Wilco, Ann Arbor — 10/16

Good times, old territory. I'm wearing a pair of 501s that are on their way to being retired, but I still love the jeans. They're comfortable. That's the way Ann Arbor feels to me — comfortable, known territory.

Seeing Wilco here last night was like bringing some new life into that old territory. Though I've seen them repeatedly over the years — first as Uncle Tupelo in 1992, and then three times since Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was released they consistently impress and amaze me in the shows. It seems that with each iteration they get tighter and more interesting as a band. What this allows them is a deep ground for turning out great renditions of recent songs and surprisingly energetic takes on tracks from their first album — and even sometimes from Tupelo days.

Last night, they mixed a healthy dose of Ghost with most of YHF. There was plenty of new stuff, of course, but the surprise came in what they played and what they didn't play from years past. I've never heard them pull "Box Full of Letters" out live or even do a complete wild card — "Just a Kid." Last night they pulled that out with a couple of spirited songs with Liam Finn joining in — "You Never Know" and "California Stars." There were some old favorites missing from Summerteeth and Being There, and I'm sure someone was crying over the omission of "Heavy Metal Drummer." The thing is, it was a 28-song set. In two-and-a-half hours.

Nels tore it up on the lead, and Pat Sansone was pulling all sorts of rockstar shimmies. Glenn was drenched by the end. Tweedy and Stirratt were as energetic as I've seen them. Still, the one odd note was the abrupt ending — particularly with a roadie waiting in the wings with a new guitar for Tweedy. The band seemed a little taken by surprise too. But anyone listening closely could hear how much Tweedy's voice was straining at the end. He seemed to be working at speaking in between songs. The best I can guess is that he finally gave out. But again... who can complain? They packed a hell of a set in those two and a half hours.

And like the city which is both comfortable and has a new surprise or two each year — some good, some not so good — the band I've followed so closely over the past few years was both a comfort and a great surprise.

I am Helvetica.

Wilco and Volkswagen. I am a cliche, which is probably why I love these ads.











And this one that is reminiscent of the famous chair ad in the late nineties:

kids at concerts

Wilco, Charlottesville Pavilion, tonight.

I took a gamble on this one. Wilco fans are a pretty reserved group, and the Pavilion is an outdoor venue. It seemed like a reasonable chance that Banana would have a good time. But at $40 for her ticket, nothing was guaranteed. Still, it was their last show in the States this year, and it would be a bit of cleansing since the last show I saw was with the ex before the meltdown.

Blah, blah, blah...

Long story short: we ran into a few other kids; they all ran around and had a great time; Banana curled up in her Hello Kitty fleece blanket and passed out just before the encores.

So the show...

They played two hours and 40 minutes, with three encores. The set list (which I will link to when it goes up on WilcoBase) was heavy on the last three albums, but they branched out to a couple tracks from Summerteeth, several from Being There, and one each from Mermaid Avenue, and A.M.. Throughout the set, they kept up a little schtick around "Heavy Metal Drummer" -- they'd play the opening beats or Kotche would come out in a blast of white light. But they saved the song for the end of the first three-song encore. The second encore ran five songs, covering what amounted to the history of the band. The final encore was "Spiders (Kidsmoke)," and it was phenomenal.

The band was as tight as I've ever heard them. Nels Cline was pulling riffs apart and reconstructing them, and during "Hoodoo Voodoo" he traded dueling riffs with Pat. Then during "Kidsmoke," Pat and Mikael traded keyboard riffs. And the chemistry was there the whole show. Stirrat and Tweedy were playful. Tweedy brought an 8-year old girl on the stage for Kotche was fierce. I can think of no other word to describe how much energy he puts into his playing, and his ability to mix and layer multiple sets of complex rhythms is constantly amazing.

Overall, what constantly impresses me about Wilco is their ability as a group to rethink and retool their songs. It doesn't matter that some of the production work on the albums is unavailable on stage. Instead, they'd rather take the core of the song and explore from there. The performances rarely feel repetitive, but at the same time, they don't abstract the songs so much that you never know what to expect.

The venue deserves kudos, too. The central location off the Downtown Mall makes it feel far more linked in to the city than most such places. Furthermore, the sound was excellent, inside and outside. This was our first trip there for a show, but it's definitely on the radar now. Next time, we'll have to get there early enough to roam.

music fun

I love the shots of Glenn Kotche on the drums in this one.

A quieter, tamer Wilco--not quite

Like a good Wilco-obsessed geek, I ran out to pick up my copy of Sky Blue Sky today. It was, of course, not the first time I'd heard the album. In fact, a copy hacked from the streamed album has been on my iPod for a couple of months now. That's the important disclaimer.

I really haven't spent much time with the album over those couple of months. First off, my iPod listening rarely tends to be album-based. More than that, however, was the fact that the album really hadn't grabbed me yet.

My early reactions were that it was good, more song-driven, quieter in some ways, and far less filled with ambient experiments. Unfortunately, there also wasn't anything that really grabbed me. Take any of their previous albums, and there is always one song that just turns the album from good to necessary. On Summerteeth, it was "Via Chicago" or "Shot in the Arm." On YHF, it was the opening track and every one after that. The other albums all have their standouts, too.

What I hadn't realized until today--and the third time around on the disc--is how cohesive the new album is. The songs are tight and clean. Tweedy's phrasing is as good as ever. More than that, the remarkable talent on all ends of the band seems to have coalesced into a real, solid entity. Cline's guitar balances Kotche's percussion. Tweedy and Stirrat seem to be having fun. Jorgensen and Sansone are messing around with keyboard and random instrumental lines in ways that work to build the songs rather than tearing down all the walls.

I'll leave the in-depth dissection of the tracks themselves to real critics.

I remember, as I listen to this album, seeing the band a little over a year ago. They looked like they were having fun on stage. That's a necessity, of course, but it was even clearer when they tested one of the tracks from this album--"Walken." The song brought out into an honest-to-god blues-rock jam. It wasn't precious. It wasn't clean. It was rock-and-roll, and that may be why the new album feels like a great album from a great band.