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indie-snob>+!#
wilco @ auditorium theatre (9-20-03)
with (smog) |
 Line-up: (Smog), Wilco One may think that living in Chicago entails the benefits of hundreds of Wilco concerts. Concert upon concert upon concert… and that may be true. However, the underage crowd is not so blessed. Wilco's track record has been less than stellar in creating all ages shows in their city. In fact, I've been waiting 5 years. And so, the day finally came when Wilco announced these shows at the historic Auditorium Theatre in Chicago's loop. Sure, sit down concerts usually are more boring or harder to see from than in, say, the Riviera (where they played last time to 18 and over crowds), but I was ready, my Row Y tickets in hand. At the same time I my brother got me into Liz Phair by giving me whitechocolatespaceegg, he also gave me Wilco's Summerteeth. And hey, there's nothing better than an 11-year-old who likes alt-country. Almost as excited as I was to see Wilco was I excited to see the opening band (smog). I missed their stop here in Chicago in August, so I was glad to hear that they were added on to the bill. (Smog), basically the genius of songwriter Bill Callahan, is a blues/folk/rock/melodic outfit. While I can't tell you specific stuff that they played, it sounded mostly recent, of the harder more rocking stuff. (I use that in a very loose sense.) It's hard to me to say exactly how things went. I felt like the set was a little impersonal in such a large venue (okay, very impersonal), and that it greatly detracted from the intimacy (smog) would usually bring. Oh well. I enjoyed the set, and many others did, too. Wilco, oh Wilco, what can one say about Wilco? Since this was the band's last show on their tour, not only that, but their last HOMETOWN show, the night seemed extra special. The band sounded very good live, clear and crisp, just as I had always imagined them. Jeff Tweedy changed guitars after each song, which began to be a little ridiculous. After all, most bands arrange their set to minimize stuff like that. I was not surprised by the enthusiasm of the audience, though. Most members sang along to the songs off all the albums, since the band did a very good job of mixing material as early as AM with all those modern art-rock classics from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The set did lack, however, most of the material from Summerteeth, which was really disappointing to me. The highlights included "Jesus, Etc." (my new favorite Wilco song), "She's a Jar," and a number of other songs of YHF, especially "Reservations" and "Ashes of American Flags". I have a hard time distinguishing between many of the older Wilco songs, but "Box Full of Letters" and "Casino Queen". All in all, they played over 25 songs with a 3-hour set. Yes, it was extensive. Maybe I started getting slightly bored toward the end, but they were a good sounding live band. I was hoping for more of a "show," though, but their video supplements provided ample entertainment. Grade: B+ Related Reviews:
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