Wilco at the Lyric

Last night, Wilco graced Baltimore’s Lyric Opera House with their amazing rock n’ roll show. I had heard many times how great Wilco is live and my expectations were quite high going into Sunday evening.

We arrived close to the scheduled start time of 7:30 to find the lobby area quite full of people milling around drinking beer, wine or coffee. I actually didn’t even realize the opening band was on until we walked up and tried to get to our seats. I say tried because there is a no cup rule in the theatre which forced us to finish our coffees before checking out opener Benjy Ferree. Benjy and his band were pretty good, even though they played to a less than half-full audience.

From the first note, it was obvious why Wilco is as heralded and respected as they are. Their huge sound filled up the opera house in a way that few bands could hope to. From Jeff Tweedy’s signature voice to Nels Cline’s face-melting guitar solos, Wilco has crafted their sound to one that is perfectly suited for an amazing live show.

As I was watching the show, the thing that most struck me is that Wilco really is a professional rock n’ roll band. It’s obvious that these guys are great musicians and have been playing together for a long time. It’s also obvious that they have been playing live for a long time. Nothing about the show felt awkward, off, or anything less than professional. Even when Tweedy forgot the lyrics to one of his songs, they just laughed it off and kept going. If you didn’t know better, you probably wouldn’t have even noticed. Tweedy even donned a fan’s neck brace for one of the songs which was awesome.

Even though Wilco has been around for over a decade, they still approached this show with a ton of energy and enthusiasm. Given that they are playing their next two shows at Madison Square Garden and have been on tour with Neil Young of late, you would almost excuse them for taking it easy for the Baltimore crowd. Instead, they seemed to really enjoy playing for the 2,500 people that came out last night to dance in their seats and sing along to every song.

There is a reason why last night’s show sold out in less than 15 minutes. Wilco really is an amazing live band and should be on your list of bands to see before you die. They played for close to two hours and came out for two encores. There is really nothing bad to say about Wilco. They put on an amazing rock show, entertained us all and gave us something fun to talk about this morning.

Here’s last night’s setlist (courtesy of MuzzleOfBees.com) along with a video of The Late Greats that I caught on my Nikon point-and-shoot camera.

Set:
Sunken Treasure
You Are My Face
War On War
Handshake Drugs
Impossible Germany
It’s Just That Simple
Forget The Flowers
Box Full Of Letters
Jesus Etc.
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
Spiders
Hummingbird
A Shot In The Arm
Hate It Here
Walken
I’m The Man Who Loves You

Encore 1:
Via Chicago
California Stars
Kingpin

Encore 2:
The Late Greats
Heavy Metal Drummer
Red-Eyed and Blue
I Got You
Outtasite