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Ta. I shall endeavour not to get a swelled melon about your kind sentiments which, coincidentally, was what Jeff told the members of last night's crowd after praising them. "Don't get too cocky," he said. I will keep the words of the sage Tweedy in mind... And re: Pi(e) Day, well, please do have some for me on 31 April — Welsh rarebit, perhaps?

Don't really have time to write too much of substance right now. Just drove back from the show through some periods of scarily blinding lake-effect snow and have to get up in about five hours to catch a flight, so if no one else chimes in by tomorrow, I'll add some details then. Suffice it to say that the jam band folks (and anyone else for whom the primary standard for evaluation of a show is setlist variety) should avert their eyes. But for the general population, I have to say that this was a pretty entertaining performance — and I was in the balcony. Jeff labeled the crowd "robust" near

Enjoy your trip! A Dutchman in the big city...

Thanks for reading. And to anyone with a kind word over the past few days. Unfortunately I'll have to miss the Beacon run, so hopefully someone else will pick up the mantle...

They did it in Europe once or twice in the aftermath of the election, FYI.

Well, that was a mighty fun way to end another Chicago run. When it's all said and done, I doubt the Chicago Theatre will ever reach the top of many local fans' lists of favorite venues, but it's almost certainly the city's premier indoor theater at the moment (and owing to its brilliant marquee, its most iconic) so it was probably about time that Wilco finally played a headlining concert — or four — on its stage. And Jeff basically said as much near the end of last night's show, thanking the venue's staff for making the band feel so welcome during its residency. A couple of hours earlier, a

Well, I suppose I should preface these comments by saying that I personally had one of those nights that sometimes happen at a reserved-seat show in a big theater when you have a so-so seat and then the tallest person in sight steps into the seat directly in front of you. Then the band comes on and the entire crowd stands and you can't get much of a sightline to the stage and you feel even more disconnected from the show than you already did and, well, blerg. Now I don't want to come off as complaining because I've had more than my fair share of good seats over the years, and especially since

How to best sum up the second night of Wilco's four-night Winterlude residency at the Chicago Theatre? I guess "good, old-fashioned rock show" would be as apt a description as any. Maybe not the kind of life-affirming show where you walk out totally drenched in sweat with aching legs from having pogoed so furiously and an ear-to-ear smile from making a connection with the band and those around you, but certainly one that reinforced Wilco's ability to deliver an intense, powerful, musical experience no matter what the pastoral set design of the current Schmilco tour and the relative maturity of

Incidentally, tonight's support act was the fab Chicago supergroup The Flat Five (Kelly Hogan, Nora O'Connor, Scott Ligon, Casey McDonough and Alex Hall). They played about 40 minutes to a much smaller audience than they deserve. Was hoping they might make it out to Solid Sound this year, but I'm guessing schedules didn't align. Anyway, their set was mostly songs off their recent Bloodshot record of Chris Ligon songs called It's A World Of Love And Hope, which I'd encourage everyone to pick up... In case anyone cares, their setlist as played was: Buglight Florida You're Still Joe I Could

Yes, indeed (ta for the reminder, Herr Tatlock; have amended recap).

Well, Winterlude 2017 is officially underway and it was a nice welcome back home for Wilco, and a welcome return to touring both in the United States and in the new year. Not to mention the first-ever performance by the band within the elegant confines of the Chicago Theatre, which is located right in the heart of the Loop and features what is probably the city's most iconic theater marquee. Jeff even mentioned at one point tonight that it was just his second time ever in the building; the first came in 2006 when Wilco performed The Thanks I Get on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, joning then-Il

I hadn't seen this news item from a couple days ago posted or discussed anywhere yet, so I figured I'd at least post the link on here now that it's officially out there. This might not be of much interest to most people — the inner workings and machinations of band management rarely is — but I do think it's significant to at least mention on here. Now I don't have any inside information or anything, but part of me wonders if this is one reason why any Solid Sound lineup announcements might be taking a little bit longer than usual this time. TMM is not the biggest operation anyway, and I don'

This might've been expected given that Nels already had a show booked with Medeski, Martin and Wood in town the night before (May 4), but then again Glenn is scheduled to be in Madison, WI on May 6 for a show with Third Coast Percussion that's been on the books since last July, so who knows? I guess it wouldn't be the first time Glenn has flown in and out from a tour for one random gig...

Yay Flat Five! Hopefully this is a precursor to them at Solid Sound...

Oh lord, haha! I hope you're being facetious about the "limited edition CD single" aspect of that...

Where are the seats, if they're still available?

Indeed.

After some last-minute scrambling to push this show up by a day so that Jeff could get decked out in a tuxedo and escort the wonderful Mavis Staples to the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C., I'm happy to report that this year's final Living Room Show benefitting Letters to Santa (via Onward Neighborhood House) otherwise went off without a hitch. The Tweedys once again demonstrated their amazing generosity in so many ways, and a beautiful night was had by all who were able to attend. It's hard to express how much it means to share this experience with a group of people you love, many

Venues typically have a presale of their own on Thursdays and Beacon is owned by MSG Group. You usually can get a code by subscribing to either the Beacon or MSG Group e-mail newsletters. Maybe that info has gone out already, but it shouldn't be too hard to find for a resourceful young buck such as yourself. Good luck, man!

Were you there, or did you watch the stream? Just wondering because if you were there, I wish we would've been able to say hello. Pretty sure the song played for the "fans" out in the foyer waiting to get in was Jesus, etc. (and was funded by proxy by comedian Pete Grosz, who used to co-host the event with TJ Jagodowski). I say "fans" because Jeff came back in and said nobody out there really seemed to know who he was. He said some continued playing board games or something to that effect; for some reason, I pictured a thrilling round of Jenga! And as far as the finale, the exact chronology

I look forward to seeing it as well, if only to see how crowded the place really looked since I didn't have the best position for that. One small correction, though, which is that it was the band's drum tech Ashwin who took the post-show snap (and has been doing so for some time now) and not Matrix. Also, I believe I did not raise my arms in salute but put forth a goofy pose which I cannot currently recall exactly what it was. Another reason we hopefully get to see said snap...

Excellently spewed recap, Herr Tatlock, and please allow me to say it's always a pleasure getting to catch up with you a bit in person! I hope you will make your way to our shores again sooner than later. Until then, I guess we'll always have Paris (where I have somewhat fond memories of teenaged French using me as a pogo stick during Spiders)... ...and now the Brixton Academy (sorry I mean, O2 Academy Brixton), where before a near-capacity crowd of just under 5,000, Wilco closed out its 2016 touring schedule with a solid, professional performance that probably delighted 95 percent of the th

No great surprises, setlist-wise, for anyone who's been closely following these last few full-band shows of 2016, but I will say that the crowd was a relatively lively one. English (and Scottish — I see you Queenies) fans have been waiting for a good long while for the band to return to this area. Could it be possible that this was Wilco's first non-festival headlining show in the UK since two London gigs on the Whole Love tour in October of 2011? I could be missing an appearance somewhere in that time, but the point is it has been a good long while. So there was definitely a palpable level

Great work, Mariana!

I think the site was down overnight here, so this following morning is the first chance I'm getting to post about the show in Paris. But once again I don't have that much time and there wasn't necessarily that much to say, in that it was a pretty typical show for this end-of-2016 touring schedule with a focus on Wilco Schmilco and Star Wars material. I guess you could say that it was a very professional show, which I think anyone who's followed along on tours like this will probably be able to appreciate. I'm not sure if there was a curfew, but the band was on and off stage in under two hours