Wilco Plays YHF

Last Sunday night I joined some family for a greatly anticipated concert - Wilco, performing their seminal 2001 album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot front to back.  I flew to NJ for a birthday weekend and this was the capper, a beautifully performed, mixed, and dynamically lit show at the United Palace in the Washington Heights area of New York City, not far off the George Washington Bridge.  A grand, ornate theater built in 1930 that began as a movie house, later becoming a church where Reverend Ike would make his debut.  These days it is also a premiere venue that has hosted notables such as Eddie Vedder, Neil Young, and Kraftwerk.

Singer/songwriter/guitarist Jeff Tweedy, in his patented rumpled appearance, led the band through what I still consider their finest album, spanning minor key genius and well orchestrated distortion, usually concluding a song.  Every tune was nicely recreated, the crowd predictably becoming even more vocal with fan faves "Heavy Metal Drummer" and "Jesus Etc."  The violin part for the latter was provided by the Aizuri Quartet, who also opened for the band with a dissonant stringed rendition of the entirety of YHF before the curtain pulled back.   The more melancholy tracks like "Radio Cure" and "Ashes of American Flags" have always been the dark core of the album, and likewise sounded great live. 

 

For the encore, Tweedy congenially addressed the audience and offered tributes to his former bandmate, the late Jay Bennett, with whom he had a rough parting during YHF.   Wilco then dug into their early catalogue, when the alt. country was giving way to more bluesy rock.  It was great to hear old tracks like Summerteeth's "Pieholden Suite" and Being There's "Outtasite (Outta Mind)", which closed the show.  There was also "The Good Part", a B-side to YHF's "War on War", about which Tweedy jokingly mused "Shoulda been a hit!"

This week Wilco moved on to their hometown, Chicago, to perform more YHF 20th anniversary shows.  I would highly recommend attendance.