the stage.  Kotche working brushes against a snare and Nels on lap slide guitar was especially magnificent. The entire audience fell silent for this glorious 4 song set starting with “True Love Will Find You In The End” and ending with “I’m The Man Who Loves You”, normally an electric guitar workout. All the riffs were still intact, and it was an excellent acoustic-stomp end to the show.  “True Love” is one of those timeless songs covered by many, but perfectly fits the Wilco dramatic vision.  I’ve needed that vision a few times in my life, and feel that we all can use songs and performances like these.

Setlist:

Less Than You Think
Ashes of American Flags
Bull Black Nova
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
One Wing
Panthers
Blue Eyed Soul
I’ll Fight
Poor Places
Art of Almost
I Might
Radio Cure
At My Window Sad and Lonely
Secrets of the Sea
What Light
Hesitating Beauty
Box Full of Letters
The Late Greats
The Good Part
Jesus, Etc.
Born Alone
Candyfloss
A Shot in the Arm

Encore 1:
Dark Neon
Red-Eyed and Blue
I Got You (At the End of the Century)

Encore 2:
True Love Will Find You In the End [Daniel Johnston cover]
Give Back The Key To My Heart [Doug Sahm cover]
Be Not So Fearful [Bill Fay cover]
I’m the Man Who Loves You