bböp

After their scheduled outdoor show at Avondale Brewing Company 10 days ago was tabled by “impending severe weather that includes lightning,” Jeff and Co. circled back to Birmingham and — due to the chance of more inclement conditions — moved inside for the makeup date. Obviously that created a different dynamic for the show than otherwise would have occurred, so I’d be interested to hear about how this Monday gig went…

 

Here was the complete setlist, as played, according to the Wilcoworld wonks: 

 

Company In My Back

Evicted

Handshake Drugs

Muzzle Of Bees

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

If I Ever Was A Child

Meant To Be

War On War

Quiet Amplifier

Hummingbird

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

Via Chicago

You Are My Face

Whole Love

Impossible Germany

Love Is Everywhere (Beware)

Jesus, etc.

Box Full Of Letters

Annihilation

Heavy Metal Drummer

I’m The Man Who Loves You

————————————————

California Stars

Falling Apart (Right Now)

Walken

Monday

On 5/11/2025 at 5:37 PM, bböp said:

Here was the complete setlist, according to the folks at Wilcoworld (nice to see Many Worlds make its first appearance on this run, but can someone confirm whether it was the entire song or just the instrumental coda?):

Not to quote myself, but just adding that it looks like Falling Apart (Right Now) was on the printed setlist in the encore after California Stars, but got cut.

3 hours ago, tblair said:

Are they playing one long set, or is it 2 sets with an interval (which is what I thought this tour was going to be)

Most shows are just one long set. The “Evening With…” shows, of which there were only three scheduled (Fairhope, AL, St. Petersburg and Louisville), are the ones with two sets and a short interval.

1 hour ago, !goose! said:

why only two cuts off of cousin?  glad they dusted off the acoustic spiders and walken/either way.  not attending this particular tour but I guess this is no longer a part of the "cousin" tour? 

And that’s twice the usual for a lot of shows on this run; before they added Meant To Be a few shows ago, it was usually only Evicted (though to be fair, they have released a new EP since Cousin and are playing one cut off that every night).

 

But yeah, I’d say this is more of just standard touring with a mix of everything, rather than an emphasis on any one record.

Well, have at it, show attendees. Or don’t…whatever you prefer.

 

Here was the complete setlist, according to the Wilcoworld authorities:

 

Spiders (Kidsmoke) (acoustic arrangement, l’m assuming, like the other time they opened with it on this run)>
Wishful Thinking

Evicted

Handshake Drugs

Meant To Be

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

If I Ever Was A Child

I Am My Mother

Cruel Country

War On War

Hummingbird

Quiet Amplifier

Side With The Seeds

Box Full Of Letters

Annihilation

Via Chicago

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

Either Way

Impossible Germany

Jesus, etc.

Heavy Metal Drummer

I’m The Man Who Loves You

—————————————————

California Stars

Falling Apart (Right Now)

Walken

I Got You (At The End Of The Century)

The title sponsor of the amphitheater at Chastain Park has probably changed at least five times over the years Wilco has been playing shows there, but the band keeps going back so the pay (and the payoff?) must continue to be good.

 

I’ve never actually made it to a show at this particular shed myself, but I’ve heard some not-so-great things about it — or perhaps more accurately, about the audiences there — so perhaps someone can chime in about the atmosphere this time around…

 

Here was the complete setlist, according to the folks at Wilcoworld (nice to see Many Worlds make its first appearance on this run, but can someone confirm whether it was the entire song or just the instrumental coda?):

 

Wishful Thinking

Evicted

Handshake Drugs

If I Ever Was A Child

Meant To Be

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

Many Worlds

War On War

Quiet Amplifier

You Are My Face

Whole Love

Box Full Of Letters

Annihilation

Hummingbird

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

Via Chicago

Either Way

Impossible Germany

Jesus, etc.

Heavy Metal Drummer

I’m The Man Who Loves You

—————————————————

California Stars

Walken

Monday>
Outtasite (Outta Mind)

Well, was it a barnburner tonight in Nashvegas at the relatively new — and humbly named — venue The Pinnacle? I have no idea since I wasn’t able to make it to this one. (Memo to all five regular readers: Including this show, I’m sadly going to miss the next five shows on this run. Gasp! I will endeavour to start the show threads as usual, if only for record-keeping purposes, but others will have to provide details.)

 

I did see via social media that Katie Crutchfield/Waxahatchee had a special guest during their set, Brennan Wedl, and they collaborated on the cover of Kathleen Edwards’ Six O’Clock News that Waxhatchee has occasionally been performing on this run.

 

Anyway, here was Wilco’s complete setlist (according to the good folks at Wilcoworld):

 

Company In My Back

Evicted

Handshake Drugs

Muzzle Of Bees

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

If I Ever Was A Child

War On War

Quiet Amplifier

Box Full Of Letters

Annihilation

Hummingbird

Bird Without a Tail/Base Of My Skull

Via Chicago

Either Way

Meant To Be

Impossible Germany

Jesus, etc.

Theologians

I’m The Man Who Loves You

—————————————————

California Stars

Falling Apart (Right Now)

Walken

I Got You (At The End Of The Century)>
Outtasite (Outta Mind)

5 hours ago, Albert Tatlock said:

I also came across this yesterday as a forgotten photo I have - at the Mantiloc Shrine on Mantiloc Island, El Nido, Philippines. Locals attest to it's ancient origins, but then I am getting on a bit. Still, the Holy Spirit moves in mysterious ways.

 

 

P.S. I didn't actually dismantle anything that was standing there before to do that. The whole place was already a bit of a mess.

Tatlock, you certainly are a well-traveled sort! I guess I should have expected as much, but I might just start calling you Dr. Livingstone or some such. What will be next, a hieroglyphic resembling Jeff discovered in the pyramids of Giza? 

4 hours ago, Albert Tatlock said:

Not a New Order fan then? Ta anyway.

Record label factories are cool, just not corporate music venues lol. 

Well, I got an email blast from Chicago venue Sleeping Village today with a subject line declaring that Jeff has assumed the papacy, so...

 

For anyone who cares, here was Waxahatchee's setlist at the PaTMF:

 

3 Sisters

Can't Do Much

Problem With It [Plains]

The Eye

Hell

Right Back To It

Crowbar

The Wolves

Lilacs

Tigers Blood

Fire

O, Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory...how do I not love thee? Let me count the ways. Is it the name itself (I don’t care to have my music coming out of a factory, thank you very much), or the utter Live Nation-ness of the place with its antiseptic feel, ugly steel and concrete architecture and general lack of character? Or the greediness in how the best seats are dynamically priced to hell, the concession and parking prices are inflated to outrageous levels and various VIP upgrade solicitations are repeatedly offered? Or just the general lack of consideration for the overall customer experience?

Perhaps I doth protest too much. Grudgingly I must admit that despite its generic and cavernous atmosphere, the PaTMF did sound pretty good for the Wilco-hatchee tour stop here tonight. And at least from what I’ve seen on social media, the venue does seem to treat the artists who play there pretty well.

But nevertheless, in my experience, this is a place to be tolerated and not really enjoyed. So it was that Jeff and Co. returned to the Irving venue after nearly eight years. That previous show in 2017 was memorable for the fact that, as Jeff mentioned, it came shortly after the passing of Tom Petty. In tribute, Wilco performed Petty’s The Waiting for the first time that night, one of only a handful of times the band ever did so.

There were no covers tonight, but we did come close to getting a song from every Wilco studio release with only Wilco (The Album) being left out. Now I highly doubt that Jeff is lurking about these parts anymore, but I will say that in my little blurb about the San Antonio show the night before, I mentioned that there were no songs from Being There, Star Wars or Schmilco in the set and, lo and behold, all three were represented in Irving. The most notable of these, of course, were the excellent Cold Slope>King Of You, which made its debut on this tour.

“We don’t play that one very often,” Jeff said of the two intertwined songs. “It’s from an album called Star Wars.” Almost immediately, of course, someone shouted out a request for Passenger Side. To which Jeff replied, “We appreciate your yelling the names of our songs. We appreciate you knowing the names of our songs. But sadly, we’ve already made a list of the ones we want to play.”

Those included the pairing of Box Full Of Letters and Annihilation, which has been common on this run and led to one of the most amusing moments of the show. As Jeff has done elsewhere, he joked about putting one of the band’s oldest songs next to one of its most recent “so you can see the staggering artistic growth. It’s staggering. There’s 30 years between those (two songs).” Jeff then continued, “How did the Beatles change so much in seven years? How did Wilco stay the fucking same band in 30 years?” Pat then took the opportunity to make the rare on-mike comment during a show when he quipped, “Wilco moved one fret.” But Jeff seemed not to get the joke and gave Pat sort of a quizzical look, which caused the multi-instrumentalist to give a “never mind” wave and ask if his mike was indeed on. Jeff then jokingly instructed the front-of-house engineer Jared to cut Pat’s vocal mike and that basically ended the amusing little back-and-forth.

For whatever reason, maybe to try and forge at least some connection with the audience within the abyss of the PaTMF, Jeff was definitely chattier than usual. Before Box Full Of Letters, he spotted what seemed to be a father and daughter standing next to each other in the front row and asked if they were having a good time. “Is he embarrassing you?” Jeff asked the daughter, whose father was dancing a bit. I guess she must have nodded yes because Jeff then said, “It’s all right. Dads can’t control themselves when Wilco plays. You’re being very tolerant.” A bit earlier, Jeff had checked in with the audience and, for some reason, asked, “Do you have a sports team engaged in some kind of competition? I don’t know why I asked that. I just saw the tallboys of beer and thought it must be nearby.” When someone informed Jeff that the Dallas Stars were playing, but in Winnipeg, he took the news in stride. “Oh, OK. See, that’s why I don’t talk into the mike as much as some (other frontmen do).”

Other visits to Banter Corner included the aforementioned recollection about Petty; a random moment when Jeff showed off a glowing little toy of some sort that somehow appeared on his amp and quipped that it “won’t remember any of the bad notes I played,”; and some joking about it being Wilco Wednesday — as opposed to Taco Tuesday — and how all the best shows are on Wednesday. Jeff also made a comment about how Annihilation was the last new song of the show. “Don’t cheer that,” he said.

The crowd at the far-from-sold-out PaTMF did cheer plenty over the course of the 2-hour, 1-minute set, but in another drawback of the cavernous space, any sort of audible audience roar just seemed to dissipate into the air. It’s a bit hard to describe, but any sound that isn’t amplified in there feels sort of deadened somehow. It just isn’t a very lively room — at least that’s my take on it. Then again, my expectations for this gig going in were certainly realistic — and tempered. So in my mind, it was never going to be a great show. That it was as enjoyable as it was had to do with Wilco’s performance as much as anything else.

Here was the complete setlist, as played (I glimpsed the printed setlist and there were no changes/omissions):

 

Wishful Thinking

Evicted

Handshake Drugs

If I Ever Was A Child

War On War

Cruel Country

Quiet Amplifier

You Are My Face>

Whole Love

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

Hummingbird

Via Chicago

Cold Slope>

King Of You

Either Way

Impossible Germany

Meant To Be

Jesus, etc.

Box Full Of Letters

Annihilation

Heavy Metal Drummer

I'm The Man Who Loves You

------------------------------------

California Stars

Falling Apart (Right Now)

I Got You (At The End Of The Century)

Waxatchee's set, for anyone who might be interested, was:

 

3 Sisters

Can't Do Much

Problem With It [Plains]

Right Back To It

Witches

Crowbar

The Wolves

Hurricane [Plains]

Lilacs

Tigers Blood

Fire

Though it had been less than eight years since Wilco’s last show in San Antonio — not nearly as long a gap as some areas, especially when you consider that the band had played three “Evening With…” shows just up Interstate 35 in Austin in December — it had been nearly two decades since a proper general admission show by the band in the seventh largest U.S. city by population.

Back then, in 2006, Jeff and his bandmates had performed at a downtown plaza/amphitheater called Sunset Station in the shadow of the Alamodome. Since then, that plaza has apparently been renamed the Espee (in honor of the Southern Pacific railroad station nearby…Es-pee, get it?) and Wilco finally made it back there tonight on a steamy Central Texas evening. I can’t say what the view is like from the plaza itself, but if you had a ticket for the section underneath the covered pavilion area, you were treated to a pretty intimate audience with the band. And if you were one of the lucky 150 or so with a ticket to the GA pit area within that pavilion that was weirdly cordoned off by these yellow barricades, then you really had an up close and personal experience.

“It’s good to be back,” Jeff said a song into the two-hour set, “I think a lot of you weren’t born the last time we were here. But it’s good to see you. We’re gonna keep the chit chat to a minimum because we’ve got a lot of songs to play for you.”

The view must not have been too bad from anywhere, though (or the audience was just particularly amped up) judging by the response during Heavy Metal Drummer to Glenn’s stick twirl. That bit, which has become a common ritual during that song, drew one of the loudest cheers I can remember hearing, and it caused Jeff to almost mess up because he was so surprised. He audibly said, “Wow,” as he mockingly pooh-poohed the crowd reaction with a dismissive wave. In response, I’m pretty sure Glenn even got in an unprecedented second stick twirl before the song was over.

Another random bit of crowd interaction occurred at the start of the encore, during California Stars, when something seemed to catch Jeff’s attention in the front row to his right. I couldn’t see exactly what was going on and wasn’t close enough to hear, but it seemed like an older woman had somehow made her way up there and was possibly waving a bandanna or something (I initially thought it might be a bra). Anyway, Jeff gestured toward her at least once during the song, then blew a kiss her way afterward and proceeded to have a brief chat with her, asking if she had been there the whole time and trying to understand what she was trying to say. Jeff asked if she was related to Pat, then John, then if she was related to any of the band members before it finally came out that she might be somehow related to Woody Guthrie.

Those occurrences aside, it was a relatively light night for visits to Banter Corner. Jeff had mentioned before Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull that the lyrics to that song were aas old as the Alamo and he reiterated that later in the set before Box Full Of Letters when he said this is “the oldest song we’re gonna play…The lyrics to that other song are older than the Alamo, though — look it up. This one’s just regular old.”

A couple of songs later, he thanked the crowd for singing along to I’m Always In Love, explaining that when he made an inviting gesture with his hand, he was urging the crowd to participate. “I’m not David Lee Roth,” Jeff said, explaining that he wasn’t the type of person to explicitly ask an audience to sing along but that he encouraged it. Then Jeff quipped, before Annihilation, “This is a new song, so try your best.” And Jeff also took the opportunity before Heavy Metal Drummer to thank Waxahatchee for joining him and his bandmates on this tour and dedicated the song to Katie Crutchfield and her band “for no real reason” (although I can think of at least one. Incidentally, by the way, Waxahatchee has been dedicating the song Lilacs to Wilco each night.)

That was about it for noteworthy events and chatter, which Jeff really did seem to keep to a minimum on what proved to be a mostly pleasant, though humid, Texas spring night despite stormy weather earlier in the day. I thought it was a fine show overall and the sound mix was good up front despite hearing later from the band’s front-of-house engineer that the cement pavilion wasn’t the best place to operate from an acoustic standpoint.

Setlist-wise, it was a good mix of songs from across the Wilco spectrum, though once again there was a total absence of Being There material (as well as Star Wars and Schmilco). I know no one ever looks at such setlist minutiae, except maybe Jeff, but I did think it was interesting that a full third of the band’s set at its last San Antonio show at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts in 2017 — nine of 27 songs — came from those three records that were completely unrepresented this time around. I guess it just goes to show that if you wait long enough, you’ll probably hear the song you came to hear...eventually.

Here was the complete setlist, as played (Either Way was listed on the printed setlist as the first song of the encore, but wasn't played):

Company In My Back

Evicted

Handshake Drugs

Via Chicago

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart>

Hints

Side With The Seeds

Hummingbird

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

Whole Love

Meant To Be

Cruel Country

Quiet Amplifier

Impossible Germany

Jesus, etc.

Box Full Of Letters

I'm Always In Love

Annihilation

Heavy Metal Drummer>

I'm The Man Who Loves You

----------------------------------------

California Stars

Falling Apart (Right Now)

A Shot In The Arm

10 minutes ago, Albert Tatlock said:

Ta. So Houston did not have a problem for once.

Curious as to whether you are planning to do the South American tour. That would be a logistical epic. Good luck if yes.

Also, am I allowed to say how much I loath Walken? Maybe tied with Kingpin. Good to vent that spleen. Now all back to peace and love.

I am planning to attend the South American run, having sadly missed it in 2016 due to matters of baseball. It is kind of a proverbial bear, travel-wise. 

I also secretly loathe Walken, fwiw. Swamp rock, bah. 

Alas, I had to get to this show quite late so I missed most of Waxahatchee's opening set. There was a strange moment when she had to pause the set-closing Fire because apparently a gentleman in the crowd had collapsed or gone catatonic or something, so I hope he ultimately was OK. Katie And Co. were able to pick up the song literally right from where they had stopped and made it through the rest without further incident.

On 5/5/2025 at 2:38 PM, ViaNewOrleans said:

Monday and Outta Mind (Outta Site) played as part of the encore as well.

 

Thanks for the info (though I'm going to assume it was Outtasite (Outta Mind) and not the reverse (aka the Sesame Street version)! Usually the Wilcoworld setlists are accurate, but not always, so it's great to get clarification from folks who were there. Thanks for sharing some more info on the show!

For a variety of reasons, I can’t say I had the highest hopes for an outdoor show in Houston in an amphitheater-type setting. First, there was the very real potential for it to be uncomfortably hot, humid, stormy or otherwise unconducive to enjoying music outside. Then there was the venue itself, which is essentially a lawn and concrete area outside a building with a makeshift festival stage set up featuring various steel barricades and folding chairs. And the audiences in settings such as this have occasionally produced some of the most annoying/bizarre/uncouth/indifferent behavior I’ve ever seen at a concert.

So it’s with some measure of relief I can report that, for the most part, this Wilco/Waxhatchee double bill held outside the White Oak Music Hall exceeded my (albeit low) expectations. Not only did we get to hear Wilco shake up its setlist a little bit from the previous week’s shows in Florida, but the weather thoroughly cooperated and the venue and crowd were even tolerable.

Even Jeff had to express his surprise and delight at the conditions in the first half of the show. “This is the best weather of all time,” he said two songs into the show. “I’ve been to Houston a fair number of times in my life. Did you guys change something?” And then a little later, Jeff added, “I’m marveling at this weather. It’s distracting.”

Jeff must have been a bit weather-stracted because I clearly heard him flub a couple of lyrics — he sang “Spiders are singing in the salty sea…” during the show-opening Spiders (Kidsmoke), for example, and “I could be your demon…” on War On War — though he didn’t seem to even realize it (and not many in the crowd did). It was kind of amusing, if only for a nerd like myself. You know, maybe it was just that kind of audience because as Jeff pointed out during a stretch of the setlist that went from One Wing to Hummingbird to Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull, “There’s a little theme in the set tonight. Ah, nobody cares.”

No, probably not. But then again, this was probably a typical outdoor Wilco audience nowadays — or just a typical Wilco audience, period. It is made up of fans, yes, but ones who seem most excited by songs like California Stars and Heavy Metal Drummer. Forgive me if that comes off as snobbish. I think there’s certainly room for multitudes under the Wilco umbrella, and I understand why some songs (and it’s true for any band of a certain stature) must be played night after night after night, but it does get kind of tiresome after a while.

Jeff and Co. have a part to play in that, too. There were certainly some in the Houston audience itching to hear some lesser-played tunes, like the folks I heard who yelled out for tracks such as Sunken Treasure and Panthers. But Jeff politely squelched those requests, saying, “Thank you for knowing the names of some of the songs and yelling them out, but we’re past the request part (of the evening). We put together a program for you of songs we feel comfortable playing and we’re gonna continue playing those for you.”

So with that said, I guess we were fortunate to get some of the variety we did — most notably the excellent show-opening two-fer of Spiders (Kidsmoke) right into Wishful Thinking. The acoustic arrangement of the former isn’t something I’ve heard in a while, so it was great to hear those opening chords and then the noise outro transitioning right into Wishful almost made the show for me right there. We also got another transition — from I Am Trying To Break Your Heart into One Wing — that hadn’t happened on this tour yet. And the Box Full Of Letters-Annihilation couplet also represented a mini-theme of sorts with one of the band’s earliest recorded songs being followed by one of its most recently recorded ones, causing Jeff to quip that “we’re gonna show you our artistic growth.”

By the time we got to the encore, Jeff was already struggling to fit all of the planned songs into what must have been a very firm 10 p.m. curfew. He clearly scrapped Falling Apart (Right Now) — the crew had already brought out the guitars for that song when Jeff had to send them back — and went right into the show-closing I Got You (At The End Of The Century), joking that “We’re running out of time. I just mean in general.” That, incidentally, was a funny little twist on his usual show banter about how “we’re coming to the end,” and when the audience naturally boos, adding, “I just mean, in general.”

Anyway, as I said, this setting could have made for an unmemorable show at best — or a subpar to mediocre one at worst. But when a friend asked me, “How was the show?” I had to respond that it was surprisingly decent. So although it wasn’t the best venue and I did witness some perplexing crowd behavior, on the whole, it was a pretty enjoyable night. Is that what happens when you set your expectations fairly low? Maybe I should try that more often!

Here was the complete setlist, as played (I didn't get a glimpse at a printed selist, but I'm sure that Falling Apart (Right Now) was on it in the encore; however, as mentioned, it wasn't played):

 

Spiders (Kidsmoke) (acoustic arrangement)>

Wishful Thinking

Evicted

Handshake Drugs

At Least That's What You Said

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart>

One Wing

Hummingbird

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

Whole Love

War On War

Cruel Country

Quiet Amplifier

Jesus, etc.

Impossible Germany

Box Full Of Letters

Annihilation

Heavy Metal Drummer

A Shot In The Arm

------------------------------------

California Stars

Walken

I Got You (At The End Of The Century)

After an extra day off due to the May 2 show in Birmingham, Ala., being postponed because of weather (and later rescheduled for May 12), Wilco and Waxahatchee landed in the Big Easy for a Saturday night show during the final weekend of Jazz Fest. Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend, but I saw some video clips and heard from a couple of folks who were there and it sounded like another solid show in keeping with the sets the band had played in Florida the previous week. If anyone on here did attend, please do chime in.

 

Meanwhile, for record-keeping purposes if nothing else, here was the complete setlist as played (courtesy of Wilcoworld):

 

Company In My Back

Evicted

Handshake Drugs

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

If I Ever Was A Child

Everyone Hides

I Am My Mother

Cruel Country

Quiet Amplifier

Bird WIthout A Tail/Base Of My Skull

At Least That's What You Said

You Are My Face

Whole Love

Impossible Germany

Jesus, etc.

Annihilation

Hummingbird

Box Full Of Letters

Heavy Metal Drummer

I'm The Man Who Loves You

----------------------------------------------

California Stars

Falling Apart (Right Now)

*Monday>

*Outtasite (Outta Mind)

 

* — last two songs added based on report below, but weren't on Wilcoworld setlist

22 hours ago, worldrecordplayer said:

I didn't have any sort of weird atmosphere where we were sitting on the floor. Jeff's comment about the Cali Stars request notwithstanding. A solid Wilco show in front of an all standing crowd. My first FL show was a keeper. Hopefully tonight holds up the same. 

Glad you had a good experience. Florida is weird, though. 

1 hour ago, worldrecordplayer said:

It was Derek Trucks in 2023, not Warren Haynes. 

Yeah, whoops my bad. That’s what happens when you try and write these things at like 6 a.m. when you have a flight to catch. Will correct.

And here was Waxahatchee's opening set, for anyone who might be interested:

 

3 Sisters

Evil Spawn

Ice Cold

Can't Do Much

Problem With It [Plains]

RIght Back To it

Crowbar

The Wolves

Lilacs

Tigers Blood

Fire

For its final show of this mini-Sunshine State tour within a tour, Wilco returned to relatively familiar territory at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre. If it feels like it was just yesterday, that the band performed here with a memorable surprise cameo by Warren Haynes Derek Trucks in the encore, well, it kind of was — in touring time, anyway. That show only happened a little bit over two years ago when Jeff and Co. were promoting Cruel Country, though obviously since then they have released an entire new record and EP.

Looking back, The Amp (as it bills itself) has been a pretty common stop for Wilco over the past dozen or so years. In addition to that 2023 show with Haynes, the band also visited in 2012 and 2015. Perhaps that’s why the venue appeared far from sold out this go round, even on Wilco Wednesday. You can’t win ‘em all, I guess.

Still, it’s easy to understand why the 4000-capacity Amp is a pretty popular destination both for bands of a certain stature and their fans. It’s an outdoor shed-type venue, but a relatively intimate one if that’s possible, with a low (four-foot) stage and a standing-room floor surrounded by a couple of tiers of stadium seating. And while entities like LiveNation control many venues of this sort around the country, this venue is still owned and operated by St. Johns County and staffed by a lot of volunteers (I think).

So what would Wilco deliver on this visit? Well, it was basically a version of the set the band has been performing thus far on this “Sweet And Sour” tour and that meant a little something for everybody — greatest hits, a deep cut or two, a couple of newer tunes. What we didn’t get was much at all from its last full-length album Cousin, nor two of its most popular older records, Being There and Summerteeth. In fact, if the sextet hadn’t tacked on a frenetic A Shot In The Arm to conclude the show, there would have been exactly zero songs played from its second or third studio efforts.

One highlight, as it has been at each stop on this tour, was the Ode To Joy rarity Quiet Amplifier. Despite being performed every night of the run thus far, it still has been played less than 10 times live ever. It might not be everyone’s favorite, of course, but it’s a really a marvel to watch Glenn’s thunderous percussion mesh with the rest of his bandmates’ contributions.

“We didn’t get to play that song very much (when it was released),” Jeff said afterward. “It came out on an album called Ode To Joy that came out when all the joy happened and we had to come home. So thanks for letting us play it now.”

It was one of the few visits to Banter Corner made on this lovely evening by Jeff, who shed his usual dark and/or denim wardrobe for one night in favor of a cream-colored jacket that was more in keeping with the coastal Florida setting. In fact, the only other significant comment he really made concerned one of the show’s other highlights, Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull.

I haven’t heard Jeff call attention to the lyrics of that song very often since its release, but perhaps because of the historical significance of St. Augustine — which was founded in 1565 and is recognized as the longest continually inhabited European-founded city in the continental United States — he did tonight. I’m not sure if some people just assume that Jeff wrote the lyrics, or never really gave it any thought, but it’s at least a good trivia question: Other than Woody Guthrie/Mermaid Avenue material, what’s the only Wilco song on which Jeff didn’t have at least a hand in writing the words? “The lyrics of this (next) song are almost as old as this place — not this venue, but this area, this settlement,” Jeff said by way of introducing the Cruel Country cut. “I know you think I’m joking, but they’re from the 16^th century or something like that.” I’m sure someone is going to chime in with My Darling or another Jay Bennett-centric tune here, so I guess we can debate.

But anyway, I digress. That really was about it for anything notable from a banter standpoint. And there really wasn’t much else to discuss otherwise, with perhaps the exception of Walken coming out of nowhere in the encore. The show clocked in at 1 hour, 57 minutes, was over before 10 p.m. and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves for the most part. Another successful Wilco Wednesday in the books. Now get me out of FLA…*

*NB: Fwiw, I am getting out of FLA but am going to miss the next couple of shows on this run (in Birmingham and New Orleans). However I will start the show threads here, assuming no one else does in good time. See y’all from Texas!

Here was the complete setlist, as played, for St. Augustine (didn't get a look at a printed setlist, so can't say if there were any changes/omissions):

 

Wishful Thinking

Evicted

Handshake Drugs

At Least That's What You Said

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart>

Hints

Side With The Seeds

Hummingbird

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

Whole Love

I Am My Mother

Cruel Country

Quiet Amplifier

Jesus, etc.

Impossible Germany

Box Full Of Letters

Annihilation

Heavy Metal Drummer>

I'm The Man Who Loves You

-------------------------------------

California Stars

Walken

Falling Apart (Right Now)

A Shot In The Arm

27 minutes ago, Powerpop Steve said:

So it would seem they're playing about 8-10 fewer songs when Waxahatchee opens, With no disrespect to them, I guess I caught a break in St. Pete when they didn't and we got 33 songs from Wilco with "Muzzle of Bees" the only one they played in Miami that they didn't in St. Pete.
 

They had three shows (the tour opener in Fairhope, AL, St. Petersburg and the last show of the spring U.S. run in Louisville in a few weeks) that were designated as “Evening With…” shows with Wilco playing two sets. I mean, obviously, if you’re just there for Wilco, then it’s best to have gotten to one of those. But Waxhatchee is pretty popular these days as well, so some people might prefer to catch a set from them as well as a slightly shorter Wilco set.

11 hours ago, denholm123 said:

Oh man, really? Any more context to that?

I just remember interviews years apart where Jeff would allude to it and say it would eventually come out, but at this point it doesn't seem likely. Not sure if it makes me feel better or worse knowing that they're sitting on it.

It's funny, I would get so excited when they would announce a tour dates in Japan. 

 

Jeff has said, a while ago now, that the music for the third Loose Fur record is done, but that it was just a matter of him sitting down and putting lyrics to it. But obviously he has been pretty busy with Wilco and Tweedy band stuff the past few years, so I'm sure that got put on the back burner. Hopefully not for good.