photo: shawn roller photography

Wilco fans were not disappointed Sunday night at The Majestic.  Frontman Jeff Tweedy gave a performance unlike anything Dallas has seen from him before, accompanied by a new tour band including his son Spencer on drums.  Tweedy and son are expected to release their collaborative album Sukierae this September. Sunday night’s show kicked off with a full hour of new songs, which Tweedy noted as a “historic” way of doing things.  Concert goers were even invited to a sing along of Tweedy’s not yet released tune Slow Love towards the end of the first set.

“Feel like doing some singing along in a cultish way to a song you don’t know?”

Playing an entire album’s worth of new material for the first hour would seem to be a risky move for anyone other than Jeff Tweedy, who’s devoted fans appeared to soak up every note.  It helped that the new music was very much in the classic Wilco style, with strong references to both Sky Blue Sky and A Ghost is Born.

Halfway through the night, Tweedy introduces and simultaneously dismisses the band, including guitarists Jim Elkington and Liam Cunningham and bassist Darin Gray.  The stage was blackened,  and with a single spotlight on Tweedy and his acoustic guitar, fans were treated to broken down renditions of Wilco favorites such as Passenger Side and I’m the Man who Loves you as well as an array of Uncle Tupelo, Loose Fur, and Golden Smog tunes.

Tweedy kept listeners on the edge of their seats as he stammered that he was just “trying to remember what songs he knows” while he fiddled around with the opening chords to Someday Some Morning Sometime.  The relaxed, unstructured feel to this portion of the concert leant itself to more (drunken) audience outbursts and song requests which Tweedy handled with ease. He told a story about having discovered two other men named Jeff Tweedy- a guitar tech in Austin and one that designs clothes for P. Diddy. Tweedy joked that both must have criminal records because he has some trouble every time he tries to cross the border into Texas.

 “That’s the trouble with being famous, having to remind people who you are”.

The full band rejoined Tweedy for the encore performances including their first tour run of You Are Not Alone, the title track from Mavis Staples’ Grammy-winning album which was written and produced by Jeff Tweedy.  Spencer Tweedy leant his dad some background vocals on the Staples cover as well as a cover of Doug Sahm’s Give Back the Key to My Heart, before which Tweedy confirmed that the audience was “thoroughly Texan, right?”.

 Sukierae is set to be released September 16th on dBpm records.  Tweedy the band will be touring North America through the end of July.

Setlist:

1. Down from Above
2. Diamond Light
3. Flowering
4. Hazel (live debut)
5. Summer Noon
6. Honey Combed
7. Desert Bell
8. World Away
9. New Moon
10. Fake Fur Coat
11. High As Hello
12. Low Key
13. Slow Love
14. Nobody Dies Anymore
15. I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
16. New Madrid [Uncle Tupelo]
17. Someday Some Morning Sometime
18. Laminated Cat [Loose Fur]
19. How to Fight Loneliness
20. Passenger Side
21. Ruling Class [Loose Fur]
22. Born Alone
23. Please Tell My Brother [Golden Smog]
24. Jesus, Etc.
25. I’m the Man Who Loves You
26. You are Not Alone [Mavis Staples] (live debut)
27. Give Back the Key to My Heart [Doug Sahm]
28. California Stars

The Majestic Theatre- map
1925 Elm Street
Dallas TX 75201

photo: shawn roller photography