Chicago band Wilco made a triumph homecoming this Sunday night at Jay Pritzker Pavilion. It was a sold out show at one of Chicago’s most iconic venues. I arrived about thirty minutes after the gates opened to find the lawn almost already filled with thousands of loyal Wilco fans. After I set up camp, I decided to walk around the venue before the opening band came on. While walking around I was blown away by the sheer volume of devoted fans. It seemed like everywhere I looked I would see a Wilco shirt. The merchandise tent had a long line thorough out the whole entire show.
Before Wilco played to their vast number of fans, they had the pleasure of listening to another Chicago band, Twin Peaks. Twin Peaks are half the age of Wilco, but they share the same pride of being from Chitown. These young indie rockers got the chance to open for one of biggest bands to come out of Chicago in the recent decades. Before this show, Kurt Ville, a Philadelphia musician was opening up for them on their US tour, but with Wilco being a band who is proud of their roots they gave this honor to Twin Peaks instead. They played for close to an hour playing songs from all three of their albums that they have released in the past few years. They played loud and with passion to prove to all of the older Wilco fans they are a band they will be hearing from in years to come.
As Twin Peaks left the stage the sun began to set on the Chicago skyline. People began to grab some drinks and get ready for the show. With there only being four to five beverage tents, this made for a disaster. After a brief intermission of no more than thirty minutes Wilco took the stage. They started the show with three songs of their most recent album Star Wars which was released last July. They also played two songs off their new album coming out in September titled Schmilco. The set list had songs ranging through all of Wilco’s over twenty year career. It was filled with the best of new and old Wilco. After they left the stage, they came back on stage for not one but two encores. By the time the second encore came around it was a striped down acoustic setting. Once the second encore came to an end, Wilco ended up playing a grand total of thirty one songs.
Looking back on Sunday I cannot think of a more perfect way to end the summer by seeing one of my favorite bands in one of the best venues in the nation. From the weather to the music and thousands of people surrounding me in the park it made for a memorable night.
John Jordan
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