Invisible Hits is a column in which Tyler Wilcox scours the internet for the best (and strangest) bootlegs, rarities, outtakes, and live clips.
Wilco rose from the ashes of alt-country pioneers Uncle Tupelo 25 years ago this week, playing live for the first time on November 17, 1994. They’ve been a reliably great touring act ever since. Of course, if you ask three Wilco diehards which live iteration of the band is preferred, you’re liable to get three different answers. Over the past quarter-century, band leader Jeff Tweedy has demonstrated his preference for change above all else, whether it’s shuffling the lineup or dramatically shifting the musical direction. It’s a strategy that’s worked out well: 11 studio albums in, Wilco’s fanbase remains fiercely devoted.
A dig into the band’s deep live archive is a rewarding and often surprising experience. Watch and listen as Wilco reinvents itself over and over again.
The Lounge Ax in Chicago (November 23, 1994)
Wilco made their onstage debut in St. Louis a week before this Chicago gig, and while there is a recording of that show, it’s rough and with a severely unbalanced mix. This tape is a much more enjoyable listen and features virtually the same setlist, giving us a glimpse of the early lineup that included guitarist Jay Bennett. Wilco’s newly-added ringer already sounds right at home as the band rolls amiably through most of A.M., their then-unreleased debut, plus a few previews of 1996’s Being There and some Tweedy-penned Uncle Tupelo chestnuts. The set is filled out with a few covers, most notably a revved-up rendition of Tom Petty’s “Listen to Her Heart.” One can imagine Wilco’s major-label A&R reps seeing the band as a potential ’90s version of Petty and the Heartbreakers, just one left-field, roots-rock-flavored hit away from selling out arenas. But Tweedy had other things in mind.
Vic Theatre in Chicago (November 27, 1996)
The waves of billowing feedback that open this Chicago gig two years later situate Wilco firmly outside of the mainstream, even as the band’s audience was growing. Being There featured plenty of classic rock thrills, but Tweedy and co. contrasted them with a healthy dose of self-awareness and occasionally dissonant sonics. Onstage, Wilco could shift gears expertly, whether blasting through the ramshackle power-pop of “Outtasite (Outta Mind)” or exploring the dark corners of “Sunken Treasure.” With Bennett increasingly utilizing an arsenal of vintage keyboards, the sonic textures available to the band expanded considerably, often moving songs into spacier realms. Wilco was still one helluva rock band, though—check out the unhinged remake of the solo acoustic tune “Someone Else’s Song,” where Tweedy howls over Crazy Horse-esque cacophony.
Glastonbury Festival (June 25, 1999)
By 1999, the Jay Bennett era of Wilco was reaching its onstage peak, bursting with ideas that went in several directions at once but came together thrillingly. Just five years into their career, Wilco had a dizzying array of material to choose from: the adventurous avant-pop of Summerteeth, the visionary folk-rock of the Mermaid Avenue sessions, the crowd-pleasing jams of Being There and A.M. This punishingly sunny festival gig in the summer of ’99 is heavy on just-released Summerteeth songs, with Bennett’s increasingly upfront contributions adding color and vibes aplenty. His gorgeous mellotron-like keyboards and sweet harmony vocals on “She’s a Jar” perfectly contrast the fragmented poetry of Tweedy’s lyrics. Their close partnership in the late 1990s was a fruitful one, but it wouldn’t last.
Rock Am Ring in Nürburg, Germany (May 18, 2002)
Three years later, Wilco was back on the European festival circuit, only with a radically different lineup. Bennett and drummer Ken Coomer didn’t make it past the contentious, protracted Yankee Hotel Foxtrot sessions, leaving bassist John Stirratt as the last man standing from the early days. Even with the addition of ace drummer Glenn Kotche, it would take a minute for Wilco to adjust, especially considering the tricky twists and turns of YHF. But that’s one of the odd pleasures of listening to live recordings from this era: You get to hear a band stripped of the previous years’ swagger and emerging in a new form. The highlight of this show arguably comes during “Laminated Cat,” a song that originated with Loose Fur, Tweedy and Kotche’s side project with Jim O’Rourke. Tweedy steps out a bit on lead guitar, playing elemental lines as the band whips up a storm of hypnotic rhythm. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot almost finished Wilco, but there was plenty of life left in this band.
Lollapalooza (August 2, 2008)
Following the release of 2004’s A Ghost Is Born, Tweedy put together the powerhouse lineup that has survived to this day. Stirratt remained in place, along with Kotche and YHF-era multi-instrumentalist Mikael Jorgenson. The new additions were guitarist/keyboardist Pat Sansone and guitarist Nels Cline, who lent his experimental chops to the mix. From almost the very beginning, this was an astoundingly versatile ensemble, capable of definitive readings of virtually every song in the Wilco songbook.
At Lollapalooza 2008, clad in Nudie suits, the band cruised through the dazzling interplay of Sky Blue Sky centerpiece “Impossible Germany,” locked in on the krautrock-inspired “Spiders (Kidsmoke),” and blasted out a celebratory and soulful “Monday.” Tweedy, not usually very demonstrative onstage, looks positively ecstatic. “One thing I think all of us have in common in our band is gratitude,” he wrote in his 2018 memoir, Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back). “We all know how hard making a band work really is. When things are going well and I don’t mean just commercially—when you’re enjoying it and you can feel everyone is working toward and excited about a common cause—it should never be taken for granted.”
Solid Sound Festival (2010-2019)
Wilco’s lineup has remained stable for the last 15 years, but the band is still trying new things live. The members launched a festival, Solid Sound, at the MASS MoCA museum in 2010, and it’s been held most summers since then. The self-curated lineups tend to reflect Wilco’s omnivorous tastes; this year’s included Jean Grae, Jonathan Richman, Mdou Moctar, and Cate Le Bon, not to mention a healthy dose of comedy and visual art.
Solid Sound also serves as a chance for Wilco to dig into the back catalogue, rewarding fans with deep cuts, full-album performances, and off-beat covers. You can get a taste of these often never-repeated performances either via the band’s own Roadcase series of digital releases or NYC Taper’s sanctioned audience tapes. Check out a remarkable all-covers set from 2013, highlighted by Wilco-ized renditions of Television’s “Marquee Moon,” Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky,” and Pavement’s “Cut Your Hair.” Or listen to a sprawling 2017 show when the band played both Being There and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot front to back. Or enjoy this year’s career-spanning retrospective, an absorbing set that looked back while also previewing their new album, Ode to Joy. A quarter-century into their run, Wilco’s sound remains as solid as ever.
