Review: Wilco – Milwaukee, WI 12-9-11 Riverside Theater

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Wilco: Milwaukee (12-9-11) Photo by CJ Foeckler

Wilco blew the doors off of Milwaukee’s Riverside Theater last Friday night and they did in a way that absolutely shocked me. (I guess I wasn’t absolutely shocked. but it sounds better if I put “absolutely” and “shocked” together) Take a look at the amount of songs played from each Wilco album and something should jump out at you.

A.M. – 1

Being There – 6 

Summerteeth – 2

Mermaid Avenue – 1 

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot – 5

A Ghost is Born – 0

Sky Blue Sky – 1

Wilco (The Album) – 1

The Whole Love – 8

Now it shouldn’t shock you that they played 8 songs from their great new album, The Whole Love. That was something that was expected and also a great reason to go and see them play.

I’ve started to go through a rather tiring song and dance when it comes to whether or not I’m going to see Wilco when they show up in Wisconsin or not. I’ve started to have the same – “do I really want to spend the $__.00 on another Wilco show conversation with myself. And I suppose I need to stop having it because it always ends up with the same outcome.

As long as Wilco continues to put out albums of new material, I’ll continue to go and have one of the best musical nights of the year. Hearing new songs played at the same level of mastery and skill as the old ones that I love so much, always gets me in the door.

Opening the show with the song that I listened to the most this year, “One Sunday Morning” and one song later playing a one two punch of “Art of Almost” and “I Might” was one the early highlights of a show that was chock full of highlights.

And you shouldn’t be surprised that they played a good amount of songs off of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. It’s one of Wilco’s finest moments and one of if not the album that they’re most known for. I don’t think I’ve seen them once post YHF where they didn’t play “Kamera,” “War on War” “I am Trying to Break Your Heart” and “Heavy Metal Drummer.” It seems that they’ve got a pretty good lock on what the fans want to hear and they do a great job at giving it to them. The seldom heard, for me anyway, “Poor Places” which just so happens to one of my all-time favorites, was a nice treat in their sets’ two slot.

And you might be a little surprised but not absolutely shocked that they played 6 numbers from what I consider their heavily undervalued second album, Being There. I suppose I rarely keep song tallies like this but I was a little surprised to find that many. But then when I thought about the overall energy, momentum, and push/pull trajectory of the evening, songs like “Far, Far Away” “Misunderstood” “Monday” and the firecrackers that are “Outta Mind (Outta Site)/Outtasite (Outta Mind)” made absolute sense and added some great depth to the set.

So, now, what in the hell was so shocking then? How about he giant/fat goose egg that stands in for the number of songs Wilco played off of A Ghost is Born. Right, they played none. No “Spiders (Kidsmoke).” No “At Least That’s What You Said.” No “Hell is Chorme.” No “Hummingbird” which means no sweet Tweedy dancing. No “Handshake Drugs” which means no awkward and hard to take your eyes off of crowd dancing. None. A Ghost is Born is not only my favorite Wilco album (I know a few SC writers and alumni are in agreement) it’s one of my favorite albums of all time. And one that I always look forward to hearing songs played live off of.

But on Friday December 9th, Wilco played Milwaukee’s Riverside Theater and they didn’t play one single song off of it. And the show was absolutely incredible. Well done, boys. And to top it off Nick Lowe came out to play “Cruel to be Kind” for the band’s second encore. Wow! It was a great night.

PS: I could watch and listen to Nels Cline play the guitar all day. Every day. Forever.