Wilco — 16 May 2025, Asheville, NC (Asheville Yards Amphitheater)

[bböp]

[Mods: please merge this with the other thread, if you're so inclined.]

 

Where were we? Well, by this penultimate show of the first leg of Wilco’s 2025 touring schedule, we pretty much have come to know what to expect from the band’s set. There have been occasional curveballs in the setlist over the past few weeks, but by and large, Jeff and Co. have stuck to a general framework for their roughly 120 minutes on stage every night and those who have been following along, either in person or virtually, can certainly see the basic show that the band wants to present.

So in Asheville, as Wilco said goodbye to tourmates Waxahatchee on this final night together — at the outdoor space formerly known as Rabbit Rabbit, but recently renamed the much less interesting Asheville Yards Amphitheater — the main question centered around whether we would finally get the long-awaited collaboration between the two bands on stage and exactly what that collaboration would entail. If tradition from past tours held, Waxahatchee would join Wilco for California Stars. But would that mean just Katie Crutchfield coming on to do vocals or the entire Waxahatchee band, featuring Spencer Tweedy and Liam Kazar, participating in some way?

Well, as it turned out, an early surprise came in the form of Jeff himself making a rare appearance during Waxhatchee’s opening set. He came out five songs into the performance, contributing backing vocals and acoustic guitar on Right Back To It (basically filling Asheville resident MJ Lenderman’s role on the studio version of the song, from Waxahatchee’s most recent full-length album, Tigers Blood).

Then in Wilco’s encore, we got the expected “Waxicali Stars” with all six of the Waxhatchee band members joining in on the Woody Guthrie-penned crowd pleaser. Of course Katie was front and center and sang a verse (along with Liam), but maybe the most entertaining aspect of the whole thing was watching the interaction between the drummers of the two bands, Glenn and Spencer. Glenn started on the drum set with Spencer behind him adding some additional percussion via a shaker or two. But mid-song, the two impressively switched places without missing a beat — if you blinked you missed it — and it looked like something they’ve done before. In fact, I’m sure they have.

Jeff briefly introduced the collaboration by saying that he and his bandmates “had such an amazing time touring with Waxahatchee” and then, with a big smile on his face afterward, simply said, “That was fun.” He added a few words of support for the local folks still struggling to come back in the wake of last fall’s Hurricane Helene and its devastating aftermath. “This is a beautiful place, and I’m glad it’s coming back,” said Jeff, who had earlier mentioned how much he enjoyed being here and called it a “tough town.” “I know it’s been rough.”

That visit to Banter Corner was a contrast to some of the sillier chatter that occurred earlier in the show, such as when Jeff pointed out someone wearing a shirt that said, “Glenn Kotche is good at percussion.” Jeff retorted, “Good, but not great.” Then he encouraged people to sing along, but joked that if you’re really bad at singing, “maybe don’t sing in your neighbor’s ear. Not saying anyone’s bad at singing…except you,” he said, pointing to some poor schlub in the front row. (Jeff would quickly apologize to the guy off mike, saying he liked his shirt.)

Another funny interaction came after Box Full Of Letters when some boisterous folks — some of whom might be on this here platform, ahem Vince — got the “Pat, Pat, Pat” chant going. Jeff jokingly waved it off, saying “Stop that.” Then some other people began chanting “Jeff, Jeff, Jeff” and probably other band members’ names, too, before the frontman said something to the effect of “we’re not gonna do this…we’re not gonna pit ourselves against each other.”

By the end of the 2 hour, 5-minute show, all the banter and collaborations — not to mention a slightly scary moment early in the set when someone required medical attention and the show had to be paused for a few minutes — caused Wilco to run right up against an apparently strict 10 p.m. curfew. It certainly seemed like the band was going to launch into Outtasite (Outta Mind) after I Got You (At The End Of The Century) and even played a bar or two of the rocker before Jeff or someone abruptly cut the song off and everyone put down their instruments and waved their final goodbyes.

It was a slightly awkward way for the show to end, but ultimately the good feelings of music and community that dominated for much of the evening won out and the Asheville audience headed out into the muggy night having gotten some much-needed uplift from a couple of groups of musicians who were clearly performing not only for themselves but also for a city and, really, an entire region that could use all the positive vibes they could get.

Here was the complete setlist, as played (Monday>Outtasite (Outta Mind) was originally on the printed setlist as the final songs of the encore, but was scratched out in favor of I Got You (At The End Of The Century):

 

Company In My Back

Evicted

Handshake Drugs

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

Love Is Everywhere (Beware)

You Are My Face>

Whole Love

Either Way

Impossible Germany

Jesus, etc.

Box Full Of Letters

Annihilation

Heavy Metal Drummer>

I'm The Man Who Loves You

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California Stars (w/Waxahatchee [Katie Crutchfield on vocals, Liam Kazar on vocals and electric guitar, Spencer Tweedy on drums and percussion, Eliana Athayde on keyboard, Colin Croom on pedal steel and Cole Berggren on banjo])

Falling Apart (Right Now)

I Got You (At The End Of The Century)

[bböp]

For anyone who's interested, here was Waxhatchee's complete setlist:

 

3 Sisters

Evil Spawn

Can't Do Much

Problem With It [Plains]

Right Back To It (w/Jeff Tweedy on backing vocals and acoustic guitar)

Mud

Crowbar

The Wolves

Much Ado About Nothing

Lilacs

Tigers Blood

Fire

[Albert Tatlock]

Ta.

[bböp]

8 hours ago, Albert Tatlock said:

Ta.

 

Ta(tlock).