Wilco, Le Bataclan, Paris, 29th May 2007

Two years ago I doubled up on Wilco shows by making a Eurostar trip, primarily just to see Jeff Tweedy in more relaxed mood away from a London audience. With that elongated gap, and able to make only one of Wilco’s two nights at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire, I had decided to treat myself again for the current European tour. Probably designed to let the band cement the songs from new album Sky Blue Sky into their repertoire before embarking on another round of their usual hectic U.S. circuit, it’s a real treat to witness them play at the kind of small club venue being used for this Continental warm up. With Sky Blue Sky having briefly cracked the Billboard Top 5, this is a venue US fans may only dream about in future, and there were indeed a fair few ex-pats in the audience. For the record, none of them looked much like Gene Kelly, which is probably a good thing.

The Monday night in London last week was a special show, with Wilco almost orchestral in the breadth of musicianship that the six piece could demonstrate – weaving delicacy and power into a tempered sound that, at least where I was standing, reached controlled perfection whilst still retaining the spark of vitality. And shock horror, Mr. Tweedy was even enjoying himself in London. Maybe my trip was redundant after all? My position practically on top of the Nels Cline’s and Jeff Tweedy’s monitors was one reason the Paris sound had a rawer guitar-heavy edge, but in general Wilco were letting off a bit more steam, showing a different facet of this complex band, and none the worse for it. Nels Cline especially had slipped his Wilco leash, and was often a shuddering force of nature – taking Parkinson’s disease as inspiration for a guitar style. Generally not much of a worshipper of guitar maestros, I could do nothing but admire a man laying down so much sweat for the cause. Tweedy and Cline going at it head to head during At Least That’s What You Said with such relish was an obvious highlight. (But can they do it with banjos I hear you ask?) Rather than practicing his Franglais with too much of his (in)famous banter, Jeff Tweedy preferred to cram as many songs as possible into the set started early and working to a tight curfew, but he did venture that Paris was their favourite venue in the whole world. Pandering to the audience or not, it was clear that they were playing their guts out and having a ball in front of a generally younger (and prettier) Parisian crowd that proved very responsive hosts. There was even hints of a mosh pit during the monumental Spiders and encores – though my perception of the night was again coloured by my immediate surroundings – with the sudden arrival of a flailing armed nutter to my right. The next morning he might have found a few bruises he couldn’t explain, if you know what I mean. Regular Wilco watchers will know that no mention for drummer Glenn Kotche is necessary – he’s always extraordinary.

It has to be said that I was apprehensive about Sky Blue Sky. I’m not one of the Wilco fans who needs them to be overtly musically exploratory/challenging, it was just that some of the songs I had heard previewed live just weren’t working for me. But with the exception of a single track, with time I’ve found the album a more consistent listen than almost any of their others, and it gets more spins. In concert, all those songs go up a few notches, and the word “mellow” oft-used in reviews goes straight out the window. Maybe it was recorded a few months too early – given that the ethos of the album was to, more or less, record ‘live’, perhaps a good thrashing on the road first would have just given it a bit more edge. One big plus for Sky Blue Sky is that a nicotine free Jeff Tweedy is now delivering great vocal performances that are allowed to be high up in the mix. It’s a fantastic asset, a broken, lived-in, expressive asset. And this is coming through in both the shows I’ve seen with songs such as Side With The Seeds. I hope it’s a feature from here on in. Bang goes my cut of a Marlboro endorsement then. Nicotine patches maybe? Anyone?

Wilco are back in the UK and Europe for a run of festivals in July.

Links
Wilco [official site] [myspace] [album review]