Wilco Brings 29 Songs and a Whole Lot of Class to Bethlehem
The band brbrought its summer tour to Bethlehem for a 29-song night against the old blast furnaces — and turns a health scare into the classiest thing we've seen a band do all year. Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks, Bethlehem, PA.
The lawn was already a Wilco reunion before a note was played — shirts and hats from tours past scattered across a crowd of diehards, the rusted remains of the Bethlehem Steel Mill standing guard behind the stage. It's hard to imagine a better backdrop for a band this rooted in American places, and Wilco knew it. They hit the stage exactly on time, and Jeff Tweedy laid out the evening in his usual deadpan: "we're going to play one set and then we'll take a little break, you can take a little break, and then we'll play another set."
That no-opener format has become a fixture on the band's recent runs, and honestly, it's a dream. No waiting, no filler — just as much of the headliner as a night can hold. Here, that meant a staggering 29 songs. Or 32, or 33, depending on how you count the multiple attempts at "Walken." If you know, you know. If you don't, stick around, because that's where the night turned into something we won't forget.
The set was career-spanning and generous. "Via Chicago" and "Spiders" showed off the
arrangements that make this band such a live force — the way a song can drift and then detonate. Nels Cline's guitar work on "Impossible Germany" was, as ever, the kind of thing that makes people who don't normally watch a guitarist watch a guitarist. "Kingpin" came out raucous. And the all-time favorites landed exactly where they needed to: "Jesus, Etc.," "Heavy Metal Drummer," "Handshake Drugs."
The weather was ideal, the venue pristine and genuinely cool, and Tweedy clearly felt it. "We love it here, it reminds us of home," he said at one point, "and it's really close to where a lot of my guitars were born" — a nod to the Martin Guitar factory just up the road in Nazareth. For longtime fans, Tweedy remains a frontman in the purest form: a man who can say more with a flat "Alright" than most can with a paragraph. By mid-set, that lone "Alright" between songs had become a running inside joke with the whole crowd.
And then there was "Walken."
Somewhere mid-song, Tweedy spotted a disturbance out on the lawn and brought the entire thing to a halt. "We have a problem," he said. "Someone needs attention and we aren't playing another note until we're positive they're okay." A fan had been overcome by the heat and humidity and gotten disoriented. While the crowd waited on medical help, Tweedy did the most Tweedy thing possible — he struck up an impromptu conversation with the people down front. "I've been to a lot of shows, Jeff," someone shouted, "but this is the classiest thing I've ever seen a band do." His reply, without missing a beat: "sometimes we even surprise ourselves."
Once the crowd assured him the fan seemed okay, the band dropped right back into the tune like it had never stopped — for all of a few lines, before another stoppage. Same gentleman, still under the weather, and again the band simply waited. As police approached to help, Tweedy deadpanned that "it appears he may be arrested, that would be harsh" — clearly joking, clearly relieved they were there to render aid. When the man was finally okay, Wilco blasted back into the song and tore through the last four of the night without looking back.
There are a hundred bands who can play 29 songs. There are far fewer who'll stop all of them cold, twice, to make sure one stranger on the lawn is okay — and make it feel like part of the show rather than an interruption to it. As the crowd cheered them off, Tweedy promised, "we'll be back." For this crowd, and this publication, that can't happen soon enough.
Photos by Scott Kucharski
What's going on with them right now: After just wrapping up another succesful Solid Sound Festival (including an incredible night of Mermaid Avenue with Billy Bragg), the band will be heading to Europe in mid-August. Info HERE. After returning home, Jeff will embark on a solo tour in October and November featuring Case Oats, an American alternative country featuring vocalist Casey Walker, guitarist Max Subar, bassist Jason Ashworth, fiddle player Scott Daniel, and drummer Spencer Tweedy.
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