Wilco’s return to Chicago in over a year found the band taking over the UIC Pavilion for two nights in what would be the sextet’s largest indoor performances ever staged in the city over its 15 year career. The final two shows of Wilco’s North American leg of touring behind Wilco (The Album) teetered between true brilliance and formulaic clichés.
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Wilco
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 Entertainment
Art
UIC Pavilion
Chicago, IL
October 18-19, 2009
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The journey from Lounge Ax to being handed over the keys to arena rock status has been built more on a steadfast attitude that belief in the band and the songs would define success. The bonus to that would be the new fan made with each album and each show. During his introduction to the sold-out crowd on Sunday night, Marty Lennartz, WXRT’s veteran DJ, stated how the band deserved to play a venue the size of the UIC Pavilion. Lennartz recognized, as perhaps many long time fans, that there was a bit of history about to take place under a roof that has felt the reverberations of Neil Young, R.E.M. and Metallica. The show was just a month in advance of the 15th anniversary of Wilco’s first ever show at Cicero’s in St. Louis. The current lineup has already experienced its share of concert moments from headlining a New Year’s Eve show at Madison Square Garden in 2004 to being chosen to close out an evening of Lollapalooza in 2008.
“We’re still Wilco from the block,” said singer Jeff Tweedy, as Wilco strolled along its set during its first night at UIC. Always relying on his self-deprecating manner to lighten a moment, Tweedy joked and mocked about the arena setting, as if to remind the crowd that the band still remembered its club roots. When one thinks about how Wilco started out this decade with the removal of Ken Coomer and Jay Bennett, Leroy Bach’s departure, the divorce with Reprise Records and Tweedy’s health issues, it’s certainly a laundry list of events that another band could almost never have weathered. In the past 5 years, the rewards of Grammys and Top-10 albums have brought Wilco a level of professional acknowledgment that, by all means, is well-deserved. The return and exit of Jay Bennett this past summer opened old wounds, once again, in Wilco’s life. One moment, Bennett had announced a law suit against Tweedy for unpaid royalties, and, in the next, he was gone.
Bennett’s death on May 24th was played down as much as possible by members of Wilco, especially by Tweedy and bassist John Stirratt—the only two original members that worked the longest with Bennett. The former multi-instrumentalist made his mark with swagger (Being There) and vision (Summerteeth, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot). Sadly, it will be his final acts against Tweedy and the 2002 documentary I Am Trying To Break Your Heart that newcomers to Wilco will judge him. Bennett, a graduate of the University of Illinois (’86), would have probably appreciated the irony that Tweedy, who had once explained to him that a circle needs a center, was now the star on the university campus, once called the Circle Campus. No mention of Bennett was ever made during Wilco’s two night stand at UIC.
On Shake It Off, the special DVD documentary paired with the 2007 album, Sky Blue Sky, Tweedy remarked, “Right now is a pretty good time to just sit down and sing people some motherfucking songs. That’s all I really want right now; I just want someone to sing me a song.” In some ways, it was a response against going down the road of multi-layered, shadowy, mysterious songs that the band has explored in the past. That sense of simply singing songs and being direct has carried over to Wilco (The Album). But being comfortable with playing it simple and to the point can also blind a band from the fact that they are going through the motions. This was the case with Sunday night.
As if recreating moments from the band’s first concert DVD, Ashes of American Flags, Tweedy and company recycled moves (Pat Sansone being most guilty) and banter that had run its course but seemed to be of no concern to the crowd. Today’s Wilco is a band of precision but has the ability to still surprise. If anything, it was the surprise that was missing for much of the night. A stand out song that really bridged the experimental hunger of Wilco and the high skill-level of musicianship (best encapsulated by “Impossible Germany”) from the latest album was “Bull Black Nova.” Much like “Spiders (Kidsmoke),” the band builds upon sonic phrases that pulsate at a steady rate before exploding. The guitar trio of Tweedy, Sansone and Nels Cline set a Norman Bates type of mood where everything felt slightly unbalanced until it would all just crash down with Tweedy pleading into the microphone, “Pick up!”
Since having great success with the five night residency at the Riviera Theatre back in February ’08, Wilco’s set has served as a catalog jukebox, allowing every album to be represented during the course of a show. That practice seems to have continued, which, by all accounts, has given members like Cline, Sansone, Mikael Jorgensen and Glenn Kotche to really immerse themselves in the band’s musical history, adding their own fingerprints to the songs.
The second and final night could have been the typical last show of a tour where the band dishes out the usual goods fast enough to start the aftershow right away. It was on Monday night when Wilco redeemed itself with a performance that didn’t feel orchestrated. The band that commanded the stage that night was a band determined to deliver the knockout punch. From the opening number “Via Chicago” to the final feedback buzz of “Outtasite (Outta Mind),” Wilco performed not as some newly ordained arena act but as a band with a deep resonating confidence in the music leading them to new heights. And while it can be debated that Tweedy’s songs have kept the band in a comfort zone over the past two albums, what can’t be denied is how powerful Wilco can be on stage. With a cow bell on hand and a large gong behind the drummer, there’s definitely no sign of Wilco losing its sense of humor.
The combined attendance from both nights racked up to 14,500, exceeding what the band would attract over 2-3 sold-out nights at the Auditorium Theatre. But just as the Auditorium Theatre marked a new chapter in Wilco’s stage life, moving from all those many nights at the Vic or Riviera Theatre, UIC Pavilion was a sign of transition. Wilco has really become a band that could play any stage in the country and the world. “Glad to call you home,” said Tweedy in a final remark to the crowd as the band members took their bows. It had finally felt like Wilco had really come home.
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