Sharon Van Etten Joins Wilco For John Lennon & Yoko Ono Cover In Chicago

Wilco‘s third and penultimate show of their Winterlude residency at The Chicago Theatre came to a close on Wednesday night with Sharon Van Etten among guests contributing to a singalong cover of John Lennon & Yoko Ono’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over).” Van Etten, who served as the evening’s opening act, also joined Wilco for their first “Radio Cure” in well over two years.

Last night’s concert featured 28 songs, seven of which hadn’t been performed over the course of the first two nights of the run. “Kamera,” “I Might,” “How To Fight Loneliness,” “Radio Cure,” “Dawned On Me,” “Outtasite (Outta Mind)” and the Lennon/Ono cover all made the setlist for the first time in the 2019 Winterlude. Van Etten provided backing vocals on “Radio Cure,” a classic from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Wilco last performed on June 23, 2017 at their Solid Sound Festival in Northampton, Massachusetts. Sharon Van Etten recorded a version of “Radio Cure” for inclusion in the recent Wilcovered compilation.

Wilco opened their encore on Wednesday by performing “California Stars” with backing vocals from Sima Cunningham and Liam Kazar. Sharon, Sima and Liam returned after “Outtasite (Outta Mind)” for the Wilco debut of “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” a song Lennon and Ono released as a single in 1971. Tonight, Wilco concludes the Winterlude. Chicago radio station 93XRT will provide a live broadcast.

Watch fan-shot video captured by Chris Pisarczyk featuring Van Etten’s guest spots below:

Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

Radio Cure

Setlist (via bböp/Via Chicago)

Set: Bright Leaves, Before Us, I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, Kamera, Handshake Drugs, Side With The Seeds, One and a Half Stars, I Might, Hummingbird, White Wooden Cross, Via Chicago, How To Fight Loneliness, Bull Black Nova, Random Name Generator, Radio Cure (w/Sharon Van Etten on backing vocals), Impossible Germany, Jesus, etc., We Were Lucky, Love Is Everywhere (Beware), Box Full Of Letters, Everyone Hides, Dawned On Me, I’m The Man Who Loves You, Hold Me Anyway, The Late Greats

Encore: California Stars (w/Sima Cunningham and Liam Kazar on vocals), Outtasite (Outta Mind), Happy Xmas (War Is Over) [John Lennon and Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band] (w/Sharon Van Etten, Sima Cunningham and Liam Kazar on backing vocals and percussion