Gig review: Wilco in Wellington

MAGICAL EVENT: Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy treated fans to his extensive back catalogue.

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Wilco, formed from the ashes of American cow-punk collective Uncle Tupelo, is a band that began life as an alternative country act.

Wilco
Where: The Opera House, Wellington
When: Monday, March 24

Through albums like Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002) and A Ghost is Born (2004) the band has taken a widescreen approach to experimental, alternative rock.

The classic songwriting of Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Brian Wilson and Neil Young remain touchstones - but Wilco stepped forward to provide alt-country with its Radiohead-figure.

New Zealand has had to wait for Wilco - the band's one previous appearance was as part of Auckland's Big Day Out - so to have them here headlining was very exciting.

Jeff Tweedy resembled Dylan and Robbie Robertson (The Band) with his cowboy hat and denim jacket, quietly running through a list of magic songs.

From the band's most recent, more subdued album (Sky Blue Sky), You Are My Face was sublime, Mikael Jorgersen's keyboard work and the multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone add new textures to the band's sound.

And guitarist Nels Cline peeled off layers of splintering guitar, again a textural element, and whether it was a new song (Impossible Germany) or a better known back-catalogue gem (Handshake Drugs) his on-the-nail approach was always exquisite.

Another early highlight was Yankee's opening track, I Am Trying To Break Your Heart. Tweedy eventually spoke between songs and when he did it was funny and well timed.

From 1999's Summerteeth we were given A Shot In The Arm.

Wilco's set continued to build, with the band referencing heroes within their own compositions like The Beatles (Hummingbird) and The Band (Side With The Seeds).

The end of the show seemed to arrive far too quickly, but Wilco returned with a lengthy encore set, featuring Heavy Metal Drummer, the seated crowd moving toward the front of the stage and the aisles for a boogie.

And the audience would not rest - urging the band back for an absolutely blistering closer, Spiders (Kidsmoke).

This tune, from A Ghost Is Born, bubbled and pulsed, throbbed and rocked, flipping between the brittle rhythms of Neu and the garage-rock of Crazy Horse.

At the back, drummer Glenn Kotche held it all together with a big grin on his face.

The gig moved from country-folk to pop-experimentalism and touched on most points in-between. And the band, so revered by its fans, provided a wise (and wide) selection of material.

One of the greatest shows I have ever been a part of.

- © Fairfax NZ News