The New Orleans music scene got a huge boost earlier this month when the historic Orpheum Theater opened its doors for the first time since Hurricane Katrina. While the gorgeous, newly renovated establishment welcomed the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra for its debut, last night’s Wilco show marked the theater’s first run as a standing room concert venue.
The evening began with a four song performance from opening act William Tyler, whose contemplative solo guitar work provided the perfect warmup for what was to come. His acoustic pieces sounded like the kind of thing Jerry Garcia might have played to himself when no one was looking, while his electric efforts wove blissful layer upon blissful layer. Tyler’s 2015 release, Deseret Canyon, is a wistful masterpiece, and it was good to see that his patient compositions translated nicely in a live setting.
Nels Cline. Photo by Marc Pagani.
The main event got off to a predictable start as Wilco dove right into the requisite full performance of their surprise 2015 album Star Wars. As has been the case with most of their recent shows, the band delivered every one of the record’s ten tracks in order, which made for a sonically cohesive first act full of laid back hooks and fuzzy guitar jams.
“That was our new album, Star Wars,” noted frontman Jeff Tweedy before launching his band into the A Ghost is Born staple “Handshake Drugs.” It was all fan favorites from there, as Tweedy and Co. continued with a series of hits–well, the closest things Wilco has to them–like “Via Chicago,” “Hummingbird,” and the immaculate electric guitar interplay of “Impossible Germany.” The post-Star Wars portion of the set also lasered in on the band’s 2002 magnum opus Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, with more than half of the album’s 11 tracks making it into the setlist (the look on Tweedy’s face when he led the crowd through an “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” singalong was one of the night’s highlights).
After wrapping up the set with a rocking “The Late Greats,” Wilco returned to the stage with Mr. Williams in tow for an explosive rendition of the meandering “Spiders (Kidsmoke)” that was taken to new heights on account of the guest guitarist’s added layer of noodling. While one could be forgiven for assuming that the number would close out the night, the band was not yet finished when they exited the stage once again.
For their second and final encore, Wilco took a different approach. The cords were cut in favor of acoustic instrumentation, with Tweedy and (Mandeville, LA native) John Stirratt on acoustic guitars, Nels Cline on lap steel, Glenn Kotche on a reduced drum kit, Mikael Jorgensen on melodica and Pat Sansone alternating between acoustic guitar and banjo. The takes on “Misunderstood,” “It’s Just That Simple,” “War on War,” “California Stars” “We’ve Been Had” and “Shot In The Arm” that followed were a dream for Wilco fans, who have seen most of those songs on numerous occasions, though rarely in such a stripped down format. The static-filled freakout portion of “Misunderstood” was particularly interesting, as the band tried to recreate the electronic cacophony as best they could.
Wilco will continue their tour tonight when they head to Stubb’s in Austin, TX for the first of two sold out shows. The Orpheum Theater will open its doors once again on October 10, when country music legend Dwight Yoakem takes the stage.
All photos by Marc Pagani.
