Jeff Tweedy is comfortable. He wears a hat his wife despises. He smiles. He has people handing him guitars. He works with something like eight studio albums, not counting his band’s countless B-sides and previous works. His band’s most recent LP, The Whole Love, is popping up on dozens of critics’ year-end lists. He gets people to clap. He can sell out five nights in his hometown of Chicago. He is comfortable.

“Hello, welcome back to us,” Tweedy responded calmly to a sweltering Riviera crowd. Sweaty yet amicable, the thousands of fans wanted one thing, they wanted Wilco. On the second night of their Russian nesting doll-like itinerary – each gig gets smaller and more intimate, if you didn’t get the reference – Tweedy & Co. sliced up a career-spanning set list that catered specifically to the truest of fans. In other words, if you came looking to hear Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, you walked out having heard 18% of the album – ahem, two songs (no, they weren’t set mainstays “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” or even “I’m The Man Who Loves You”).

Photo by Heather Kaplan

But, that’s great because it all felt new. Say goodbye to “Impossible Germany” for awhile. Enter “Art of Almost”. Nels Cline has a new toy to play with, and this one’s compatible up to five players. Hell, The Whole Love‘s stellar opener is almost worth the ticket alone. It’s aggressive, it’s mesmerizing. Tweedy shuffles in and out, Glenn Kotche vandalizes his kit, Cline goes fucking catatonic, Mikael Jorgensen jogs along, and John Stirratt and Pat Sansone chisel out its erratic backbone. Everyone who hears the song on the LP thinks, Well, this is something, they haven’t been this bold in years. Everyone who sees it live will think, Okay, they’re still one of the most formidable acts on the circuit. Talk about a reinvention.

Partly. It’s still the same ol’ affable Wilco. That’ll never change, no matter how big they get. That’s why they’re so alluring. They do shit like this: play five nights, treat their hometown like an actual hometown, and keep things fresh. How fresh? How about dragging out rarities like Summerteeth classic “I’m Always In Love”, A Ghost Is Born‘s “Less Than You Think”, or, and here’s one for the cards, their SpongBob SquarePants track, “Just a Kid”? Surprise, surprise.

Photo by Heather Kaplan

“Are you here,” Tweedy asked during “Spiders (Kidsmoke)”. “Then start clapping. That means you Susie [Tweedy]. Start clapping.” Powerful moment: Thousands of fans stuffed the ancient theater wall-to-wall, few left (despite this being their second encore), and hands cluttered the air in rhythmic alignment. Tweedy continued, “This may be your last time to clap to ‘Spiders’ at the Riv – for at least awhile. Is that on your bucket lists? I hate bucket lists. They’re stupid.” He laughed some, clenching his guitar, readying himself for the ensuing ride. “Good. Just keep it up for like five or six minutes.” They would have, but the band galloped on to another song: “I’m A Wheel”. They didn’t need to play it. They could have just ended with the clapping, but that’d be too comfortable. That’s why they’re Wilco.

Photography by Heather Kaplan.

Setlist:
Less Than You Think
Art of Almost
I Might
Black Moon
Bull Black Nova
Side With the Seeds
Red-Eyed and Blue
I Got You (At the End of the Century)
Born Alone
You Are My Face
Open Mind
Kamera
I’m Always In Love
Capital City
Handshake Drugs
Can’t Stand It
Dawned On Me
Hummingbird
Encore:
Via Chicago
Whole Love
The Late Greats
Walken
Just a Kid
Monday
Outtasite (Outta Mind)
Encore 2:
Reservations
Spiders (Kidsmoke)
I’m A Wheel
——

Gallery by Heather Kaplan

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