reCAP :: Wilco w/ William Tyler :: 2016.02.02
Wilco formed in 1994 and broke wide with 2002's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but it didn't quite discover itself until 2004, when its present lineup formed and the edges of its already-fuzzy alternative country started to fray some more. The Wilco that's been wow-ing audiences ever since -- and did so again, in typically brilliant fashion on this night -- is still a country-rock group with a lineage traceable to Uncle Tupelo, but it's one with a metallic art-rock rage lurking just beneath tunes that sound deceptively folky and pastoral. It can be delicate as a feather, and then go wild, gnarly and psyched-out in the same song -- an experimental jones worn proudly, but not overindulged.
That they've been doing this so effectively for more than a decade and getting seemingly better at it with each year, new set of music and tour is nothing short of a marvel. What's more, Jeff Tweedy and Co. are getting tighter and looser: the former in the sense of a band that trusts its extra-sensory musical relationships and can execute song after song like studies in sonic contrasts without losing energy or focus, and the latter in that they don't seem weighed down by the pressure of being a pantheon rock band. If anything, Star Wars, their surprise 2015 release whose songs comprised the first half of Tuesday's main set, is that much more of what they do well: damn good guitar rock 'n' roll with a little arty roughage to let us know it's still them.
With Wilco there's so much to grab onto, whether drummer Glenn Kotche and bassist John Stirratt holding everything together and working with a full range of groovy pockets and clattering rhythms, or swingmen Pat Sansone and Mikael Jorgensen knowing when to go heavy on the guitars, banjos, percussion instruments and keyboards, and knowing when to simply color. And how do you realistically describe Nels Cline, who can turn a winsome or melancholy roots tune into a guitar hailstorm worthy of Television, jamming out on his axe as if he's wrangling a rabid wolverine?
Following the play-through of Star Wars, Wilco turned to old favorites and chestnuts, including "I'm the Man Who Loves You," "The Late Greats," "Spiders (Kidsmoke)," "Outtasite (Outtamind)" and others, including "Red Eyed and Blue" from the band's earliest era. The late-in-set showstopper was "Impossible Germany," a woozy number from 2007's Sky Blue Sky that found the band building to a peak before it yielded the floor to Cline and a dazzling guitar excursion that seized the energy in the room and messed with various levels of tension before finally exploding in release.
Returning for a final encore set, the band continued a recent trend toward acoustic music, bringing home gorgeous selections like "Misunderstood," "It's Just That Simple" and "I"m Always in Love" with a healthy dose of rustic country soul. If you get religious about Wilco the way many do, these were a benediction, and you left the Cap aglow.