He Got His Name From Rock and Roll

Bostonist embraced neighbors and extended family in Northampton by making the westward drive Sunday night to see Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy at the historic (and cold!) Calvin Theater on his solo, acoustic tour. Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche supported with a set of solo drum pieces marked by a highly self-customized and modified kit, unconventional noisemaking, and pretty xylophone tinkering. Despite some very impressive rhythms, the Kotche experience was somewhere between annoying and misunderstood, and Bostonist has decided to claim percussive ignorance and settle on the latter. Glenn’s return to the stage for the final songs of the night with the Wilco bandleader was more than welcome, though, as the two finished up an extremely generous two hours of Tweedy’s singing and picking.

Tweedy opened the show with the slow, harmonica-accented confessional “Sunken Treasure,” which has been a longtime staple of the singer-songwriter’s sporadic solo tours, as well as a recurring encore when a full lineup is together. This immediate statement highlighted the fact that Jeff’s solo tour is the perfect opportunity for old-school Wilco fans to get their fill of the folkier, alt-country history that first endeared the songwriter to our hearts. That said, the singer is clearly proud of his last three studio offerings since 1996’s Being There, the double album alt-country masterpiece that preceded forays into Beach Boys sunshine pop, Radiohead sound explorations, and avant-pop/krautrock, as well as mass popularity and dissention among Wilco’s previous fan base. The truth remains, though, that Summerteeth isn’t all sunshine, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot isn’t all stuttering electronics and cynicism, and 2004’s A Ghost Is Born retains a classic rock feel for many of the tracks. Tweedy’s has been a uniquely-inspired, self-challenging voice in music, and his solo show reflected this eclecticism while emphasizing the great songwriting beneath each direction his career has taken.

After an extensive, successful tour with the full band behind A Ghost is Born, Tweedy completely ignored this newest material (until closing the show with “Late Greats”) in favor of covers, requests, side-project creations, and songs spread out over his career. If there seems to be any preference here, it falls between Being There, Woodie Guthrie adaptations from Mermaid Avenue, and 2002’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, wisely bridging the exact rift between Wilco camps. “Airline to Heaven” and Bostonist favorite “Remember the Mountain Bed” displayed his folk side, as did “Gun” and “Wait Up”, a pair of Uncle Tupelo (Tweedy’s previous band) favorites and a new song for his Loose Fur side project, featuring some of the clearest whistling Bostonist has ever heard. With the scratchiest of voices that could still be considered “rich,” and a flawless handling of the acoustic guitar collection on hand (both skills that Tweedy is quick to play down in print), the first set finished with the upbeat “ELT” and “Heavy Metal Drummer.”

For an encore, the singer offered a few less-popular tunes and plenty of stage banter (sometimes crude, more times political) before “running out of ideas” and turning it over to the crowd for suggestions, settling on Dylan’s “John Wesley Harding” and Uncle Tupelo’s “Black Eye.” After leaving the stage again with the theater crowd on its feet, he returned with Kotche and the two-piece performed a series of crowd favorites, including “Not for the Season,” “Forget the Flowers,” and “Far, Far Away.” Bostonist didn’t want the show to close, and the Wilco pair nearly refused to let it, with entertaining takes on “War on War” and “A Shot in the Arm” as well. Undiscerning and selective Wilco fans alike were entertained beyond expectation by the more than 25 songs that warmed the room over the coarse of the evening. The only disappointment of the night was not getting a hint of where Tweedy will take Wilco next.

Contributed by Michael Walker