Wilco — 5 August 2025, Philadelphia, PA (The Met)

[bböp]

And so it begins. On the heels of a three-night stint on the Outlaw Music Festival express, Wilco began a month-long series of “An August Evening With…” shows that will span the U.S. (and a bit of Canada) and take the band through the end of its touring schedule for 2025. As Jeff drily outlined near the start of tonight’s performance, these shows will follow the by-now-familiar format of two sets with a short intermission break.

 

That the tour, in earnest, started in Philadelphia was probably fitting since this is apparently the place where Jeff and Co. get the most grievances about not playing shows. It’s something that clearly was not lost on Jeff, who used one of his rare visits to Banter Corner on this night to mention that fact. To be fair, this was the first Wilco show in the city in nearly four years when the band co-headlined the Mann Center for the Performing Arts with Sleater-Kinney.

 

“Everybody having a good time?” Jeff asked midway through the second set. “It’s good to be back in Philly. Of every city in the world, this is the one that complains the most about us not playing here. I’m sorry. I’m glad we’re here. I’m sorry we haven’t come here more. There are so many cities! We love your city. If we haven’t been here enough, that’s on us. I’m sorry. We’re here now.”

 

Before the gig with Sleater-Kinney, amazingly, the last Wilco show in the City of Brotherly Love had been at the Mann in June 2016. Of course, members of Wilco have performed in Philadelphia fairly often over the past few years with — among other things — Nels having done a four-night residency at Solar Myth last fall and Ardmore Music Hall hosting “An Evening of Wilco Members’ Solo Projects” in December 2022.

 

At some point, however, I guess you want to see the flagship. And I would say that Jeff and Co. certainly made up for lost time with a 2 hour, 31-minute show (including a 19-minute intermission) that was heavy on songs and light on chatter. I don’t know if that was on account of Jeff and his bandmates trying to get in all the songs they wanted to play before a potential 11 p.m. curfew or if Jeff just wasn’t feeling all that talkative, but it was probably a bit of a disappointing night for those who go see Jeff as much for his banter as the music itself.

 

The one place the two things converged was during Hate It Here when Jeff botched the lyrics in the coda, singing “I do the dishes/I mow the lawn” again (or something like that) instead of “I take out the trash/I sweep the floor,” and then intentionally going completely off the rails when he finished the song with the line “I’m never gonna see your ass anymore.” Afterward, Jeff (who was uncharacteristically sporting a fire-engine red button down shirt) immediately deadpanned, “I know I changed the lyrics at the end. I can do that.”

 

Other than that funny moment — and about 30 seconds during Evicted when Jeff seemed to have a problem with his guitar and took it off, standing there twirling his plug with a goofy look on his face before his tech brought him a replacement — the focus definitely stayed on the music. Set 1 started out in pretty familiar fashion to anyone who had been following the Outlaw fest setlists from the previous couple of shows, including the acoustic arrangement of Spiders (Kidsmoke), but then we started getting some real surprises — the most notable one coming when Jeff and John switched instruments, which could only signal one thing: It’s Just That Simple. It was great to hear that one again, and then the set just kept on going from there with an unexpectedly early California Stars followed by The Late Greats and Annihilation. By the time the first set was over, Wilco had already played 18 songs over 81 minutes.

 

Set 2, as usual, featured more of the expected songs from the catalog, such as Impossible Germany, Jesus, etc., Heavy Metal Drummer and I’m The Man Who Loves You. But we still got the always-welcome Sunken Treasure as well as the aforementioned Hate It Here, which made it a cool half-dozen songs played from Sky Blue Sky (exactly half the record, for those keeping track). And the brief encore was fun, too, with Monday and Outtasite (Outta Mind) — though Jeff sadly did not do the “son of a…” transition between songs — sending the sold-out crowd home with a good rush of adrenaline.

 

At one point near the end of the second set, when Jeff uttered his usual joke about it getting close to the end and said crowd started to get just a tiny bit rowdy (or was it restless?), Jeff paid his other main visit to Banter Corner when he talked about how there was always a point in the show “when people realize we’re not gonna play” the song they want to hear. He shared how there once were pamphlets in the lobby to help people cope with that and suggested they might be reprinted, but that in the meantime, “there are some groups online” where folks can commiserate. Clearly he must have been referring to Facebook or Reddit, and not us over here at good ol’ VC. Right? Because we certainly wouldn’t whine about anything, like some Philadelphians have over the years. No, I think we most definitely would not.

 

Here was the complete setlist, as played, for the band's long-awaited return to Philadelphia (didn't get a look at a printed list, so can't say if there were any changes/omissions):

 

Set 1
Story To Tell
Handshake Drugs
If I Ever Was A Child
Cruel Country
Forget The Flowers
Evicted
Spiders (Kidsmoke) (acoustic arrangement)
Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull
What Light
Hesitating Beauty
Hummingbird
Via Chicago
Quiet Amplifier
Either Way
It's Just That Simple
California Stars
The Late Greats
Annihilation

 

Set 2
Company In My Back
Side With The Seeds
Box Full Of Letters
Random Name Generator
Sunken Treasure (acoustic arrangement; Jeff on acoustic with no harmonica)
Jesus, etc.
Impossible Germany
Hate It Here
Walken
Falling Apart (Right Now)
Heavy Metal Drummer
I'm The Man Who Loves You
-----------------------------------------------
Monday>
Outtasite (Outta Mind)

[Albert Tatlock]

Looking forward to reports on those debauched afterparties. Use codenames for real names and we'll still know who you mean without you getting any litigation.

[Magnetized]

I'll wait for Paul's detailed description of the show but I'll just make a few general comments. It was fantastic to see the boys again, as always, and they did NOT disappoint. I love the new format for Evening With shows, with two sets and an encore.

 

At dinner before the show, and in brief conversations with people around me, I spoke with several people who were seeing Wilco for the first time, and it was gratifying (if not surprising) to hear such enthusiastic comments at intermission and after the show. It took about 3 songs to get most of the crowd out of their cushy seats and up and dancing, and while there were a smattering of holdouts, most of the crowd was fully engaged.

 

There was some kind of a technical snafu with Jeff's guitar during Evicted, but it was handled with characteristic aplomb and efficiency, with not a beat missed; the guy next to me, a Wilco newbie, said, Damn, that was impressive!

 

And Jeff looked absolutely resplendent in red!

 

Now, over to you, Paul...

[bböp]

9 hours ago, Albert Tatlock said:

Looking forward to reports on those debauched afterparties. Use codenames for real names and we'll still know who you mean without you getting any litigation.

 

Sorry for the delay in posting — the Philly report is now complete, and I wanted to mention that it was great to see so many familiar faces, or at least to know that so many were in attendance — but I was way too busy losing half my brain to said debauchery...wink, wink.

 

 

 

[Albert Tatlock]

3 hours ago, bböp said:

debauchery

Oh go on. I suggest the following code names:-

 

Jeff - Boss Hogg

John - Spicy Hamster

Glenn - Rumpleddrumskin

Mikael - Specs Bomb

Nels - Jazzy K

Pat - Mr Dreamy a.k.a. The Perfect Package

[Michael H]

9 hours ago, Magnetized said:

There was some kind of a technical snafu with Jeff's guitar during Evicted

Broken string on the guitar after his first strum of it. 

[bböp]

50 minutes ago, Michael H said:

Broken string on the guitar after his first strum of it. 

Thanks,. Wasn’t quite close enough to see exactly what happened.