A couple songs before taking a twenty minute break between sets, Wilco front man Jeff Tweedy compared the break to those that Grateful Dead used to take, referring to The Dead’s practice of playing two sets of music per night. In fact, the entire evening reckoned the way the Grateful Dead approached their live performances in many ways: no openers, two sets of music plus encore, and anything from their catalog was fair game during the performance.

Last night was the second show of a five night residency at Chicago’s Riviera Theater during which the band promises to play every song in their repertoire by the time they walk off the stage next Wednesday evening. I headed to Chicago knowing what they played Friday night, and excited to hear some material that I’d never heard the band play live before. While hesitant to call the show the best Wilco concert I’ve ever seen, I’m struggling to remember a better or more enjoyable performance – only seeing them for the first time can really compare to the feeling and excitement I experienced last night.

The show began delicate enough with Jeff Tweedy taking the stage alone with acoustic guitar for first verse of “Someone Else’s Song” before being joined by the rest of the band one by one. In an evening filled with highlights, having Andrew Bird join the band on violin for nine songs was not only a huge surprise, but made an already beautiful live number like “Jesus, Etc” all the more special. For the second night in a row The Total Pros horn section rounded out both standards and newer recordings, I’d expect them to be present for the remainder of the residency.

Obviously the song selection was the motivating factor for me heading to Chicago and sleeping at a gas station parking lot on my return home due to icy road conditions. I’ve seen Wilco more times that I can even begin to count over the past five years, but it was only when they brought out deep cuts (most recently “Too Far Apart”) that separated any one performance from the other. In short, most performances were cookie cutter renditions of every other show I’d seen, but nothing too unexpected or any big surprises. When they did show up in the set list, they were always the biggest highlights and parts I enjoyed the most.

Hearing “Hotel Arizona” and other Being There tracks was especially special and it was wonderful watching bassist John Stirratt exchange instruments with Jeff Tweedy and take lead vocals on the A.M. track “Just That Simple.” Unexpected as those songs were, the biggest surprise was hearing “Dash 7,” which had never been performed live by the band before. After playing “Lonely One” the house lights came up and the band appeared to be ready to call it a night. The PA began blasting The Presidents of the United States of America’s “Peaches,” but the crowd refused to quiet or move from their place. That lead to the band returning for a energetic two song encore which concluded with the Mermaid Avenue number “Hoodoo Voodoo” that featured dueling guitar solos from guitarists Nels Cline and Pat Sansone.

I’m anxious to watch how the remaining three nights set lists turn out, there are plenty of great songs still left to be played. I’m hoping that these performances lead the band to inject a wider variety of deep cuts and long lost numbers into the set lists of future tours. It would be great to walk into every one of their performances never knowing for sure what your going to get. With a catalog as strong as theirs, they’re one of the few bands that could pull that off night after night.

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Set One: Someone Else’s Song/Hell Is Chrome/Handshake Drugs/Muzzle of Bees/Via Chicago/I Am Trying To Break Your Heart/Hotel Arizona/Shot In The Arm/Impossible Germany/Just That Simple/When You Wake Up Feeling Old/Too Far Apart/Hate It Here/Jesus, Etc (Andrew Bird)/Forget The Flowers (Andrew Bird)/Dash 7 (Andrew Bird)/Christ For President (Andrew Bird)/Walken (Horns)/I’m The Man Who Loves You (Horns)

Set Two: Late Greats/Heavy Metal Drummer/Red Eyed & Blue (Andrew Bird) ->I Got You (Andrew Bird)/Magazine Called Sunset/Monday (Horns)/Casino Queen/Kingpin/Passenger Side (Andrew Bird)/Dreamer In My Dreams (Andrew Bird)/Lonely One (Andrew Bird)

Encore: ELT/Hoodoo Voodoo

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Myspace: Wilco
MP3: Wilco – “Too Far Apart” (Live from Troutdale, Oregon on August 22, 2007)
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Photos: Brianne Karabetsos