Wilco retrospective offers something for everyone
The first note played by Wilco Wednesday marked the beginning of the end of a five-night retrospective in which the Chicago band chose to cover every song from each album, juggled side by side into setlists that each night, over two-and-a-half hours, spanned 13 years.
Most bands wait decades or at least until the first reunion tour to look backward to see what they built to last. And up to now, Wilco has not been a band particularly susceptible to nostalgia. With leader Jeff Tweedy and bassist John Stirratt the remaining original members, the band has steamrolled through successive lineup changes and stylistic moods, so that the band at this point means very different things to groups of very different people.
To be certain, they are the most popular they have ever been -- at last week's Grammys telecast, the camera caught Tweedy and his wife sitting just a few rows behind Tim McGraw and his wife, Faith Hill. (The band lost the best rock album award to the Foo Fighters, or "the Poo Fighters," as Tweedy called them Friday.)
Even so, the promise of playing early songs long neglected from setlists of past years has meant the people who cherished the band as one of the true beacons of the country rock revival of the mid-1990's found themselves rubbing shoulders with latecomers mostly familiar with the band's reincarnation as a finicky, electro-rock ensemble. As the nights wore on since Friday's opening, both ends of the band's spectrum overlapped, revealing sore spots, strengths and unexpected middle ground.
Even after four shows into the residency, on Wednesday there still remained surprises for die-hard completists: "Just a Kid," a manic pop from the "SpongeBob SquarePants" soundtrack; "The Thanks I Get," a b-side; and "It's Just Not That Simple," the only song in the band's catalog with Stirratt taking over lead vocals.
Spanning the catalog also meant confronting songs best left unearthed. That was Tweedy's feeling having to play "I Thought I Held You" from the band's 1995 debut. "Worst song ever," he said.
No surprise his band polished it brightly. This current incarnation features players who can provide whatever Tweedy needs: the finely lined textures of "Muzzle of Bees" to the interwoven guitar blitzkrieg of "Spiders (Kidsmoke)." Although devoid of much personality (save multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone who works every rock cliche imaginable), the band makes up by dutifully creating some of the finest dynamics of any band working today. Watching the interaction of all five players is witnessing a group that knows every pocket of the song and listens intensely, making every phrase matter.
Chicago fiddler-whistler Andrew Bird sat in Wednesday and Monday, adding color plus a dual whistling solo with Tweedy on "Red-Eyed and Blue." A horn section, including Paul Mertens of Poi Dog Pondering, helped turn songs like "Hate It Here" into Stax-era soul power.
Despite repeating newer songs every night where the band got to flex power shifts and indulge in intricacies, the band sounded most engaged re-discovering older, ragged staples like "Casino Queen" and "I Got You," beefing them up with three guitars and enjoying rock songs where all the glory is in fewer chords and a chorus you can shout.