Wilco — 15 December 2024, St. Paul, MN (Palace Theatre) [Night 3 of 3]

[bböp]

I've got to catch a flight home pretty soon, so I won't get a chance to sit down and write much about this one until I get back, but I figure I'll at least just start the thread with a few words and the setlist and then circle back. But suffice it to say, as one  friend actually did during the show tonight — and which Jeff apparently overheard — this was a Wilco run that we didn't want to end. You mean the band can't just keep traveling around to cool cities playing multi-night, multi-set, no-repeat shows with 30-plus songs all the time? Well, that's not fair...

 

But as with any good thing, I suppose you have try to not be sad that it's over but be happy that it happened at all — and that you were able to be a part of it. Right?

 

[MORE TO COME]

 

For now, here was the complete setlist as played for the final night in St. Paul (Infinite Surprise was a late scratch from the printed setlist as the planned opener for Set 2, but I'm not sure if there were another other changes/omissions in Set 1):

 

Set 1

Via Chicago

Poor Places>

Reservations

Sky Blue Sky

Shouldn't Be Ashamed

I Am My Mother

Cruel Country

Love Is Everywhere (Beware)

War On War

Sad Kind Of Way

Meant To Be

Ashes Of American Flags

Forget The Flowers

Everyone Hides

One Sunday Morning (Song For Jane Smiley's Boyfriend)

 

Set 2

Annihilation

At Least That's What You Said

Hummingbird

On And On And On

Can't Stand It

Sonny Feeling

Hotel Arizona

Impossible Germany

Passenger Side

A Magazine Called Sunset

Dawned On Me

Walken

Kingpin

I Got You (At The End Of The Century)

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

Falling Apart (Right Now)

California Stars

Candyfloss

Kicking Television

[knotgreen]

Boy did the band seem like they were having fun last night. I feel like Jeff has intimated, or maybe even said explicitly, that these no-repeat runs are a lot of work for the band. It seemed to me, however, that they were really enjoying stretching out, playing a wide breadth of songs, and rearranging others (Kingpin?!). While you have some sense of what will likely get played, there is also a sense of unpredictability that’s more typical of a JT solo show than a Wilco show. 
 

The no-opener, no-repeat model is a fan’s dream. I am looking forward to the next run wherever that may be. 
 

Oh, and so good to be back in St Paul and to reconnect with friends!

[TCP]

Oh hey VC is back. Thanks admin team!

 

I'll echo knotgreen, these three shows really were a dream. I know the Palace shows in 2019 had a lot of the same people night after night, and I think the no repeats thing probably encouraged more people to go to two or even all three of these shows. As the band gets older I'm sure staying put longer will be more appealing, so hopefully this is the sort of thing they'll do more of. It's nice for me, as a foreign tourist from a far off distant land, to be able to travel down there and make a weekend out of it. 

 

Really happy to hear Candyfloss, Kingpin, and Hotel Arizona on Sunday. The band was on fire and you could tell Jeff was lit up. It's too bad Kicking Television is best saved as a closer because lyrically it would have been fitting to go into during his anti-holiday-consumerism rants. Did anyone else catch Nels looking emotional after Impossible Germany? I'm guessing putting your all into a performance like that is emotionally draining. 

 

I'll wrap this post up with a picture of Christmas-lover Jeff Tweedy: