Wilco setlist: Winterlude Night 4, Chicago Theatre 12/19/19

Thursday night, Wilco concluded Winterlude, their four night residency at the Chicago Theatre, which was also their last concert of 2019. While the main set won’t surprise any fan that's been following the Ode to Joy tour, the encore should've satisfied both the casual and hardcore. 

After the obvious crowd-pleaser that is “California Stars,” Jeff Tweedy and company broke out “Spiders (Kidsmoke),” in its electric arrangement, for the first time in two years. Then they launched into the Plastic Ono Band’s “Happy Xmas (War is Over),” aided by a bunch of musician friends that you can see listed below.

Wilco’s farewell to 2019 set went a little something like this:

“Bright Leaves”

“Before Us”      

“I Am Trying to Break Your Heart”

“War on War”

“Handshake Drugs”

“At Least That’s What You Said”

“One and a Half Stars”

“I Might”

“Hummingbird”

“Via Chicago”

“Bull Black Nova”

“Random Name Generator”

“Reservations”

“Impossible Germany”

“Jesus, Etc.”

“We Were Lucky”

“Love is Everywhere (Beware)”

“Box Full of Letters”

“Everyone Hides”

“Dawned on Me”

“Monday”

“Outtasite (Outta Mind)”

“I’m the Man Who Loves You”

“Hold Me Anyway”

“Misunderstood”

Encore:

“California Stars” (w/James Elkington on electric guitar)

“Spiders (Kidsmoke)”

“Happy Xmas (War is Over)” * (w/Sharon Van Etten, Sylvan Esso'sAmelia Meath and Nick Sanborn, Ohmme's Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart, and Casey Gomez Walker, Spencer Tweedy and Liam Kazar)

* John Lennon/Yoko Ono

Official show poster at the top of this post created by Zoca/Jose Garcia

Daniel Cook Johnson’s Wilcopedia: A Comprehensive Guide to the Music of America’s Best Band is available for order here.

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Wilco setlist: Winterlude Night 3, Chicago Theatre 12/18/19

The third night of Wilco’s Winterlude had a few surprises. Firstly, their opening act, Sharon Van Etten joined the band to perform “Radio Cure, which Jeff Tweedy and co. haven’t played since Solid Sound in 2017. Etten had covered the track on the Wilcovered compilation that came with September’s issue of the fine British magazine Uncut. Etten came back out for the encore and assisted on back vocals for a concluding cover of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s “Happy Xmas (War is Over),” also aided by the band OHMME’s Sima Cunningham, and her brother Liam Kazar.

Here’s what else Jeff Tweedy and company brought to the table for Winterlude night #3:

“Bright Leaves”

“Before Us”
“I Am Trying to Break Your Heart”
“Kamera”

“Handshake Drugs”

“Side With the Seeds”
“One and a Half Stars”

“I Might”
“Hummingbird”
“White Wooden Cross”
“Via Chicago”

“How to Fight Loneliness”

“Bull Black Nova”
“Random Name Generator”
“Radio Cure” (w/Sharon Van Etten)

“Impossible Germany”

“Jesus, Etc.”

“We Were Lucky”

“Love Is Everywhere (Beware)”
“Box Full of Letters”

“Everyone Hides”
“Dawned on Me”

“I’m the Man Who Loves You”

“Hold Me Anyway”

“The Late Greats”

Encore:

“California Stars”

“Outtasite (Outta Mind)”

“Happy Xmas (War is Over)” (w/Sharon Van Etten, Sima Cunningham and Liam Kazar) *

* John Lennon/Yoko Ono

The last night of Wilco’s residency at the Chicago Theatre will be simulcast on WXRT (radio.com) at 8:30 pm central time. The show will be the last of this year as they don’t return until January 18, 2020, at the Hard Rock Hotel at Riveria Maya in Mexico.

Official show poster at the top of this post created by Zoca/Jose Garcia

Daniel Cook Johnson’s Wilcopedia: A Comprehensive Guide to the Music of America’s Best Band is available for order here.

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Wilco setlist: Winterlude Night 2, Chicago Theatre 12/16/19

The second night of Winterlude offered a setlist that fans have started to get used to, but more importantly, another encore with opener Robyn Hitchcock. Wilco and Hitchcock premiered a cover new to Jeff Tweedy and friends but not to their guest, as he’s played the Beatles classic numerous times over the years. Also, Birthday boy Spencer Tweedy (celebrating his 24th Birthday) sat in on “The Late Greats,” which he had manned the drumkit before with Wilco on the same day in 2008.

So here's what Wilco and guests laid down:

“Bright Leaves”
“Before Us”
“Company in My Back”
“War on War”

“If I Ever Was a Child”

“Handshake Drugs”

“At Least That’s What You Said”
“One and a Half Stars”
“The Joke Explained”
“Hummingbird”
“White Wooden Cross”
“Via Chicago”

“Laminated Cat”
“Random Name Generator”
“Passenger Side”

“Love Is Everywhere (Beware)”
“Impossible Germany”

“Forget the Flowers”

“Box Full of Letters”

“Everyone Hides”
“Jesus, Etc.”

“Heavy Metal Drummer”

“I’m the Man Who Loves You”

“Hold Me Anyway”
“Misunderstood”

Encore:

“The Late Greats”

“Red Eyed and Blue”

“I Got You (At the End of the Century)”
“I Am the Walrus” (w/Robyn Hitchcock) *
“I Wanna Destroy You” (w/Robyn Hitchcock) **

*Lennon/McCartney (The Beatles)

*Robyn Hitchcock (The Soft Boys)

Earlier in the afternoon, Wilco played a pop-up performance at Chicago Athletic Association Hotel presented by Songkick Live. Their eight song set went like this:

“Via Chicago” / “An Empty Corner” / “Before Us” / “One and a Half Stars” / “Everyone Hides” / “White Wooden Cross” / “Love is Everywhere (Beware)” / “Hold Me Anyway”

Stay tuned as Winterlude continues.

Official show poster at the top of this post created by Zoca / Jose Garcia

Daniel Cook Johnson’s Wilcopedia: A Comprehensive Guide to the Music of America’s Best Band is available for order here.

More later...

Wilco setlist: Winterlude, Chicago Theatre 12/15/19

Last night, Wilco returned from a three-week break, to kick off Winterlude, a four-show residency at the Chicago Theatre in their hometown of Chicago. Fans wishing they would mix up their Ode to Joy-heavy setlist a bit may have been disappointed, but the encore in which they were joined by opener Robyn Hitchcock for covers of songs by the Beatles and the Soft Boys (Hitchcock’s former band) surely made up for it. Here's a video of their cover of the Soft Boys’ “I Wanna Destroy You”:

Here’s what Jeff Tweedy and company brought to the table for Winterlude night #1:

“Bright Leaves”
“Before Us”
“I Am Trying to Break Your Heart”
“War on War”
“One and a Half Stars”
“Handshake Drugs”
“Side With the Seeds”
“Hummingbird”
“White Wooden Cross”
“Via Chicago”
“Bull Black Nova”
“Random Name Generator”
“Reservations”
“Impossible Germany”
“Jesus, Etc.”
“We Were Lucky”
“Love Is Everywhere (Beware)”
“Box Full of Letters”
“Everyone Hides”
“Theologians”
“I’m The Man Who Loves You”
“Hold Me Anyway”
“Misunderstood”

Encore:

“I’m Always in Love”
“California Stars”
“The Late Greats”
“Tomorrow Never Knows” (w/Robyn Hitchcock) *
“I Wanna Destroy You” (w/Robyn Hitchcock) **

*Lennon/McCartney (The Beatles)

*Robyn Hitchcock (The Soft Boys)

Stay tuned as Winterlude continues.

Daniel Cook Johnson’s Wilcopedia: A Comprehensive Guide to the Music of America’s Best Band is available for order here.

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Scuppernong Books in Greensboro hosts Wilcopedia event

This last weekend, I travelled to Greensboro, N.C., to appear at Scuppernong Books for an event celebrating my book Wilcopedia: A Comprehensive Guide to the Music of America’s Best Band. Also taking apart was local musician Lee Waters, and the band, Outta Sight Outta Mind, who each performed covers of Wilco songs.

After I read from the introduction of Wilcopedia, Wallace played solo acoustic covers of “Passenger Side” (incidentally the first Wilco song that was ever performed live), and “Remember the Mountain Bed.”

I got video of Wallace playing the second song, the Mermaid Avenue Vol. II track that was lyrically written by legendary troubadour Woody Guthrie, with music by Jeff Tweedy and Jay Bennett. Sadly it’s an incomplete recording as my phone was dying, but it’s still a worthwhile watch as it captures the bulk of the song:

Following a brief Q & A, the band Outta Sight (named for the event and unlikely to be used again). I would’ve gotten video of them, but as per the reason above for truncated video, I was only able to get a few pictures. The best of which is below:

There goes another splendid Wilcopedia event, likely the last one of the year. I was happy to get a good turnout at Scuppernong who I’d like to think for attending. Here’s a pic of some of them:

I want to hugely thank those folks for coming out, as well as the good folks at Scuppernong (Brian Lampkin and Steve Mitchell), and, of course, Lee Wallace, and the musicians of Outta Sight Outta Mind (front man/rhythm guitarist Chris Rachal, lead guitarist Ken Brown, bassist Matt Ralston, and drummer Nick Vogel).

Okay, so that’s a taste of the Wilcopedia shindig at the super cool Scuppernong Books last Saturday. Stay tuned, and I’ll keep you informed about other activity surrounding my book in the weeks to come.

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Mojo’s review of Wilcopedia on newsstands now

I’ve been very happy with the critical response to my book, Wilcopedia, but the notice I’ve been the happiest with so far is the review of it in one of my all-time favorite publications, Mojo, that recently hit the newsstands.

If you don’t know Mojo, it’s a great rock magazine, based in Britain, that largely covers, and re-covers classic artists like the Beatles, who have been on the cover a gazillion times, and Dylan, who has had over sexdecillion articles, reviews, and sidebars, devoted to his work in their pages. There is a lot of coverage of more recent music too, but Mojo is mostly known for their thorough re-examinations of rock’s past.

In Mojo’s latest issue, December 2019, which features Neil Young (see what I mean?) on the cover, a review of Wilcopedia appears in the book section. It’s written by Chris Nelson, and awards the guide 3 stars. Not too shabby, I think. Without further ado, here it is: 

Nice, huh? Sure, I might have a few quibbles - I don’t mind the line “Johnson is a cataloguer rather than critic,” as that’s basically true, but I’d prefer “compiler” over “cataloguer.” Also, Nelson’s comment that the “stats may have been better conveyed visually as charts and graphs” really isn’t what I was going for.

But these are just instances of my minor bitching as a three star review from such a renowned international music magazine is nothing to sneeze at.

Okay, so that's enough of that not-so humble brag. I’m going to get back to preparing for my appearance at Scuppernong Books in Greensboro, N.C., on this Saturday, December 7 at 7 p.m. I’ll read a bit from the book (always an exciting experience for audiences), and there will be live music by the great singer/songwriter Lee Wallace, and the band Outta Site Outta Mind, who will all be performing specially chosen Wilco covers. If you’re in the area, please join us.

Daniel Cook Johnson’s Wilcopedia: A Comprehensive Guide to the Music of America’s Best Band is available for order here.

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