Wilco Kicks Off Winter Tour With ‘Star Wars’ In Pittsburgh

On Monday night, Wilco kicked off their first tour of 2016 with a performance in front of a capacity crowd at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh. One of the big questions coming into the show was whether Wilco would continue a trend from the second half of 2015 by playing Star Wars in sequence to start the set. Jeff Tweedy & Co. answered the question by tackling each and every track off their surprise summer album and followed with a bevy of beloved classics.

The band began the post-Star Wars portion of the set with “Handshake Drugs” which led into “Kamera,” one of five songs from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot to make the setlist on opening night. Wilco mixed material from throughout their 20+ year career into the rest of the set including “Art Of Almost,” “Hummingbird,” “I’m The Man Who Loves You” and “The Late Greats.” Guitarist Nels Cline was thrust into the spotlight on “Impossible Germany,” the penultimate song of the main set.

Last night’s encore started with the krautrock version of “Spiders (Kidsmoke)” before a six-song acoustic sequence of “Misunderstood,” “War On War,” “It’s Just That Simple,” “Casino Queen,” “California Stars” and “A Shot In The Arm.” Tonight, Wilco plays the Flynn in Burlington, Vermont. Listen to Jeff Tweedy name check Phish during a 2009 solo performance at the nearby Higher Ground as captured by taper Mark Daly: