Live Review

Wilco – Vicar Street, Dublin

• 7th Sep 2009

Last Thursday was one of those nights when those crammed into Vicar St were left wondering had they just genuinely witnessed the best live band in the world.

This was my third time seeing Wilco: the first time I must convince to have been almost a complete Wilco virgin prior to the show. I had only heard snippets of their music before seeing them live and was a little underwhelmed. That sense of indifference was absolute blown sky high two and a half hours later. Second time was back in Vicar St in 2007, it was simply an excellent show nothing more nothing less.

However last Thursday had something extra. So what is so special about Wilco? Many music journos have had long arguments in an attempt to classify what type of band Wilco are. In summary they simply are an outstanding one. They have been seen as poster boys for the Alt-Country movement and it is understandable when you see them live and listen to some of their songs but the fact is their music reaches far beyond that. They have dipped into: Rock and Roll, Psychadelia, Acoustic, Prog, Soul, Jazz, Kraut Rock, Electronica to name a few and have excelled in all.

They are fronted by one of the most enigmatic front-men in modern music, Jeff Tweedy. He is not one to be found dancing around the stage like a turkey (Mick Jagger), charging into the crowd once a gig and power sliding across the stage (Springsteen) or standing there exuding generation defining angst (Kurt Cobain). Tweedy exudes a gritty & real charisma. He wears the air of a man who has been there, done that and seen it all before. He also has a wickedly dry sense of humour to boot. He is of course also a great vocalist and a notably very under-rated guitarist.

He is however quite clearly the main figure in the band and has been since its inception in 1994 doing all of the song writing. Bassist John Stirrat is the only member who has been with Tweedy for the long haul. Tweedy is flanked by Wilco’s latest recruit Neils Kline, a previously reknowned avant garde guitarist. He is a study in himself. He is an amazing guitarist in a eccentric mad professor type of way. He has enabled the band to add another dimension to some of their older tracks.

And so to the show, Wilco opened with ‘Wilco’ the lead track from their new albumpf the same name. I can’t think of any other band on the planet who could open a self titled album with a track called after themselves without sounding outrageously pretentious. Wilco of course get away with it and go and write a cracking rollicking little tune with a sizeable dollop of tongue in cheek humour.

Next up they dropped an old classic ‘Im Not Trying to Break Your Heart’ the lead track from ‘Hotel Yankee Foxtrot’, their most experimental work to date. It truly is Wilco at their most innovative and amazingly it works even better live than on CD. It is a testimony to their musicianship that they can cram so many bleeps and crazy effects into a song and still make it work without ever over doing it.

Offerings from the new album sound every bit as good as old classics. The old adage “No New stuff just play the Hits” simply doesn’t apply watching Wilco. The yearning ‘You and I’ pounding kraut-rock of ‘Black Bull Nova’ and the Neil Young influenced ‘One Wing’ are all standouts.

The musical interplay was fantastic throughout the show. All 6 band members are really exceptional musicians and there is a lot of spontaneous jamming and fancy flourishes but it never once becomes self-indulgent and this makes it even more compelling.

Personal highlights from the show included an absolutely barnstorming version of ‘Spiders (Kidsmoke)’. This is an innovative atonal guitar wig out on CD but takes on a whole new ferocity in the live arena. The crunching guitar chord outro shows Wilco at their hard rocking best. Others included the country rock slide guitar swagger of ‘I’m the man who loves you’, a simply epic ‘Impossible Germany’, and a thumping ‘Shot in the Arm’ featuring an electronic intro that almost sounded like something you would hear in a Prodigy gig.

Wilco do not do default 90 minutes, straight back on the tour bus type gigs. Vicar St was treated to two long encores the 2nd of which was a treat to old school Wilco fans with a few tracks from debut offering “I am”. I’ll dare say it was a special gig, if you have never seen Wilco live before I strongly suggest you do so. If seeing them means leaving loved ones, children, pets, friends at very short notice or traveling a few hundred miles. Do it! It is most certainly worth it.