Wilco – Live @ Austin City Limits

September 23, 2007

I’ve got one last ACL review to leave you with before I get to my regularly scheduled blogging, and it’s from one of the best acts of the weekend (second only to Muse). It was my first time seeing Wilco so I made sure I was front and center. It was a good feeling to have, knowing that if I yelled out anything, Tweedy and the gang would be easily able to hear me.

The band played a very varied set, picking most of their tracks from Sky Blue Sky and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and then throwing in a number of tracks from earlier albums, Being There and A.M. (”Handshake Drugs” was the only Ghost is Born song that got the live treatment). The band made it clear early how much they loved playing in Austin from the beginning, and then treated us to killer performances of “Side With The Seeds” and “A Shot in the Arm”. Nels guitar work was extraordinary on both of these songs. The speed that his hand moves around the guitar is unmatched by any other artist I’ve seen and the intensity of how he threw the guitar around to create feedback during “Shot” was pretty unbelievable.

“I Am Trying To Break Your Heart” was next which was great, but the two tracks they led into were undeniably the best of the set. “Impossible Germany” has always been my favorite track on Sky Blue Sky but nothing on record can match how fantastic the song sounds live. The song features Nels, Tweedy, and Pat all on electric guitar and it showcased their ability to each play very different parts perfectly in sync while still improvising. The extended guitar solo at the end of the song will be stuck in my brain for a long time. The next song, “Via Chicago” was just as good. In the middle of the seemingly quiet alt-country ballad, Glen Kotche erratically begins pounding the crap out of his drums, while the rest of the band doesn’t miss a beat. Somehow it works perfectly with the song, and the moment illicited the biggest crowd response of the show.

The second half of Wilco’s set wasn’t as memorable for me since it featured mainly older songs I’m not as familiar with (I need to give Being There a full listen sometime), but it did feature two of my favorite Yankee Hotel tracks, “I’m The Man Who Loves You” and the audience sing-a-long favorite, “Jesus Etc”. Overall, an amazing and memorable show, my only regret being that I didn’t get to hear “Heavy Metal Drummer” or “At Least That’s What You Said”. Wilco also signified the close of the festival for me, as I only stuck around Bob Dylan long enough for me to be able to say “Hey, I’ve seen Bob Dylan”. In closing, Austin City Limits was one of the best weekends I’ve ever experienced, and easily the best festival I’ve ever been to. I hope to be back many times.

MP3 Impossible Germany
MP3 Via Chicago (Kicking Television version)

Posted by Taylor in Festival, Live