Photos and Review by Stephen Bloch
I’m a proud dad, not a sad dad. I love witnessing my daughter thrive in college, take on new challenges and follow in my footsteps a bit behind the lens. Wilco’s Winterlude 2024 at St. Paul’s Palace Theater gave me a fine excuse to visit the Twin Cities and take in a bit of Dad Rock with my daughter (her first Winterlude was at The Chicago Theater in 2019, with numerous Wilco shows in between). Each show of the three night run was billed as an ‘Evening with Wilco’ and no repeats were to be found. There are maybe a handful of acts that could even approach an achievement like this. No opener. Just three-ish hours of music per night and 95 unique songs from the founding fathers of alt-country. Frontman Jeff Tweedy joked that they had practiced a lot and might know some of the tunes remaining for Sunday, “but it wasn’t going to be pretty”. They knew everything pretty well. The alt-country moniker doesn’t come close to describing the range of styles that Wilco has delved into in their 30+ year career and Saturday’s show was no exception to this. Beside the aforementioned genre, the 31 song, two set plus an encore was filled with rock, experimental, folk, indie and everything in between from 13 different albums plus a couple of covers. Name one band playing today beside the Rolling Stones or King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard that has more than 13 albums.
There was something very different about Saturday’s show from any of the previous 30ish Wilco shows I’ve attended since 1995. Quieter and lush cuts were even more quiet and stripped down but had an understated intensity to them. This was particularly true with “Spiders (Kidsmoke)”, an uncustomary opener, and “Art of Almost”. More intense songs were just that, more intense. “The Hate it Here” through the show closer “Let’s Not Get Carried Away” were frenzied, in a good way. Glenn Kotche’s drum solo was something special in the closer. Even Tweedy took a seat to watch in amazement.
Takeaways from Saturday’s show:
- Lots of guitar. There were more songs that featured three guitars than I’ve ever seen before at a Wilco show. The later parts of set two into the encore were blistering. Nels Cline, Pat Sansone, and Tweedy all got their licks in. Wilco guitar roadies had their hands full all night.
- Deep cuts. “Wishful Thinking”, “Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard”, “Remember the Mountain Bed”, “Less Than You Think”, “Blue Eyed Soul” and “Let’s Not Get Carried Away” are all relative rarities.
- Really dedicated fans. There was a general admission section at The Palace Theater as opposed to all seated Winterlude shows from the past. People arrived very early to get their spots on the rail. These fans knew their stuff too!
- More stage banter from pretty much everyone. I heard Nels AND Pat talk a bit. Jeff was his usual verbose self but leaned into some songs with lyrics that he screamed. Not sure I’ve seen that before. No chat from Mikael Jorgensen, but we did get some pillow clapping!
For a band that has been doing this a long time, they absolutely did NOT just go through the motions. All of the people around us felt like this was clearly a curated show with enough twists and turns to keep even the most seasoned Wilco fans on their toes. I think some of those vets had their children in toe with them. This fan, along with his teenage daughter, were rewarded with an early holiday gift that will absolutely keep on giving.
