Last night’s Wilco show at Metro felt more like a family reunion than a rock and roll show. Flanked by family and friends Wilco made their debut at the legendary club a show to remember. The band dove deep and found gold in the set opening sequence of  Sunken Treasure > Wishful Thinking > Art of Almost.
One of the highlights of the night came in the form of Ashes of American Flags. The Yankee Hotel Foxtrot cut featured a soaring guitar solo from Nels Cline that ended with one of his signature guitar freakouts. After the song ended Tweedy glanced over at Cline, shook his head and smiled. Yeah, it was that good!
I can’t say that I’ve ever seen a sign at a Wilco show, but tonight, a fan brought a “Either Way” sign and the band obliged by playing the song. Before Capitol City, Tweedy noted “This is probably the most hated song on our new record, but that’s why we are going to play it.” You could tell that Tweedy enjoyed the intimate setting of the venue. Throughout the night, Tweedy chatted it up with people towards the front of the stage and surveyed the crowd.
The back end of the set was loaded with pedal to the metal rock and roll. ELT, Standing O, and a head banging version of Kingpin, set the table for a raging A Shot in the Arm to close the main set. Before Whole Love, the audience, led by Jeff Tweedy sang happy birthday to his son, Spencer who turned 16 on Friday. Tweedy went on to tell a quick story on how Spencer played drums for Wilco when he was 13 at Madison Square Garden.
Tweedy announced that the band had all pitched in an bought the opening chord from A Hard Days Night for Spencer. I’m not sure if this was an inside joke, but it did make for a good laugh. After a few attempts, they got it right and the chord rang into Heavy Metal Drummer. Wilco summoned the blues with their show closing Dreamer in My Dreams. The feel good closer was led by Mikael Jorgensen and Pat Sansone pulling of their best Jerry Lee Lewis impersonations with some fancy keyboard work.
Wilco will conclude their “Incredible Shrinking Tour” of Chicago on Sunday at Lincoln Hall.
Wilco
Friday, December 16, 2011
Metro
Chicago, ILSet: Sunken Treasure > Wishful Thinking > Art of Almost, I Might, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart > One Wing, Company in My Back, Ashes of American Flags, Shouldn’t Be Ashamed, Either Way, Born Alone, Capitol City, War on War, How to Fight Loneliness, Too Far Apart, Red-Eyed and Blue > I Got You (At the End of the Century), Dawned on Me, I’m Always in Love, Hummingbird
Encore 1: Whole Love$, Heavy Metal Drummer, Box Full of Letters, ELT, Standing O, Kingpin, A Shot in the Arm.
Encore 2: Dreamer in My Dreams
Notes: $ – Before Whole Love, the crowd, led by Jeff Tweedy sang happy birthday to his son, Spencer.
One Response
The “Hard Day’s Night” thing had to have been in reference to an internet sensation this week in which Randy Bachman reveals to a crowd that he heard the original tracking from Giles Martin and for the first time accurately figured out the actual chords. Check it out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvxPc5MPEuQ