When Wilco wailed on Tom Petty’s “The Waiting”

The following is an excerpt from my upcoming book, Wilcopedia: A Comprehensive Guide To The Music Of America's Best Band (available on Sept. 17; pre-order it here):

The night after it was announced that the legendary rock and roll artist, Tom Petty, had passed away, Wilco paid tribute by performing Petty and his long-time band, the Heartbreakers’ 1981 hit “The Waiting” from the band’s fourth studio album, Hard Promises. The song kicked off Wilco’s first encore at their gig at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving, Texas, on October 3, 2017, and was greeted with major enthusiasm by the audience who loudly sang along to the power pop anthem (watch a clip of it here).

Arguably one of Petty’s best songs, the Byrds-style guitar structure of “The Waiting” fits Wilco like a glove. In Jeff Tweedy and company’s catalog of covers it joins Petty’s 1978 single “Listen to Her Heart,” which Wilco covered frequently during their first tour in support of their debut album, A.M.

Petty claimed “The Waiting” was inspired by an interview with Janis Joplin in which she said “I love being onstage, and everything else is waiting.” Wilco’s choice of a tribute cover also struck a nerve in that Petty’s death wasn’t confirmed for most of the previous day after it had been announced that he had been taken to the hospital after being found unconscious after a cardiac arrest. As a fan who was hanging on hoping for good news about his recovery, the waiting truly was the hardest part.

Wilco’s live debut of the cover was only marred by Tweedy flubbing a few lines in the first verse. Later, between songs during the second encore, Tweedy told the audience, “I’m really sorry about the first verse of ‘The Waiting.’ I wanted to make sure that I didn’t mess it up so I so I had the lyrics here, and the second the song started they blew over. Thanks Tom!’ 

Tweedy was able to correct his lyrical mistake as Wilco included “The Waiting” in their encores for four more of the remaining dates on the last leg of their 2017 tour.

While Nels Cline is Wilco's lead guitarist, multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone completely crushes on Mike Campbell’s soaring guitar soloing on all five versions of the classic.

Here’s a video from the performance of the song that I saw at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in Asheville, N.C., on October 9, 2017:

More later...