Wilco - Troxy, East London
A great show by Wilco at a very cool old theater in East London. The place was fantastic, very well preserved art-deco building with a nice high stage, room for around 1000 folks standing at the front, and great seats high above the standing folks at the back.
Despite a long history of line-up changes - the current line-up of Wilco is actually the longest serving and most consistent in their career, having played together since 2004 when guitarist Nels Cline (who was on fire tonight) and multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone joined the group.
I bring this up because I think it really shows that you now have six musicians who have played together for seven years, producing what I can only describe as a group mentality that allows them to move fluidly through any twists and turns that each song takes.
Surprisingly the show tonight wasn't particularly heavily drawn from the just released new Wilco album 'Wilco (The Album)' - although tonight was a fairly impromptu show slotted in amongst European festival appearances - so maybe they're saving the new album-centric set for their proper UK tour in November.
That said, the show did open with the ridiculously catchy "Wilco (The Song)" (surely the best use of a band's own name in their lyrics since Wang Chung). We also had the great first single "You Never Know" later in the main set.
Otherwise it was something of a good cross-section through the bands more recent back catalog - with most songs coming from the 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot', 'A Ghost Is Born', 'Sky Blue Sky' or the just released new album.
Surprisingly we actually got to hear three tracks from 1999's 'Summerteeth' with great versions of "Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway(again)", "A Shot In The Arm" and "Can't Stand It".
Older material also included a straight-up country reading of 'Being There's "Forget The Flowers" and a lovable but ramshackle "Hoodoo Voodoo" from 'Mermaid Avenue' to close the show.
Highlights from me were a mesmerizing "Handshake Drugs", the somber "Jesus, etc" and the rocking main-set closing trio of "Hate It Here" into "Walken" and "I'm The Man Who Love You".
A clear stand-out in the band was guitarist Nels Cline - who played like a madman, and with an almost Sonic Youth-esque vigor, slashing at his instruments, and I lost count of how many different guitars he played (although the best one had to be the twin-necked beauty with a fur strap that even had Jeff Tweedy joking "you play a solo like that, you get a guitar like that").
The show was a lot of fun, not the least as it was singer Jeff Tweedy's 42nd birthday which led to a crowd rendition of Happy Birthday, some cake and confetti on stage, and a great moment during a drawn-out "Spiders" in the encore where, unhappy with the crowd participation for clapping along, Tweedy demanded the audience behave as if they were Queen and we were Wembley, pleading "it's my birthday, and this is all I ask". We were even rewarded with a mid-song rendition of Queen's "We Are The Champions" before the group dropped straight back into Spiders.
Full Setlist:
1 Wilco (the song)
2 I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
3 Company In My Back
4 Bull Black Nova
5 You Are My Face
6 One Wing
7 A Shot in the Arm
8 Radio Cure
9 Handshake Drugs
10 Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway(again)
11 Deeper Down
12 Impossible Germany
13 You Never Know
14 Jesus, etc.
15 Can't Stand It
16 Hate It Here
17 Walken
18 I'm The Man Who Loves You
-------------------------
19 At Least That's What You Said
20 Forget The Flowers
21 Heavy Metal Drummer
22 Spiders (Kidsmoke)
23 I'm A Wheel
24 Hoodoo Voodoo
Despite a long history of line-up changes - the current line-up of Wilco is actually the longest serving and most consistent in their career, having played together since 2004 when guitarist Nels Cline (who was on fire tonight) and multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone joined the group.
I bring this up because I think it really shows that you now have six musicians who have played together for seven years, producing what I can only describe as a group mentality that allows them to move fluidly through any twists and turns that each song takes.
Surprisingly the show tonight wasn't particularly heavily drawn from the just released new Wilco album 'Wilco (The Album)' - although tonight was a fairly impromptu show slotted in amongst European festival appearances - so maybe they're saving the new album-centric set for their proper UK tour in November.
That said, the show did open with the ridiculously catchy "Wilco (The Song)" (surely the best use of a band's own name in their lyrics since Wang Chung). We also had the great first single "You Never Know" later in the main set.
Otherwise it was something of a good cross-section through the bands more recent back catalog - with most songs coming from the 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot', 'A Ghost Is Born', 'Sky Blue Sky' or the just released new album.
Surprisingly we actually got to hear three tracks from 1999's 'Summerteeth' with great versions of "Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway(again)", "A Shot In The Arm" and "Can't Stand It".
Older material also included a straight-up country reading of 'Being There's "Forget The Flowers" and a lovable but ramshackle "Hoodoo Voodoo" from 'Mermaid Avenue' to close the show.
Highlights from me were a mesmerizing "Handshake Drugs", the somber "Jesus, etc" and the rocking main-set closing trio of "Hate It Here" into "Walken" and "I'm The Man Who Love You".A clear stand-out in the band was guitarist Nels Cline - who played like a madman, and with an almost Sonic Youth-esque vigor, slashing at his instruments, and I lost count of how many different guitars he played (although the best one had to be the twin-necked beauty with a fur strap that even had Jeff Tweedy joking "you play a solo like that, you get a guitar like that").
The show was a lot of fun, not the least as it was singer Jeff Tweedy's 42nd birthday which led to a crowd rendition of Happy Birthday, some cake and confetti on stage, and a great moment during a drawn-out "Spiders" in the encore where, unhappy with the crowd participation for clapping along, Tweedy demanded the audience behave as if they were Queen and we were Wembley, pleading "it's my birthday, and this is all I ask". We were even rewarded with a mid-song rendition of Queen's "We Are The Champions" before the group dropped straight back into Spiders.
Full Setlist:
1 Wilco (the song)
2 I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
3 Company In My Back
4 Bull Black Nova
5 You Are My Face
6 One Wing
7 A Shot in the Arm
8 Radio Cure
9 Handshake Drugs
10 Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway(again)
11 Deeper Down
12 Impossible Germany
13 You Never Know
14 Jesus, etc.
15 Can't Stand It
16 Hate It Here
17 Walken
18 I'm The Man Who Loves You
-------------------------
19 At Least That's What You Said
20 Forget The Flowers
21 Heavy Metal Drummer
22 Spiders (Kidsmoke)
23 I'm A Wheel
24 Hoodoo Voodoo
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