On a night that Jeff Tweedy proclaims to be one of the best of his life, Wilco deliver a triumphant one-night stand at the Royal Albert Hall that confirms they are one of the most versatile and exhilarating bands around. The 23-song set, plucked imaginatively and democratically from across the band’s deep catalogue, ends with the crowd on their feet while Tweedy, flanked by guitarists Nels Cline and Patrick Sansone, laps up the crowd’s acclaim.
The band’s mastery of the occasion is confirmed with a thunderous “Quiet Amplifier” from Ode To Joy that comes just a couple of songs after the intimate “If I Ever Was A Child”. That contrast between two different flavours of intense has always been one of the most exciting things about Wilco, and it’s amplified in the live arena as they switch from quiet to deranged within the course of a few bars of the same song – “Handshake Drugs” and “Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull” being prime examples. On “Via Chicago” they show they can even do both at the same time as Cline, keyboard player Mikael Jorgensen and drummer Glenn Kotche thrash wildly at their instruments while the other half of the band continue strumming placidly as if they are playing two completely different tunes.
Wilco don’t just offer a noise-melody dynamic, of course. On “Falling Apart (Right Now)” they deliver exuberant country, while “Muzzle Of Bees” introduces Floydian scale. “Hummingbird” brings a touch of the lounge music that was being piped round the auditorium before the show. But the band are at their most memorable when they escape into unsettling freak-outs. Cline particularly seems to relish these moments, when the undercurrent of anxiety in Tweedy’s lyrics is allowed to rise to the surface and dominate.
On “Impossible Germany”, the guitarist delivers an extraordinary performance of dazzling, aggressive technique that continues for several minutes while the rest of the group pretty much stop playing to watch him shred in awe. Impressive as it is, this is also the only moment when the musicianship is in service to the individual rather than the whole, something emphasised when the rest of the group join in to provide some shape and bring the song home.
Like many musicians before him, Tweedy initially seems a little disconcerted by the rococo interior of the Royal Albert Hall, a venue whose gaudy grandeur can overwhelm first-timers. Wilco ease themselves into the evening with regular opening numbers “Company In My Back” and “Evicted”, building momentum through “Handshake Drugs” and “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart”. It’s around then that Tweedy admits he’s a little distracted by an empty seat in the front row, a situation that provides him with something of a running gag for the evening.
As the set continues, Tweedy gets more talkative. A euphoric “Meant To Be” is followed by the crowd-pleasing “Jesus, Etc”, when his voice seems to shed 25 years of experience, regaining some of the vulnerability of youth. That introduces an almost riotous home stretch, with Tweedy delivering perfectly timed set-ups and punchlines before every song, the best of which comes ahead of “Box Full Of Letters” when he surveys the crowd of grey-haired peers and deadpans: “This is a song off our first album. Looking around, I think you might remember it.”
The show ends with an ecstatic four-song encore, culminating in the greasy rock rave-up “I Got You (At The End Of The Century)”, although the absolute highlight of the set is the jubilant pre-encore singalong to “Spiders (Kidsmoke)”. This is one of the few Wilco songs to obey typical rock conventions with a gargantuan groove, elephantine riff and singable refrain, so Tweedy insists that the audience join in. “Participate!” he urges. “Do not postpone joy”. The Royal Albert Hall responds; joy is embraced and the smile on Jeff Tweedy’s face is bigger than the moon.
SETLIST
Company In My Back
Evicted
Handshake Drugs
Muzzle Of Bees
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
One Wing
Via Chicago
If I Ever Was A Child
Bird Without A Tail / Base Of My Skull
Hummingbird
Quiet Amplifier
Either Way
Impossible Germany
Meant To Be
Jesus, Etc
Box Full Of Letters
Annihilation
Less Than You Think
Spiders (Kidsmoke)
ENCORE
Falling Apart (Right Now)
California Stars
Walken
I Got You (At The End Of The Century)
