Wilco’s ten year history is typically referenced in album eras rather than performances, so it’s no surprise that it took the band a decade to release it’s first live record. Kicking Television, recorded live at the Vic Theatre in Chicago, May 4-7, 2005, captures Wilco in the new Nels Cline/Pat Sansone/Mikael Jorgensen era, complete with sonic splashes, textured keyboards and disgruntled guitars to accompany Jeff Tweedy’s songwriting. With this top notch cast of musicians behind him, it’s better late than never for Chicago’s finest to release a two disc live one.
Kicking Television kicks off with a reinvented “Misunderstood,” with Tweedy’s ticked off “nuthin” refrain proving they are more than comfortable plugging in for even their most intimate tunes. But it’s the band’s widespread use of instruments throughout each song that makes this live release a must listen. Nels Cline’s little chirping guitar notes in “Company in My Back,” his volcanic eruptions in “Handshake Drugs,” and his pedal steel in “Jesus, Etc” demonstrate enormous musical flexibility. And an energetic version of the prior un-released Replacements fashioned jittery rocker, “Kicking Television,” gives things a CBGB flair.
Following a stirring version of the murder ballad, “Via Chicago,” complete with a mid-section of horror effects, the second disc ventures through more Ghost material as well as some Yankee Hotel Foxtrot favorites, including “Radio Cure,” “Ashes of American Flags,” Heavy Metal Drummer” and “Poor Places.” The musical spectrum widens once again with the piano laced “Hummingbird,” sounding like a B-side from the Beatles White Album, and “Spiders (Kidsmoke),” which showcases Wilco’s jam tendencies, complete with techno in an eleven minute jaunt. It’s not until the band digs into the two Woody Guthrie penned tunes from the Mermaid Avenue albums, “One by One” and “Airline to Heaven,” that they bring you back to their alt-country roots.
Kicking Televison won’t go down with Live At Leeds, but it’s grand sound quality and production successfully captures what may arguably be Wilco’s greatest years.
