Wednesday evening provided a perfect example of why Wilco remains one of the most important bands in the world today. For nearly two hours and including two encores; Wilco performed a handful of new tunes off their forthcoming yet to be named release in addition to drawing heavily from their last two records, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born.

It’s obviously a thrill and pleasure to have a band like Wilco play a theater as small as the Barrymore, and, as expected, the intimate setting provided on of the best sounding live shows I’ve been privileged to so far this year. Just hours into being a father, bassist John Stirratt’s newborn was the center to the onstage banter between the band that included a dedication by Jeff of new song, “What Light” to the newly born baby girl.

For me, this was the show where the new songs “clicked.” It’s quite possible that hearing several of them a handful of times in a live setting have developed a sense of familiarity. However, I have to say that the band has definitely done some light reworking of the previously debuted new material, which lends a lot more satisfaction aurally in addition to an increase in my anticipation of the new album next year. There were two songs performed last night that were completely new to me. One of them includes a couple pretty impressive screams from Jeff Tweedy throughout and was definitely one of the highlights of the show and probably my favorite new song I’ve heard so far.

There was some jovial carryover from Jeff Tweedy’s recent solo performance at the Pabst Theater last month in which a curious fan inquired, “how’s your foot” in response to Tweedy sporting a cast at their Summerfest performance in July. Additional inquiries were made last night and Jeff took it in stride stating he was “aware and hip,” but not going to clue in anyone who wasn’t familiar with the back and forth foot inquiries from crowd to stage.

Opening a show with “Hell Is Chrome” is such a perfect choice because as Jeff sings “come with me” it really is a fitting beginning to what would become a wonderful evening. Additional highlights were “Muzzle of Bees,” for obvious enough reasons I guess, as well as “Kingpin” and night closer “Heavy Metal Drummer.” The Woody Guthrie penned “California Stars” was on the set list, but was not played.

It seems logical that this will be the last time I see Wilco until their next release. I’ve had some amazing times with this band over the past year, but I can’t think of any that top last night’s performance. The combination of a small venue, perfect sound, and song selection equaled a perfect way to head into the extended holiday weekend. It was also pretty refreshing to find and accordion playing version of Wisconsin’s own Bucky Badger be the subject of the limited edition commemorative poster. Last night was definitely one for the memory bank.