Wilco, in concert

This is what Nels looks like on stage - a shiny blur of polyester and guitar. Tweedy looks on.

Nels Cline wore a bright red shirt, black pants, and bright red socks. Better yet, he lived up to his wardrobe by jumping wildly around the stage hammering on the guitar, making a lot of "noise", and working the special effects. That was one of my impressions of Wilco, live in concert last Sunday at the Santa Barbara Bowl in Santa Barbara, CA. It was a little hard to get into their jams, due to the abstractness of it all, but I don't suppose that's why you go to a Wilco concert. Jeff Tweedy, in relatively low-key garb, worked the microphone like a grand master. He's got great stage presence (especially in making fun of the Santa Barbarians...), a great voice, and so many well-crafted songs. At first I thought they were just playing their hits (you never want them to sell out by playing all their smash hits), but then I realized they just have a ton of really good songs. I found myself liking the new stuff off Sky Blue Sky a lot more as well. It seems much more believable and convincing after hearing it live. The studio work just doesn't do it justice. You Are My Face, Either Way, Hate It Here, and On And On And On were all excellent live. I'm certainly more of a Wilco fan now after seeing them live and would certainly recommend them to any concert-goer!

A quick look back tells me that lots and lots of Wilco songs have been posted on this blog in the past. I'd hate to finish off their catalog, so I'll just post one old one off a ghost is born. I enjoyed this one live as well.

Wilco - Hummingbird

AG