Wilco — 27 April 2025, St. Petersburg, FL (Duke Energy Center For The Arts - Mahaffey Theater)

[bböp]

With only three “Evening With…” shows scheduled as part of this spring’s “Sweet And Sour” tour with Waxahatchee, each one must be savored because it’s another chance to hear some songs that Wilco doesn’t always get to play because of time limitations. For tonight’s performance at the cumbersomely named Duke Energy Center For The Arts – Mahaffey Theater, add that it’s the only indoor “Evening With…” show on the run and you had an opportunity for a unique and memorable, well, evening with Wilco.

And with more than a quarter century having gone by since the band’s last show in St. Petersburg proper, unique and memorable would certainly be welcome for local fans. Of course Jeff and Co. have played in the area more recently — several times in Tampa and Clearwater — but as a local pal who was there reminded me, this was Wilco’s first show in St. Petersburg since Aug. 31, 1999 at Jannus Landing. Kudos to the St. Petersburg-ians(?), too, because in a typical reserved-seat theater venue that could easily have featured the old sitting-versus-standing showdown, the eager crowd was on its feet from the start and without any prompting or tension.

That 1999 show naturally featured an emphasis on Summerteeth, released less than six months earlier, and the band added some tunes from that beloved record to its setlist for tonight’s return to St. Pete (unlike the first “Evening With…” show a couple nights prior when no Summerteeth songs were played). With Via Chicago in Set 1 and I’m Always In Love and A Shot In The Arm in Set 2, Summerteeth got a nice nod — even if Jeff probably wasn’t aware of the historical footnotes.

It was after Via Chicago, actually, when things threatened to go off the rails. One song earlier, Jeff had subtly asked someone in the front row — I’m not sure if it was a man or a woman or a couple — to stop filming him on his/her/their phone. He sort of did it under his breath, suggesting that maybe he/she/they were a little too close to be filming so blatantly. Then Jeff stumbled a bit singing the first verse of Via, getting some help from the audience to get through it. Afterward, he called out the filmer(s) again by urging them to switch spots with another couple in the front row so they wouldn’t be directly in his line of sight. The filmer(s) resisted the suggestion, so Jeff again had to explain that he had asked them to stop filming and they hadn’t and it was really distracting him. It’s never a good sign when you see tour manager Eric show up at the side of the stage ready to intervene, but fortunately things calmed down from that point. “Sorry, everybody,” Jeff said, and the show resumed with I Am Trying To Break Your Heart — and without further incident.

Sometimes when Jeff has a moment like this, it can drag down the rest of the show because Jeff feels badly about having called out someone and there is residual tension for the duration of the performance. But in this case, I think the “Evening With…” format and its built-in intermission helped to reset things. A few songs before said intermission, Jeff checked in with the crowd again with his usual “Everyone having a good time?” Then he addressed the filmer(s) directly: “Are you having a good time? Are we cool?” Having gotten the all-clear, Jeff was able to go on with the show with a clean slate.

In Set 2, Jeff and his bandmates seemed to really be enjoying themselves. For his part, Jeff was much more playful with the audience. He joked that it “didn’t feel like a Sunday night crowd. You’ve been at this all day, haven’t you?” and later gently shot down a request for Forget The Flowers by saying that the “request lines are closed” and that the band had already crafted a program just for this occasion. Near the end of the show, Jeff bantered with a gentleman standing right next to me, who was wearing a Florida Panthers hockey jersey. “I guess the game must be over because you took your jersey off,” Jeff said. The man replied, “Yep. 5-2, Caps.” Jeff replied with something like, “5-2 Caps? Oh, great.”

Nels, meanwhile, seemed to be having an excellent night. He just seemed to be having fun, especially in Set 2. For instance, during I’m Always In Love, he even did a couple of Carrie Brownstein-esque kicks, which I don’t recall him doing very often, if ever. And he was as playful as I can remember him being in some time, seeming to share inside jokes with both Jeff and Mikael at various points.

So it ended up being a good night overall, despite the early tension. And on a personal note, I will say that I will always remember this show (not only because of the company — again, shout out to my St. Pete friends) but also because of where I was standing. Sometimes in theater shows, you can get a weird sound mix if you are either close to the front and/or off to one side or the other. It’s an acoustic thing, and it can sometimes be rough.

But standing there almost directly in front of Nels tonight, my sonic experience was basically hearing Nels play really loudly and clearly directly out of his amp and the rest of the band being kind of a muddle. I compare it to listening to one of those videos on YouTube that features one part or another of a song, usually vocals, being isolated. It was amazing to hear Nels’ guitar parts that way and to hear how much he’s doing in a given song that I didn’t even realize. I don’t know if there’s a way to recreate that with a recording of a given show, but if so, that would be cool. Nels isolated — and the same could probably be said of each band member — I recommend it!

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

 

Set 1

Wishful Thinking

Evicted

Art Of Almost (acoustic arrangement)

Handshake Drugs

Via Chicago

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

If I Ever Was A Child

Sunken Treasure (Jeff on acoustic; no harmonica)>

Everyone Hides

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

War On War

I Am My Mother

Cruel Country

Quiet Amplifier

Either Way

 

Set 2

The Late Greats

Annihilation

At Least That's What You Said

You Are My Face>

Whole Love

Side With The Seeds

Theologians

I'm The Man Who Loves You

Jesus, etc.

Impossible Germany

Box Full Of Letters

I'm Always In Love

Hummingbird

Heavy Metal Drummer

A Shot In The Arm

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

California Stars

Falling Apart (Right Now)

Monday

[Albert Tatlock]

Ta. 

2 hours ago, bböp said:

St. Petersburg-ians(?)

 A Piterech apparently (based upon the original anyway).

[SarahC]

How exciting to see Wishful Thinking on a set list! Hoping it sticks around for a show or 3 in a couple weeks

[Powerpop Steve]

Been a Wilco fan since Summerteeth and last night was finally my first Wilco show, and man it was a blast. I've listened to my fair share of shows over the years but actually being in the same room as them and seeing the show is quite the experience, and inspired me to join this forum.

With the box out recently it does seem that they're emphasizing Ghost in these shows based on tonight's setlist and the previous two nights.

 

Great review above, with one minor correction: the hockey fan at the game was wearing an Alex Ovechkin Washington Capitals jersey. They were playing their playoff game around the same time as the show. I'm a big Tampa Bay Lightning fan and for the 3 1/2 months between buying the tickets and last night's show I was sweating out whether there would be a Lightning-Wilco conflict for me which would have detracted from my enjoyment of both. Fortunately when the playoff schedule was announced about 10 days ago, Sunday was a day between games of their playoff series.