Sleepytime Jams

16th December 2011

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Wilco at The Vic.

I’ve only developed a love for Wilco over the last 3 years or so. The first time I heard them was actually in High School when my buddy tim (timmyjames.tumblr.com) was talking about how hyped he was for the upcoming Riviera residency show. I decided to check them out and only listened to two albums “Being There” and “Summerteeth”. I declared the former of the two as my favorite and upon hearing “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”, I realized how fucked up my opinion was.

Anyways, I don’t want to get sentimental and cheesy when I talk about what this band means to me, but it’s kind of hard not to (which further explains why last nights show meant so much to me). It seems like everything about the band reflects my attitude, at times. Ranging from the guitar tones on songs from like “Hell is Chrome”, to the painful lyrics in a song like “Sunken Treasure”, it just all makes perfect sense to me why this band means the world to me. When people ask what my favorite band is, I tend to say Wilco. Shocked, people say “Wait…I thought it was The Decemberists? You saw them 11 times!”. I definetly DO love The Decemberists, but it’s purely because of how great and theatrical their shows are. They only have a handful of songs that really make me feel something within me and evoke emotion. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost is Born are probably my top two favorite Wilco albums, because both have this tone of a overlying and warm melancholy (if that makes sense. A comfortable discontent, I guess).

The band kicked off their set with “One Sunday Morning (For Jane Smiley’s Boyfriend)” which already kicked my ass. I had heard the song live before but somehow being right in front of the band made it more powerful. The lyrics in that song kill me, especially “Bless my mind I miss being told how to live. What I learned without knowing how much more I owe then I can give”. Absolutely beautiful way to kick off the show, and then without any hesitation Mikael Jorgensen played the opening piano for the fucking perfect awesome song “Hell Is Chrome” which evoked quite a reaction from Tim and I (moreso from Tim, I’d say). It was perfect. Everything about it, the guitar, the vocals, the soft drums throughout the song. Absolutely stunning.

The band continued to play and eventually went into “Radio Cure”, which was a song I wanted to hear SO badly. It’s been a favorite Wilco song of mine for quite awhile, as the lyrics ring true to various aspects and experiences in my life (not dwelling on the past, but hearing “Distance has no way of making love understandable” is especially striking). I had chills the whole song (and most the set, honestly).

Notable other songs played by the band were “Art of Almost”, “Muzzle of Bees”, “Hotel Arizona”, “At Least That’s What You Said”, “Summer Teeth”, “Nothing’severgonnastandinmyway (again)”, “Theologians”, “Casino Queen”, “Kicking Television”, and “The Lonely 1”.

Everyone I attended with was having a different experience, which was great. Tim and I are huge Wilco fans, Faye had just recently gotten into them (and knew their catalogue fairly well in time for the show), and Max hadn’t heard much out of them. As I have said to people, I’m not positive that these stretch of Chicago shows make for a good Wilco 101 for new fans/people who want to get into them, but there is no denying that they put on an amazing show and that diehard fans are in for a real treat.

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