Wilco
Thurs. Aug. 7
North Charleston Performing Arts Center
In order to perform a last-minute booking on Saturday Night Live, Wilco postponed a concert originally scheduled for Fri. Feb. 29 at the Performing Arts Center. Last Thursday, they honored their pledge to return with what will likely be remembered as one of the best concerts of the year.
Lead singer Jeff Tweedy looked pleased to be there. “We hadn’t forgotten!” he announced to the full house.
Under a colorful light show, the band grooved through a variety of material ranging from their debut A.M. and the Mermaid Avenue collection to their latest album, Sky Blue Sky. “We’re here to warm hearts,” Tweedy told the crowd at one point.
Drummer Glenn Kotche held his sticks and mallets with the “traditional grip,” pushing the band with complex rhythmic patterns, snare fills, and sudden bursts of loud cymbal washes and rolls. Flanked by Mikael Jorgensen and Pat Sansone — both of whom played keys, guitars, and shakers — he propelled the show with ease.
Tweedy and bassist John Stirratt operated telepathically. Their guitar/bass interplay was impressive, especially on “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” and “Impossible Germany.” Guitarist Nels Cline (the band’s secret sonic weapon), embellished each song with a variety of wang-bang-clang guitar sounds — from noisy screeches and dense chordal work to beautiful melodies on the pedal steel.
City Paper‘s Stratton Lawrence was on hand, too. “Wilco is almost a genre in and of itself now,” he remarked afterward. “They’re not faking anything. A Wilco show seems sort of like the anti-Flaming Lips show while still using the same formula. There’s no props like the Lips, but it’s an orchestrated planned set, executed perfectly down to hitting every note, and every light at the right moment.” Indeed. —T. Ballard Lesemann
For more Wilco concert images by photographer Joshua Curry, log on to www.webmaster.ccpblogs.com.
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