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Wilco — 6 August 2025, Pittsburgh, PA (Heinz Hall)


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Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it to this show, but I know that at least a couple of VCers were in attendance so hopefully at least one of them will chime in and give us a little bit of a report. For now, though, here was the setlist as provided by the fine folks at Wilcoworld (they don't specify where the set break was, but according to Setlist.fm, it came after California Stars; I'm also making a couple of educated assumptions about arrangements, etc.):

 

Set 1

Story To Tell

Handshake Drugs

Pittsburgh

If I Ever Was A Child

Cruel Country

Forget The Flowers

Evicted

Spiders (Kidsmoke) (acoustic arrangement)

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

You And I

Hesitating Beauty

Hummingbird

War On War

Via Chicago

Love Is Everywhere (Beware)

It's Just That Simple

Falling Apart (RIght Now)

California Stars

 

Set 2

The Late Greats

Whole Love

Side With The Seeds

Box Full Of Letters

Annihilation

Sunken Treasure (acoustic arrangement; Jeff on acoustic with no harmonica)

Either Way

Impossible Germany

Jesus, etc.

Hate It Here

Walken

I'm The Man Who Loves You

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

Heavy Metal Drummer

I Got You (At The End Of The Century)>

Outtasite (Outta Mind)

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I was there! It was an interesting, but really fun show regardless. 

 

Similar to the last time they played here at Heinz Hall, the audience sat for almost the entire time. To be fair, the seats were very comfortable and I wanted to get up and groove to the music, but anytime I did so, I could feel the glares of the people behind me seeping deep into my soul. After each song, a fair amount of people would stand up to clap, and then promptly sit back down again. It wasn't until "I'm the Man Who Loves You" that the entire audience got on their feet. 

 

You were correct in terms of arrangements and which songs flowed into one another! It's almost like you've seen a few Wilco shows :huh.

 

A highlight for me from the show was during Jesus, etc. when a woman stood in the aisle holding a rose. Her partner walked down the aisle to meet her, and the two of them slow-danced in the aisle for the entire song, the rose in the man's mouth and all. Afterwards, Jeff quipped "You two should get a room. I'm just kidding, that's actually really sweet."

 

Another highlight for me was hearing "You And I", presumably played because of Jeff and Susie's 30th anniversary being that night, to which Jeff said afterward "If you see Susie, tell her I played 'You And I'."

 

I also was quite happy that they played "Pittsburgh". I mean, the song was tailor made to be played here :lol.

 

All in all, it was a good show, but it was definitely lacking the energy from the crowd for a proper Wilco show. I wonder if a lot of the crowd consisted of Heinz Hall members who just casually wanted to check out the band. 

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On 8/8/2025 at 9:19 AM, LittleDrummerBoy said:

Similar to the last time they played here at Heinz Hall, the audience sat for almost the entire time. To be fair, the seats were very comfortable and I wanted to get up and groove to the music, but anytime I did so, I could feel the glares of the people behind me seeping deep into my soul. After each song, a fair amount of people would stand up to clap, and then promptly sit back down again. It wasn't until "I'm the Man Who Loves You" that the entire audience got on their feet. 

 

 

Don't you understand how it works? The people glaring at you are allowed to stand for the songs they know and/or like, but you're not allowed to stand for the songs that you know and/or like. This creates tension when the crowd is split between fans who are familiar with and fans of the whole catalog, and fans who are familiar with maybe two albums and "California Stars."

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  • 4 weeks later...

One month later, here am I, one of the aforementioned VCer's known to be at the show. Apologies for my Gandolfian-like delay. I see there is an audio recap, ahem, of the show over In A Future Age. Below here are some visual accompaniments. I don't have much to add to the Banter Corner recap - sounds like it was similar to other nights. For example, Jeff remarked how they purposefully paired Box Full of Letters with Annihilation to demonstrate the progress (or lack thereof) that the band has made in 30 years.

In lieu of show-specific commentary, I'll just share that I wasn't planning  to attend any shows on this tour since there were no headlining gigs in my home state of New York. I was also put off by the escalating ticket prices. And as someone who lines up early for GA when such venues are on the itinerary, it pains me to settle for a less-expensive ticket in the rafters of seated venues. However, I also happened to plan a week-long vacation around the time the band would meander through the Northeast. Mainly I was going to be in central NY, but my agenda was opened-ended and, two nights before the Pittsburgh show, I bought one of those upper balcony tickets. I figured the show would be a good excuse to drive 7 hours - no big deal - southwest to visit one of my favorite cities - perhaps my favorite city outside of the Great State of New York - and check out a new venue.  In the week leading up to the show the balcony was almost empty and I thought I might have a whole section to myself, but it did fill up 1/2 - 2/3 for the show. I didn't get a good look at the floor and, as far as sitting vs. standing goes, I long ago accepted that crowds at ornate old theaters (and also at sleek and new theaters) are going to sit when their are chairs. That's just how it is. The only typically-seated venues where I see fans of bands of my generation standing are hockey arenas, and even that is usually just for the floor.

Speaking of ornate old theaters. My lord, Heinz Hall may be the most magnificent venue I have attended in regards to gilt and flash. Maybe not the actual theater room, but the lobby for sure. The color palette and detailing reminded me of the deathbed room scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey, or better yet, the gilded chandelier-bedazzled Austrian Room at the Tower of Learning, which I toured the morning of the show.  (So many cool things to do and cool places to see in Pitsburgh!) And the ushers were all wearing practically tuxedos. I felt very under-dressed in my band t-shirt.

As for shirts and stuff, I wasn't intrigued by much of the merch but I was so invigorated by the show that I decided to buy a poster afterwards as a souvenir of this great evening. The bridge featured on the poster was said to represent the bridges of Pittsburgh but the actual bridge pictured is a railroad bridge outside of Chicago. Same difference. Speaking of Pittsburgh, I don't think the song of the same name says much about the city specifically, and its not the most enlivening song, but I guess it got some kind of reaction from those in the crowd who knew it (I didn't). That's about as far as a complaint I will go and, in the merch line after the show, I heard two gentlemen behind me saying something about "one thing that disappointed me..." which caused me to break my neck. I myself felt reinvigorated by this show, having not been too enamored with the last few Wilco albums, and I was happy to hear the career-spanning two sets (and no opening band). Of course there are always going to be songs we wish we heard, or setlist variations we would have desired, but in this day and age when the band is sticking more or less to a pre-determined formula I found that formula to be very enjoyable for one night and I felt very much rewarded for my decision to venture out this way and spend my Evening With Wilco. 

PS - I see that some photos are showing up upside-down. I know that is a quirk of my computer which auto-rotates photos for some programs but not for others, it I don't know how to make it consistent. Argh.

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DSC05299 (Large).JPG

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3 hours ago, Yaz Rock said:

One month later, here am I, one of the aforementioned VCer's known to be at the show. Apologies for my Gandolfian-like delay.


Thanks a lot for chiming in, Rob! Better late than never. And great photos, as always. Definitely helped give a sense of the room and the vibe of the show!

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 9/2/2025 at 7:12 PM, Yaz Rock said:

perhaps my favorite city outside of the Great State of New York

Interesting, as someone who knows nothing about it.

Anyway, ta and sorry for the delay due to the site being down.

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On 9/2/2025 at 5:16 PM, bböp said:


Thanks a lot for chiming in, Rob! Better late than never. And great photos, as always. Definitely helped give a sense of the room and the vibe of the show!

You're welcome, Paul, and thanks for reading the post and enjoying the pics! I appreciate you.

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On 9/13/2025 at 5:31 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

Interesting, as someone who knows nothing about it.

Anyway, ta and sorry for the delay due to the site being down.

Thanks! And there is some great architecture there and the city is uniquely geographically situated between three rivers which can be appreciated from atop a high overlook, on the south side of the city,  accessible by car or old-timey cable railroad. Industrial ruins or relics still abound (Carrie Furnaces, for example) and then there are the Pirates and Penguins - I was able to partake in a baseball game the night before Wilco, so this visit was a "two-fer". And there are lots of good food options in town including for those of us who are plant-based.  

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