In a long list of probable bands, there is probably no safer choice than Wilco to open a new concert venue. They don’t attract a wild drinking fanbase, their lyrics are relatively curse-free and the Chicago band can knock over the casual listener with catchy melodies. So what if they are “dad rock”? They have earned the right to play wherever they choose. However, this time around they were the chosen ones to open the new Scottsdale Civic Center Amphitheater.
In fact, when the prototype of the stage was being developed before the pandemic, the band was photoshopped on the stage as perhaps a manifestation for them to play there one day. And that “wishful thinking” got the band to open the new outdoor venue next to the existing indoor Virgine G. Piper Theater.
A natural amphitheater with a pristine layout mingled with the artfully curated grounds of the nearby Arts Center, allowed for a winning combination of sound, sight, and ambiance on September 3rd opening night. Admission through the gates was hassle-free, there were minimal lines the sold-out show was not oversold and there was plenty of space. Thanks to Live National and Scottsdale Arts for keeping it tame, when they probably could have sold more tickets.
While musically the safe booking choice, lately the band itself has been precarious in their sound maneuvers. So while its constant debate amongst Wilco fans about what album era and sound direction is their favorite, this current version of the band mixing heavy on their most recent releases- Cousin and Cruel Country – proved inspiring aside from the regular setlist “classics.
“Jesus Etc,” “Handshake Drugs,” “California Stars” and “Misunderstood” are as predictable to be played at a Wilco show as one of Jeff Tweedy’s dry witty one-liners. With 13 albums now to date, one would almost expect a Grateful Dead-type full setlist change from show to show. But perhaps that wouldn’t be giving certain fans the songs they came to hear and a Wilco show is about the “songs,” not the “scene.”
It’s uncommonly bizarre this lineup of Wilco has been together for almost twenty years and while most of the band members look the same as they did when A Ghost Is Born was released; it’s their leader Tweedy who has aged and changed physically the most. But remarkably has become even more prolific a writer (three books come November) over the years as the band visionary leading Wilco through ongoing sound experiments. And of course, its still his “subconscious” lyrics that have always been the glue that earns new listeners.
Following a brief yet impactful and guitar-centric opening set from My Brightest Diamond, Wilco opened the inaugural show with the first track off last week’s just-released new album Cousin. “Infinite Surprise,” with its slow buildup and colorful sound collage won over the audience immediately and shows why Cousin is their strongest album statement since 2011’s mixed approach The Whole Love. Guitarist Nels Cline then had a chance to string in the new venue with a voracious solo at the end of “Handshake Drugs” that got the blanket sitters on the lawn scuttling upright a few more degrees. The Cruel Country double paring of “I Am My Mother” and the title track showed this 2023 version can drop the twang and aching guitar sounds finer than most any Stagecoach Festival band.
On a night that saw the Phoenix area also hosting The Postal Service/Death Cab for Cutie and Foo Fighters in separate venues, Tweedy was appreciative that his band still mattered to many.
“Thank you for being here we know you have many entertainment options tonight. Thanks for flying with Wilco,” he confided.
And while the subdued crowd was hardly flying, the heady new material might have had the fans soaring in their own heads. Another Cousin track “Soldier Child” was on point and brought a breezy ‘70s California folk sound to the desert grounds. Cruel Country’s “Bird Without a Tail/Base of My Skull” brought a proggy pastoral patchwork of sounds where Tweedy’s sensitive pining vocals eventually faded into a guitar square-off with Cline and Pat Sansone.
This instrumental goodness laid into another guitar dual as the band laid into the often-played “Impossible Germany” where Cline, Sansone, and Tweedy’s three-guitar interplay made for the rock and roll fireworks of the night. Fans of Television’s Marquee Moon would find solace in this pantheon of six-string squalls.”
“Everybody all right over there?” Tweedy asked the front part of the lawn who might have been awestruck at the most recent song. “It happens during Nels’ solo…it knocks ’em right down,” he admitted.
“I think this is the most people we’ve played to in the state of Arizona,” Tweedy declared. “They are here at my sister’s invitation. She has an area…a section. I think my cousin is in that section.”
Sure enough, they then dived into Cousin’s title track which soon very well be one of Wilco’s finest live songs, where all band members got to put their “hey” into the musical conversation. The catchiest Cousin song “Evicted” followed, and with its “Raspberry Beret-ish” opening phrases, is a soon-to-be Wilco stand-by in the vein of “A Shot in the Arm or “Kamera”.
And while the rest of the show followed the setlist pattern of prior 2023 shows, the Cousin material proved complex and interesting enough to satisfy even the most jaded Wilco fan. As the repetitive pulsating beats of “Spiders (Kidsmoke)” capped the 21-song performance, it signaled a Wilco show that hit on all agreeable audible levels.
One Response
Thank you for the review. A coupla things:
Low frequency feedback almost marred the first two numbers as the line array/subs were shook-down by their largest input yet (solo opener Shara Nova aka My Brightest Diamond & Sunpuncher on 9/13/2023 for soft-open notwithstanding);
The “Nels’ solo” comment was made after at least four EMTs checked on an attendee’s health & eventually led him away stage-left (he fistbumped the air to let us know he was relatively o.k.)
As almost-always is the case in the Valley, the notoriously staid Phoenician audience was split into two distinct camps: those who remained glued to their lawn-chairs & occasionally admonished the other, get up & dance / sway this is a [dad]rock show.
Many of us drove down from Flagstaff to catch ’em & were not disappointed by the music nor hindered by the Snottsdale wet-lawn-blankets.