WILCO - July 10, 2009 - Frawley Stadium, Wilmington, Delaware
There were some dark clouds, but no rain. (I saw reports on Twitter that the next night in Lowell, Massachusetts Wilco's set was cut short by a thunderstorm.) Conor Oberst and The Mystic River Band opened with an impressive hour long set of a full tilt rock. I am familiar with some of Oberst's gentler work as Bright Eyes, but this performance put a powerfully different sound behind his music. A friend saw Oberst and the The Mystic River Band in Baltimore two nights earlier in a club with a capacity around 200 and was literally blow away.
Wilco followed with a stunning, two hour tour de force. The full set list is available online at Wilcobase. The show included two encore sets. Wilcobase breaks the songs down by album, and the show was fairly evenly drawn from Wilco's four most recent albums, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, A Ghost Is Born, Sky Blue Sky, and Wilco (the Album). Wilco handed out a free "Wilco Summer Tour 2009" program, that was entertaining and included an interview with Jeff Tweedy conducted by his two sons, Sam and Spencer. In a nice baseball touch, the center of the program is a scorecard for fans. Across the top of the grid is a list of every Wilco song, and down the left side is a list of every summer concert. Of course, this resulted in tiny boxes just barely big enough to fit a check mark, and by the time Wilco started playing, it was too dark to see anything anyway, but the concept was entertaining.
Wilco has built a fine repertoire of songs over the years and the current configuration of the band turns out stunning live renditions. I have seen them three times in the last four years or so, and they have become one of the most powerful concert bands performing today. Reports have it that Wilco and Bruce Springsteen turned in the best performances at Bonnaroo this year. Bruce went off afterward on a wild, wonderful, triumphant European tour. (Sorry, I only wish I had a first hand report here, but check out GreasyLake or Blogness on the Edge of Town. I have tickets to see Bruce and the E-Street Band in October in Philadelphia.)
It is also nice to see Wilco share the stage with talent like Conor Oberst. Other acts opening for Wilco on this tour include Okkervil River and Yo La Tengo. In the program interview with his sons, Tweedy also mentions that the band shares the proceeds of concert posters sold at the shows with local charities. Tweedy has developed a wonderful interaction with the fans. For reasons not entirely made clear, the mascot of the Wilmington Blue Rocks appears to be a character named "Mr. Celery." Wilco had sent out an e-mail advising that Mr. Celery would be in the stands, as he was reported to be a Wilco fan, and asking other fans to wish him well. Mr. Celery was indeed walking around before the show with a Wilco t-shirt as a cape and he made an appearance on stage during Wilco's set. Fans down in front of the stage came with stalks of celery that they tossed up to Tweedy and the band from time to time.
The only negative that I have to report about Wilco in Wilmington was the way the general admission tickets were handled. Although Wilco's website clearly stated that your ticket would be good for admission to the stands or the field and there was no selection online to order a specific type of ticket, the tickets delivered were printed "Stands" or "Field." Security personnel at the stadium refused to let people onto the field prior to the show unless their ticket said "Field" or that they had a bracelet that allowed field access. There were many unhappy fans who wanted to get down front sooner.
Wilco's powerful performance probably erased most of that ill-will, as everyone seemed happy after the show, even though they had to wait a long time for the parking lot to clear.
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