Wilco
Date: July 15, 2006 The Way I Wanted When I Started Even though Day 9 of Bluesfest 2006 is one that I will remember forever, Wilco's concert is something of a blur to me, making it hard to note the details of their set. I can testify that Wilco put on a great performance and I can boast that I got to take in the show from a unique vantage point, the "Best Seats in the House," which were set up on a platform built above the stage. The reason for the blur, though, is that after being led to those seats and just before the band started playing, I proposed to my girlfriend (and she said yes). Given the circumstances, I have to say that I can barely comment on the concert that Rosanne Cash gave before Wilco. To be sure, her voice sounded great, as did her backing band. She concentrated on her own songs but included a few nods to her late father, including a fine take of "Big River" late in the set. For much of her time, though, I was distracted by a charity bidding war for those seats and was treating Cash's music as a calm way to pass the time. I'll omit the details of the proposal, which I've written about elsewhere; but I do have to repeat my appreciation for the extreme friendliness of the Bluesfest staffers who took us backstage and to the seats. As for the concert itself, once the band came out and opened with "Airline to Heaven," it was obvious that this would be a very interesting perspective from which to see the show, looking down at the band from one side of the stage. Perhaps the greatest advantage of that viewpoint was that it provided an unobstructed angle to see drummer Glenn Kotche, who worked behind a large kit augmented by a few electronic drums and additional percussion. His work was particularly notable on "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart." This was the first of six songs from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot to make the cut; and it was really the first moment in the concert that I was spellbound by the music and the experience on stage. Of course, the rest of the band was just as interesting to watch throughout the night. Sometimes someone would step forward to shine, as guitarist Nel Cline did on several blazing leads. For the most part, though, Wilco felt like a cohesive unit, tearing through song after song with ease. The band concentrated on newer material, serving five songs from their last studio album, A Ghost is Born, as well as a few that have yet to be recorded. In a set that covered a wide variety of sounds, from smooth country-based songs that meshed well with Rosanne Cash's earlier performance to wailing blasts of noise, Wilco was always in command of the stage. Unsurprisingly, frontman Jeff Tweedy was a focal point, despite the leg brace that lessened his mobility. The array of guitars that he brought on stage was a spectacle in itself, even before hearing him put the instruments to use. He was also affable in his crowd interactions, although he did critique the layout of the Bluesfest grounds. For this concert, a large section in front of the stage was reserved for seated concert-goers, leaving a lot of fans funneled into a tight area that, as Tweedy noted, curled out "like a hockey stick." Tweedy mocked the seated section on several occasions, at one point noting that he didn't know that Wilco "had so many fans in wheelchairs." Towards the end of the set, he all but demanded that those in the seated section stand up, introducing the next song as one whose first note had the power to heal. That first note revealed the song to be "I'm the Man Who Loves You," which was the undisputed highlight of the concert for me. As great as the band had been, this was the song that I had been waiting for all night; and, although much of the concert is a blur to me, the band's perfect, impassioned rendition of that song is crystal clear in my mind. While Rosanne Cash had ended late, pushing back Wilco's start time, they remained determined to give a full performance, capping a four-song encore with "Kingpin," from their 1996 album, Being There. Facing the Bluesfest curfew, Wilco replaced their planned second encore with a return to Being There in the form of "Monday," making the end of the night a nod to their older songs. Although I may be biased, I can't help but say that Wilco's performance at Bluesfest was one of the best of the festival, as well as the most personally memorable concert of my life. Wilco setlist Main Set
<--Prev (Metric/Fiery Furnaces) | Next (The New Pornographers)-->Return to Concert ListReturn to Main Page |