Wilco returns to the stage in Spokane for his 1st concert since March 2020

By Scott Bernstein August 6, 2021 • 8:16 a.m. PDT

Wilco gave his first gig in 512 days on Thursday night, when they kicked off a headlining tour with Sleater-Kinney at the First Interstate Center For The Arts in Spokane, Wash. Jeff Tweedy and his pals filled the setlist with material from 10 different studio albums, including the return of “Art Of Almost” after nearly four years on the shelves.

Sleater-Kinney started the evening with a 19 song set. Front women Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker with members of their touring band focused on cuts from the recently released album Way of well-being, as they opened with the title track and inserted six more tracks from the LP into their performance.

Wilco opened its first show since March 11, 2020 with “A Shot In The Arm,” an appropriate figure given the campaign to vaccinate more people against the COVID-19 virus. Then, “Random Name Generator”, the only song of the evening of 2015 Star wars, and “Before us”. The latter was one of three songs played on Wilco’s most recent album, 2019 Ode to Joy.

The sextet continued with the unmissable “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart”, which gave way to the first “Art Of Almost” since November 17, 2017. Schmilco was then represented by “If I Ever Was A Child” before the band pulled “On And On And On” from 2007 sky blue sky. Guitarist Nels Cline was featured on “Impossible Germany” which followed. From there Wilco returned to Ode to Joy for “Love Is Everywhere (Beware)”, then played the old “Box Full Of Letters” from their 1995 debut album, A M.

The band loaded up the rest of the set with many classics, including “Jesus, Etc.”, “Theologians”, “I’m The Man Who Loves You”, “Heavy Metal Drummer” and “I’m Always In Love” . Wilco also played Ode to Joy single “Everyone is hiding”. As a reminder, the six musicians paired “Ashes Of American Flags” and “California Stars”. The tour resumes Saturday night in Bonner, MT. Next Tuesday’s concert at the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado will be broadcast live.

Take a look at an Instagram clip shared by Wilco as well as a brief video of “I’m trying to break your heart” below:

Setlist