Jeff Tweddy and his crew confirm their status as an essential band in Murcia with a fantastic concert from start to finish
Whether in noise or in silence. In the soft touch of an acoustic guitar or in the electric explosion. In the unmistakable sound of the most characteristic American rock or in the smell of the best pop. In the intimacy of a rural whisper or in the unified song of the tormented hymns of collective storms. In the glorious past of a career that reached its absolute climax with ‘Being there’, ‘Summerteeth’, ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’ and ‘A ghost is born’ or in the delicacy of ‘Sky blue sky’. In the pleasant imperfection of ‘The whole love’, ‘Ode to joy’ and ‘Wilco (The album)’ or in the return to the porch carrot, chewing tobacco and toast in the barn of the magnificent ‘Cruel country’. The origin of the postcards doesn’t matter, every place resembles Shangri-La as Wilco’s traces inhabit his land. And Murcia’s bullring, far from being an exception, became an excellent practical demonstration of this theory last Saturday night.
With the happy recovery of that guitarist from another world named Nels Cline after his absence from the first concerts of this Spanish tour due to his positive for COVID as the first big news of the evening, the band led by Jeff Tweedy, one of the essential composers of the past decades, offered a perfect sound concert and a dream repertoire. A total of 25 songs in just two hours as the Chicago line-up plummeted from the overwhelming start to infinity with ‘A shot in the arm’ and a moving ‘Story to tell’, the star piece of the aforementioned ‘Cruel country’. ‘ from sober forms that, however, managed to captivate the audience, to lighting a fuse that would not go out for the rest of the night. To certify this admirable feat, Wilco displayed on stage his distinctive chemistry and impressive ability to dialogue on an instrumental level with fascinating precision, loosening jaws with moments of pure musical and emotional impact like the one starring ‘Handshake Drugs’, a brutal ‘Via Chicago’, that vivid memory of their debut, ‘AM’, with ‘Box full of letters’ or a beautiful ‘Tired of Taking it out on you’ and ‘Bird without a tail / Base of my skull’ with which they underlined the grandeur of his most recent steps.
A present that was, of course, accompanied by several stops in the glorious yesterday of the group, especially with regard to the final masterpiece: ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’, an immense work that will celebrate its twentieth anniversary in 2022. A figure significant and special enough to justify (and celebrate) the high number of songs of that monumental work brought together during the concert, of the hypnotic melancholy of ‘I am try to break your heart’ and ‘Poor places’ to the immortal beauty of the acclaimed ‘Jesus, Etc.’, passing through the melodic delight of ‘War on war’, the immense ‘Poor places’ or whatever ‘I’m the man who loves you’ and ‘Heavy metal drummer’ sung in full communion between the band and the audience.
Impossible to single out one above the other as they all sounded at the exact height of their stature as classics that can withstand the passage of decades. A validity and capacity for general fascination shared by other songs such as the beautiful ‘Hummingbird’, ‘California stars’ or ‘Tired of Taking it out on you’, the charming ‘If I ever was a child’ and ‘You and I ‘ or especially an ‘Impossible Germany’ where we could verify that the legend surrounding Nels Cline’s solo live is fully justified. What he did with his guitar and the way he did it, a mixture of possession and refined elegance, was something close to ecstasy. In short, a series of songs held on to the honor that finished a concert that passed with the fluidity and beauty of a sea reaching the shore in the morning prologue until it erupted in the vertigo and sweat typical of the debauchery of rock-‘ n roll. in a memorable ending. And it’s that, for the final hit, bassist John Stirratt, Glenn Kotche’s drummer, Mikael Jorgensen and his keyboards and the fantastic multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone, with Maestro Cline and Chief Tweedy at the helm, decided to hit the gas. to the frenzied ‘Monday’ and ‘Outtasite (outta mind)’, the finishing touch for a very clear candidate for concert of the year in the Region where the Wilco members have finally left their indelible mark on the city. Hopefully they serve to return sooner rather than later. We will wait for you.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
