First Ever Full Show by Wilco at the Chicago Theatre Feels Quite Homey -- Chicago Concert Review

Concert Review

Wilco
w/ opening act The Flat Five
Chicago Theatre
February 22, 2017
(Also playing 2/23, 25, 26)
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Some--whether regular readers of my reviews who know my tendencies on a @@@@@ scale, or those who attended Wednesday's Wilco concert and found it absolutely phenomenal--might see my @@@@ rating above and perceive that while I liked the show more than not, I have some gripes about it.

This wouldn't be a crazy thought, especially when it comes to the erstwhile Chicago folk-rock combo, who I've now seen as a headline act 11 times over the past 15 years and more often than not bestow @@@@ for their proclivity to keep their setlists more mellow and esoteric than I would prefer.

And such is pretty much the case once again.

Yet while @@@@@ or @@@@1/2 denotes a concert (or musical, play, opera, etc.) I loved to the point of urging others to attend at the next opportunity, per my Reviews Key at right @@@@ = Excellent, which I think of as a show I enjoyed and am entirely glad to have attended, just not one of the very best of dozens I see. 

This seems to be where Wilco fits in for me as a live act and--though I have more robustly rated and raved about shows where they've rocked out rigorously--I wouldn't want this taken as anything but a positive review. 

And I wouldn't even dare suggest Wilco should change anything to please me more.

By a band I very much like, this was an excellent concert, just to a @@@@ level rather than beyond. 

It was, however, made all the more special by being at the Chicago Theatre, my favorite local concert venue, with a good main floor seat at that (though I stood through Wilco's set with everyone else). 

Oddly, the quintessential Chicago band--though I prefer the Smashing Pumpkins at their peak--had only once previously played the glorious, 3,600-seat former movie palace on State Street, where they would seem to fit perfectly.

And that was just a guest slot on Late Night with Conan O'Brien in May 2006, where the evening's first guest on the visiting NBC show was a junior U.S. Senator from Illinois named Barack Obama.

No, I didn't remember that, but Tweedy did and mentioned it from the stage, in between genial appreciation for being "back home" and some mild, then harsher comments about our new President.

In his longest harangue on Wednesday, the singer and guitarist, who had gotten some online flack for remarks supporting basic human decency and dignity--seen by some as anti-Trump--said:

"If you voted for Trump, and don't want me to say anything about him, just remember, you voted for a reality TV star.

I'm going to say whatever the fuck I want to. We're going to persist and we're going to resist."

Formed by Tweedy 23 years ago, from the ashes of Uncle Tupelo (with Jay Farrar), Wilco continues to sell every ticket they put on sale in Chicago.

Wednesday was their first show of 2017, and the opening of a 4-gig Wilco Winterlude at the Chicago.

Tweedy joked that the band had to relearn songs they had last played "in a simpler time."

Opening the evening were The Flat Five, whose easygoing stylings were largely ruined by two dumb-asses behind me conversing loudly throughout their 40-minute set.

Then at 8:30pm, six months and a day since I had last seen them, on a February evening nearly as temperate as that August night under the stars at Millennium Park--accompanied now by a friend named Alison who happens to share my last name and is therefore a homonym with sister, who was with me then--the six members of Wilco took the stage.

I didn't give much thought to their opening song, "Ashes of American Flags" at the time, but given Tweedy's subsequent remarks about the times in which we now find ourselves, I doubt the selection was coincidental.

As referenced above, Wilco has a tendency to slow-groove for awhile, and though everything they played sounded good, the first half of the 24-song set was dominated by newer and/or lesser known songs, including from 2016's Schmilco album.

A couple of gems from 1996's Being There and 1999's Summerteeth--"Misunderstood" and "Via Chicago," the night's only representatives from my two favorite Wilco albums--were mixed in early, with the cacophonous thunder bursts of the latter soon leading to greater sonic excitement.

Some great guitar leads from Nels Cline powered a blistering end to "Impossible Germany," and it was great to hear "Box Full of Letters" from Wilco's 1995 debut A.M., "Heavy Metal Drummer," "I'm the Man Who Loves You" and "Hummingbird," among others.

Though I've heard them plenty of times, I was hoping for "Shot in the Arm," "Monday," "Outtasite (Outta Mind)," "I'm Always in Love" or some other early rockers in the encores, but I realize these are probably being spread out over the residency.

A terrific 10-minute romp through "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" seemed to end the evening, but I was delighted to see the band come back onstage for a closing "California Stars."

And even more so was my friend Alison, who had gotten married to the song Wilco composed with Billy Bragg to previously unheard music by Woody Guthrie.

That legendary folk troubadour never shied from mixing his social and political beliefs into his music, and Wilco seems content to travel a similar road.

Perhaps particularly when it brings them back home.

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Wilco's show at the Chicago Theatre on Saturday, February 25, will be broadcast on WXRT and streamed worldwide on 93XRT.com.

Music Is My Savior: Even in Mining Sunken Treasure, Wilco Makes a Joyful Noise, Monday -- Chicago Concert Review

Concert Review

Wilco
w/ Jim Becker Group
Riviera Theatre
December 8, 2014
(also 12/5, 6, 9, 11, 12)
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Wilco now stands clearly as Chicago's biggest and best rock band (although I will always love the Smashing Pumpkins more, at least in terms of the best of their music and shows, predominantly with their original lineup or some semblance of it).

In 2014, they are celebrating their 20th anniversary, although in fairness to the Pumpkins' Billy Corgan--who is often referenced derisively as the only remaining original member of his band--it's worth noting that only singer/guitarist Jeff Tweedy and John Stirratt go all the way back to 1994 with Wilco. The rest of the now 6-piece unit joined the band in 2004.

But excepting a non-headlining Taste of Chicago gig sometime in the '90s and a 2002 show at the Riviera that I found boring, all of the Wilco shows I've seen have been with the current lineup.

This includes Wilco gigs in a variety of venues around Chicago--the Auditorium, Millennium Park, Lollapalooza, UIC Pavilion--plus a 2012 show in Davenport, Iowa.

I also had one of the greatest musical thrills of my life in March 2009 when I saw Tweedy play a bunch of Wilco songs within the living room of my friend's sister's house, accompanied by local music students.

So I've heard Wilco perform much of their canon over the years, and consider them a great band.

But I have most liked them live at the Riviera Theatre--such as in 2011 when they played a hard-charging rock set that I dubbed the "Wilco of my dreams" given the preponderance of electric guitar-driven gems from 1996's Being There and 1999's Summerteeth, still my favorite albums of theirs--and also in 2008 when they did, like now, a multi-night residency at the relatively intimate venue.

I explain all this to defray any perceived disenchantment some might imagine on my part if noting Monday night's setlist at the Riv. As with, to varying degrees, all 4 now completed shows of the 6-gig Wilco Winterlude, there were a good number of songs played that I would consider relatively obscure or drowsy, perhaps both.

Now first let me say that, especially in their hometown, Wilco has some of the most devoted fans of any band anywhere.

So some may undoubtedly sneer at me for being a pseudo-fan or poser to admit that tunes like "Company in My Back," "Cars Can't Escape," "It's Just That Simple," "Pieholden Suite," "Airline to Heaven" and others aren't songs I can readily hum.

So be it.

I have every Wilco album, but won't deny I return most to Being There, Summerteeth and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot--and perhaps not even to those in their entirety all that often.

But even if I can refer to several of Monday's songs as "obscure" without feeling a sense of compunction, I am doing so without complaining.

Yes, the hall lit up when the band--on the night's 4th song--played the relatively "poppish," better-known "War on War."

And following some crowd-pleasers at the end of the main set, including "Box Full of Letters," "Passenger Side," "Walken" and "I'm the Man Who Loves You," the harder-rocking trio of songs in the first encore--"You Never Know," "Can't Stand It" and, aptly for the night, "Monday"--sounded absolutely buoyant.

Even on songs that I didn't know, the band always sounded great, in large part due to the pair of "mad scientist" keyboardists--Mikael Jorgensen and Pat Sansone--who, along with frenetic drummer Glenn Kotche, help give Wilco a blissfully unique soundscape.

Like no other band I can think of, Wilco seems to create a sense of musical chaos that feels as if everything is spinning maniacally--yet  wonderfully--out of control, although it never really is.

This was most incandescent on the crescendo of "Misunderstood" and during the cascading swells of "Spiders (Kidsmoke)."

At moments like this on Monday, Wilco sounded about as good as live music can.

So although had I seen this set at a festival--unlikely given that the show ran nearly 2-1/2 hours--or likely even in an arena, or if this was my first Wilco concert, I may have come away disappointed with the amount of slower, more arcane material, the band did enough to convince me that it was a truly first-rate showcase in full, albeit with a smaller handful of truly tent-pole moments than I may have preferred.

But the 6-night residency at a venue they likely could fill 30+ times is clearly meant as a celebration and exploration of the band's entire 20-year career--although Tweedy verbally rebuffed any notion that they intended to play every album cut over the course of the Winterlude, and admonished anyone critical of them repeating some songs throughout the stand--and if on the night I was fortunate enough to score tickets, I didn't get to hear "I'm Always in Love," "ELT," "Heavy Metal Drummer," "A Shot in the Arm," "Hummingbird," "Outtasite (Outta Mind)" or other personal favorites, so be it.

Having enjoyed enough ear candy to go home happy after a 4-song "unplugged" second encore, I was content to hear "Sunken Treasure"--whose lyrics state, identifiably, that "music is my savior"--both as a deep cut from Being There and as a theme for the evening, the run and, in large part, Wilco's estimable career to date.