Richard Thompson Joins Wilco At The Mann

The Mann Center in Philadelphia hosted a concert by Chicago-based alt-rockers Wilco last night. The sextet welcomed renowned guitarist Richard Thompson to sit-in during the show.

After opening with the first three songs off of last year’s surprise LP Star Wars, Jeff Tweedy diverted from the recently common performance of the entire album in favor of the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot track “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart.” The rest of the set featured other Star Wars cuts such as “Pickled Ginger” and “Where Do I Begin” and “Cold Slope” with long-played favorites like “Via Chicago,” “Laminated Cat,” “Impossible Germany” and “Dawned On Me.” The acoustic second encore also included such classics as “Misunderstood,” “War On War,” “I’m Always In Love,” “Jesus, Etc.” and the show ending “A Shot In The Arm.”

Toward the end of the main set, the band welcomed Richard Thompson – who had opened the concert earlier in the evening – for a rendition of their collaboration with Woody Guthrie “California Stars” which featured guest guitarist Jason Isbell the last time it was played at Mountain Jam Friday night. Audience shot footage of Thompson joining Wilco last night in Philly was captured by John Diven and can be viewed below: