Wilco Delivers ‘Schmilco’ Debuts & Bust Outs In Boise

In a recent interview the members of Wilco mentioned that they planned to shake up the setlists for their Schmilco World Tour, which began on Tuesday night in Salt Lake City. While the tour opener didn’t feature too many changes, there were debuts and bust outs in store for fans at the tour’s second show last night at Velma V. Morrison Center in Boise. The band also showed off a stripped-down stage setup and particularly cool set design. As a fan noted, “This was a stripped-down, pseudo acoustic show with none of the usual in-your-face rockitude. Die-hard followers will love it, but don’t go expecting to be rocked out or you’ll be disappointed.”

Wilco’s performance in Boise included a bevy of songs they didn’t play the night before in Salt Lake City. Jeff Tweedy & Co. opened with “If I Ever Was A Child” off their soon-to-be-released Schmilco LP. While “If I Ever Was A Child” wasn’t a debut, the “Cry All Day” that followed sure was. Soon there after came a third Schmilco track, “Someone To Lose” which was debuted in Salt Lake City.

One of the biggest surprises of the night came seven songs into the evening, when Wilco dusted off the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot classic “Reservations” for the first time since December 11, 2014 and just the third time in the past three years. Wilco weren’t done with the bust outs as soon thereafter they played “Pick Up The Change” off A.M. which also hadn’t been performed since December 11, 2014. Last night’s “Pick Up The Change” was just the fifth since July of 2009. Additionally, Wednesday’s show included the second-ever performance of Schmilco’s “Nope” and the live debuts of “We Aren’t The World (Safety Girl)” and “Shrug & Destroy” off the new LP. The Chicago rockers also pulled out the title track to 2011’s The Whole Love for the first time this year. Yet the biggest bust out was still to come as the encore featured the return of “Christ For President” from their Mermaid Avenue collaboration with Billy Bragg for the first time since July 23, 2013.

What was almost more surprising was the songs that weren’t played last night. “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart,” “Handshake Drugs,” “Heavy Metal Drummer” and “I’m The Man Who Loves You” had each been performed at every non-festival Wilco show this summer up until Wednesday night. Wilco continues the tour with a pair of shows in Seattle on Friday and Saturday nights.

Setlist

Set: If I Ever Was A Child, Cry All Day, Misunderstood, The Joke Explained, Someone to Lose, War On War, Reservations, Impossible Germany, Pick Up The Change, Nope, I’m Always In Love, Passenger Side, Whole Love, Jesus Etc., Locator, Laminated Cat (aka Not For The Season), Shrug & Destroy, We Aren’t The World (Safety Girl), Hummingbird, The Late Greats

Encore: Via Chicago, California Stars, It’s That Simple, We’ve Been Had, Christ For President, A Shot In The Arm