Hot damn: Wilco at the Mayo Civic Center

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Filed under: Concert Review

Wilco
Mayo Civic Center, April 30
Words and photos by Andrea Myers

There is an undeniable mystique surrounding Jeff Tweedy. Critics adore him, fans idolize him, and his musical peers regard him as a luminary. He is simultaneously poppy enough to be embraced by the mainstream and odd enough to respected by the snobs. Somehow, it seems, Jeff Tweedy can do no wrong.

So I wasn’t really that surprised that I was blown away by Wilco’s show in Rochester. I was expecting to be blown away, and Tweedy & Co. did not disappoint. There was so much to love about their live performance: the perfectly mixed instrumentation, Tweedy’s endearing interactions with the audience (“Wow, they are really getting hot and heavy!” he remarked about a couple making out in the crowd), and the band’s obvious excitement about playing the first show of their tour. With a set list that covered their entire career and not one, but two encores, Wilco kept fans on their feet for their entire show at the sold-out Mayo Civic Center.

The show was Wilco's only stop in Minnesota for their current tour, and a large portion of the audience was from the Twin Cities area. At one point, Tweedy asked the crowd how many of us were from Minneapolis and how many from Rochester, and judging from audience reaction it seemed we were split about 50-50.

Aside from being entranced by Tweedy's strange, disarming powers, I was particularly impressed by the expertise and attentiveness of his backing musicians. Having never seen Wilco before (for shame!), I wondered to myself if I would recognize Nels Cline, a renowned jazz guitarist that has received high praise for his solo work and his contributions to Wilco. Not two minutes into the show, however, Cline made himself known. His dizzying technical solos and master of the distortion pedal brought an overwhelming intensity to songs that sounded much subtler on record.

Personal highlights from the evenings included an epic version of “Via Chicago,” “Theologians,” and my favorite Wilco song, “At Least That's What You Said.” The crowd seemed especially riled up by their more pop-friendly material, including “Hummingbird” and “Heavy Metal Drummer,” and during the first encore we were treated to the old hit “Box Full of Letters.”

By the time they came out for their second encore, Wilco had been playing for two hours and I could barely focus on the individual songs anymore. There were only two thoughts swimming around my head by the time we started filing out of the theater: “Hot damn, Nels Cline is amazing,” and “When do I get to see Wilco again?”

Set List

Hell is Chrome
You Are My Face
Company in My Back
Via Chicago
Impossible Germany
Shot in the Arm
Side with the Seeds
At Least That's What You Said
How to Fight Loneliness
Pot Kettle Black
Handshake Drugs
Cars Can't Escape
Poor Places
Hummingbird
Jesus, etc.
Hate It Here
Theologians
Walken
I'm The Man Who Loves You

Encore #1
Misunderstood
California Stars
Box Full of Letters
Heavy Metal Drummer

Encore #2
Red-Eyed and Blue
I Got You (At the End of the Century)
Casino Queen

Thanks to Wilco message board Via Chicago for help with the set list.

Posted by Andrea Myers at May 2, 2008 1:54 AM

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Comments

This was a good show, came from Red Wing with 3 friends to see it and it was better than expected. Now im getting ready to see dr dog @ the 400 in Mpls.

Posted by: stolly at May 3, 2008 11:45 AM

I grew up in that godforsaken town, Rochester, the sleepy home to the Mayo Clinic and Big Blue. A towering monument to bland. The last big show I could remember was a prancing John Bonjovi(spelling wrong, but I don't care). That was in 1986. I was getting high in a car in a nearby parking lot, taking money from people that wanted to park there, trying to study for a history exam, cranking some Dead Kennedy's. Good times...good times.

Posted by: Helm Matthews at May 4, 2008 5:24 PM

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National Features >

Broward-Palm Beach New Times

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By Jeff Severns Guntzel

The Pitch

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By Justin Kendall

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Temples of Tex-Mex

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