BY RON HART

Ever since the sad and unexpected death of former Wilco multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Jay Bennett in 2009, there has been a bit of a bad taste in my mouth for Jeff Tweedy. I can't really pinpoint what it is exactly, but somewhere between the totally phoned-in statement the Wilco frontman posted on the band's Web site and the cocky, innocuous way he declares, "Wilco will love you, baby" on that ridiculous song from the group's underwhelming self-titled seventh LP, the man just kind of lost me in translation.  Call it a case of bad timing if you will, but in my estimation, it was more of an instance of bad taste.  A lot of people like to compare Wilco to the Band, and it seems as though Tweedy fits right into the role of Robbie Robertson like a Totes glove. I think a friend of mine on Facebook put it best when he said, "He looks like he knows he sold his soul."

For someone who continues to perform many of the amazing songs Bennett had contributed to this otherwise amazing rock band's canon night in and night out, one would think that Jay's death merited far more gravitas than the flat three sentence sympathy note Tweedy seemed to hastily dish out in order to save face (not to mention a rather obtuse response to Bennett's death on Chicago Public Radio (http://www.spinner.com/2009/07/06/jeff-tweedy-opens-up-about-jay-bennetts-death/).  Regardless of the public bitterness that had fallen between these two former songwriting partners since Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Jay Bennett was as instrumental to the creation of the Wilco sound as Tweedy or John Stirratt, the only two members of the band who appeared on every work from AM through Wilco (The Album,) and seeing the group's arguably lackadaisical reaction to Jay's death proved to be disheartening enough for this veteran fan to step away from the Wilco catalog and reassess my allegiance to the group many consider to be America's best rock band.

However, having said that, the concept that everybody deserves a second chance rings mighty true in my particular case against Tweedy and co. And on the second night of their two-night stand at the Wellmont Theatre in beautiful Montclair, NJ, I was once again reminded me exactly why this group's music is important enough to transcend my petty opinions of Jeff Tweedy beyond the stage and fully appreciate the amazing body of work he and the rest of this current incarnation of Wilco presented over the course of three whirlwind hours in the heart of North Jersey.

Billed as "An Evening With Wilco", this current tour finds the Chicago sextet delivering sets that pull from every era of the band's career trajectory. And on this particular night, I'm not quite sure if it was the cosmic vibes of skepticism I was sending their way or something, but this second night at the Wellmont was loaded with beautifully performed versions of Bennett-era material, including a heavy helping of tracks from 1999's Summerteeth, considered by many Wilco fans as Jay's finest hour with the band.  It was almost as though Tweedy was paying a penance of sorts for the shallow way by which he addressed the death of his old friend and partner by paying tributes to his massive contributions to the band via transcendental versions of such Teeth nuggets as "A Shot in the Arm", "Summerteeth", "I'm Always In Love", "Candyfloss" and "When You Wake Up Feeling Old" played over the course of this two-set, half-electric/half-acoustic show.

Yet the concentration on Summerteeth material wasn't the only reason for longtime fans of Wilco to express joy on this night.  Sure, those who attended the first show of the Wellmont stand might have gotten such choice selections from the outer perimeters of the Wilco galaxy as "Pot Kettle Black", "Forget the Flowers", "More Like The Moon" and "Passenger Side". But those of us on hand for the Saturday show, however, scored mighty handsomely in the deep cut department as well, as the band busted out their ace pair of A.M. hits-"Box Full of Letters" and "Casino Queen", respectively-not to mention an incredibly rare performance of the boisterous, rootsy Being There coda "Dreamer In My Dreams" during the group's "acoustic" set (I put it in quotes because it seemed like Tweedy was the only one playing anything acoustic), not to mention a lovely reading of "Hesitating Beauty" from the first Mermaid Avenue album.  And, as they did on night 1, they even broke out the Loose Fur chestnut "Laminated Cat" (from Tweedy and percussionist Glenn Kotche's celebrated side project with producer Jim O'Rourke), to the exult of the particularly geeky fanboys in attendance. Other highlights of the evening included the band opening their set with a downright epic version of "Ashes of American Flags", an unplugged run through the Krautrockist boogie of "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" and an equal parts celebratory and solemn double shot of Big Star that closed out the second set, as Wilco played loving, lively covers of "Thank You Friends" and "In The Street" to the thrill of the packed house still trying to come to grips with the sudden passing of Alex Chilton.

And dare I forget to mention the gigantic stage presence of guitarist Nels Cline, the real star of Wilco's stage show. Now in his seventh year as the band's lead guitarist, the elation by which this avant-garde great soars from stage right is nothing short of mesmerizing.  With the exception of maybe Thurston Moore and Jimmy Page, no guitarist can touch Nels' finely balanced ballet between microtonal improvisation and maximal grandiosity quite like he. His acrobatic embellishments enhancing the power of such established Wilco crowd faves as "Misunderstood", "California Stars" and "Poor Places" blew minds from the golden circle seats to all the way up in the nosebleeds.  Onstage amidst a capital ‘L' of effects pedals, the fiftysomething-year-old musician, who has a stellar new double album with the Nels Cline Singers entitled Initiate due out this month on Cryptogramophone, plays guitar in Wilco like Jeff "Skunk" Baxter trying to jockey for a position in the Glenn Branca Ensemble based on the way he walks that fine line separating grace from chaos. 

Then I tore my eyes away from the happenings on the stage, scanned my surroundings and soon realized why it has been about seven years since I last saw Wilco perform live-the fans. I was making fun of my cousin-in-law for driving down to Atlantic City that weekend to go see Nickelback, goofing on him about what kind of people he was going to have to contend with in that audience down there. But then I surveyed the scene encompassing my eyesight, an old theatre filled with snooty, aging hipsters, dirty hippies, bespectacled blogger types from Williamsburg and professional-looking white guys who danced around like 13-year-olds at a Justin Bieber concert to "Bull Black Nova", and soon realized that the joke was indeed on me. (There's a reason why I rarely go to concerts these days...lol. Oh man, I mean seriously. Hey, My Old Kentucky Blog just called, they want their demographic back, lol.)

But in regards to the fans, one would have to be a true blackheart to not feel the love beaming Wilco's way from that crowd of hippies and hipsters as just about everyone in the Wellmont sang the entirety of "Jesus Etc." in unison while the band delivered a lovely instrumental rendition of their mid-tempo Yankee Foxtrot gem.  In Jersey terms, it was the group's "Hungry Heart" moment, and definitely put a smile on this cynical bastard's face.

In spite of the fact that they did wind up playing that annoying "Wilco (The Song)" on this night (seriously, keep the braggadocio shtick to the hip-hop world, Jeff), Wilco's stand at the Wellmont Theatre served as a token, if only for a moment, of a time when these Chicago greats were not some lionized chunk of egocentric hype thrown to the wolves of hip, but rather the humble band who sprung from the rib of Uncle Tupelo looking to bring American roots music into the 21^st century.  And regardless of where you stand with Jeff Tweedy, his between-song obnoxiousness and the way he handled the death of Jay Bennett, you cannot deny this man and his incredibly skilled band knows how to put on a show, even over 15 years later.

SETLIST:

Ashes
Wilco
IATTBYH
BBN
Face
One Wing
Shot
Muzzle
Deeper
Summerteeth
Misunderstood (36 "nothings")
CA Stars
Impossible Germany
Poor Place

acoustic:
Spiders
You & I
Kamera
Hesitating Beauty
Laminated Cat
When you wake up
Dreamer (*I may be splitting hairs here, but technically, Jeff was the only "acoustic". Nels on electric.)
Outtasite

*back to electric
Airline
Always in Love
Candy Floss
Jesus Etc.
(*irrational crowd participation banter: boo-ya & Arsenio dog pound)
Box of Letters (Pat solo)
Can't Stand It
Hate it Here
You Never Know
Walken
Man Who Loves You
Thank You Friends
In the Street


Encore:

Casino Queen
Outtasite
Hoodoo Voodoo

[Photo Credit: Autumn de Wilde]