I’ve seen Wilco enough times to not easily remember exactly how many times that is. And, I, like I imagine much of the crowd was at the sold-out Los Angeles show on Wednesday night at The Wiltern (Wilco’s second in three nights of sold-out L.A. gigs), gladly see Wilco time and time again not just for their consistency, which both live and on record is notable, but because the band still manages to surprise year after year, lengthy tour after lengthy tour. Whereas many bands get caught up in playing similar sets on a nightly basis, even using canned stage banter to get them through instrument changes, Jeff Tweedy and his five-piece posse of talented music veterans manage to wipe the slate clean with each show they put on, making rock music that may not be the most adventurous ever made (though it is often times quite innovative), but doing it in such a way that it feels like a revelation. So, yeah, I’m a fan.
The previous time I had caught a Wilco set was at last year’s Sasquatch Music Festival, where Wilco closed out the final day. Addressing the crowd on that evening, where massive rain clouds lurked behind the band and threatened a premature ending to the event at any moment, Tweedy sincerely asked if anyone caught the White Denim set earlier in the day, noting that it was great. Unsurprisingly, White Denim are subsequent Wilco openers, and damn fine at doing so, smiling wide and displaying intimidating music chops through their (brief) psychedelic rock exploration. The dichotomy of heady, technically sound musicianship with builds and pay-offs makes White Denim easy to like, and playing a series of nights with Wilco means that they might finally find their target audience.
One of the joys that comes with any new Wilco tour is the chance to see how their latest album, in this case 2011’s The Whole Love, translates in a live setting. As a long time Wilco fan, there was a mild concern as to how this material would hold up against their classic works, but, for the most part, the new tunes faired well. Set closer “Dawned On Me” received one of the biggest reactions of the night when the band began it, as it’s up-tempo and infectious, something that translates perfectly to a gathering of a couple thousand people. Early in the set, opener “One Sunday Morning” and “Art Of Almost” built the evening’s drama, with the former sounding relaxed and purposeful, allowing the audience to hang non every perfectly mixed note. The latter was a rare moment for Jeff Tweedy to put down his guitar, but “Art Of Almost” belongs to Nels Cline, who looks like he is wrestling an alligator by the song’s strobe light frenzy of a conclusion. In addition, tracks “Born Alone” and “Whole Love” never lost the crowd’s rabid attention, proving that even 15+ years into their discography, Wilco can still shell out at least a handful of keepers with each new release.
As would be expected, Wilco also displayed a fair amount of crowd-pleasers, with “Misunderstood” still able to induce chills, no matter how many times you have heard the tune (and Glenn Kotche owns the intro to that song with his pulverizing drums). Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, generally considered their best album (and possibly one of the best albums by anyone, like, ever), was well on display with five numbers included. And, as should be a requirement with Wilco’s California concerts, Mermaid Avenue‘s “California Stars” provided a moment for couples to stand together and sway. Were there many classics that were not played? Sure, but Wilco has enough great songs at this point in their career to hardly be able to truck them all out on a nightly basis. “Spiders (Kidsmoke)” seems to be temporarily shelved, to the dismay of one fan whom Tweedy called out for bringing an actual live spider to the show to demonstrate a request. “That had to be the most dangerous song request we have ever gotten,” Tweedy noted. “Good thing you didn’t want to hear ‘Muzzle Of Bees.'”
And then there were the deep cuts. From rarity “A Magazine Called Sunset” (a personal favorite) to a full-band rendition of “Laminated Cat” that sounded very similar to the way it was played on Jeff Tweedy’s Sunken Treasure solo DVD, to the show’s eventual conclusion of “Casino Queen” (so loose and crunchy, it was pretty much perfect) and “Hoodoo Voodoo” (which saw Pat Sansone prove to be a worthy shredding adversary to Nels Cline and the appearance of a shirtless and gyrating guest cow bell player that was either their guitar tech or Eugene Hutz), the long-time Wilco fans had plenty to celebrate. Still, it apparently caused one attendee to give Tweedy the finger during a song, forcing the singer to leave his microphone and ask the person if everything was okay. When Tweedy returned, he informed the audience that flipping someone off was the new way to say you liked something, and then asked the entire audience to do it at once. The crowd obliged with a sea of middle fingers. Yes, fuck you Wilco. You guys are great.
Wilco setlist:
One Sunday Morning
Poor Places
Art Of Almost
I Might
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
One Wing
Rising Red Lung
Impossible Germany
Born Alone
Laminated Cat (Loose Fur cover)
Pot Kettle Black
She’s A Jar
Misunderstood
California Stars
Box Full Of Letters
Standing O
A Magazine Called Sunset
Nothing’severgonnastandinmyway(again)
Dawned On Me
Whole Love
Heavy Metal Drummer
I’m the Man Who Loves You
Casino Queen
Hoodoo Voodoo
