Wilco Offer Deep Cuts Set and Celebrate 20 Years of ‘A Ghost is Born’ at Solid Sound Festival
Photo Credit: Peter Crosby
Over the weekend, Wilco returned to MASS MoCA in North Adams, Mass., for its annual Solid Sound Festival. This year’s iteration of the Wilco-centric gathering brought several performances from groups other than the Jeff Tweedy-led ensemble. However, it was the event hosts that marked their performances with noteworthy highlights, including deep cuts on Friday, June 28, and a follow-up frame the next night, which featured live debuts and an ensuing run-through of A Ghost is Born, performed in its entirety, to mark 20 years of the band’s fifth studio LP.
Wilco’s initial Solid Sound Festival stand was billed as a deep-cut set and featured disparate pulls, a wide variety of bust-outs spanning the length of the band’s existence, from 1995’s debut A.M. to 2019’s Ode to Joy. Material from 2022’s Cruel Country and 2023’s Cousin was omitted; instead, the band leaned into their desired task, dusting off a pair of songs played in 2014 to start; “One Sunday Morning” and “Message From Mid-Bar.”
Continuing their delivery, Wilco pulled “Feed of Man” from their Bill Bragg co-release, Mermaid Avenue, Vol. II, to end a 10-year lapse in play and apply the same treatment to “Deeper Dow, “Blue Eyed Soul,” and “More Like the Moon” at different points during the night, all of which had not received stage time in a decade. The theme also lent itself to songs last played in 2015, like “Panthers,” “Dark Neon,” “ELT,” “Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard,” and “Just Say Goodbye.”
The group’s trajectory debuts applied to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot originator “Venus Stopped the Train” and Ode to Joy number “Quiet Amplifier.” For Friday’s encore, Wilco dusted off “Let’s Not Get Carried Away” for the first time since 2015, followed by the rarity “Kicking the Television.” For the final songs of the concert, the Chicago band busted out “Just Kids,” ending another decade break in plays, before the concert’s last song, which doubled as a live debut, on “Tell Your Friends.”
Returning for another stand on Saturday, June 29, Wilco performed a 10-song warm-up with live debuts from EP Hot Sun Cool Shroud’s “Annihilation” and “Say You Love Me.” For their ensuing set, they marked the 20th anniversary of A Ghost is Born, performing the LP in order, beginning with “At Least That’s What You Said,” down to the final tracking list inclusion, “The Late Greats,” which served as the initial encore. Rather than continue with infrequent plays, Wilco added fan favorites, “Jesus, Etc.,” “Impossible Germany,” ending it with “A Shot in the Arm.”
Following their festival stand, Wilco will return for final summer tour dates, which pick up in Canada tomorrow, July 2. For tickets, visit wilcoworld.net.
Scroll down to view setlists.
Wilco
Solid Sound Festival
MASS MoCA – North Adams, Mass.
June 28, 2024
Set: One Sunday Morning+, Message From Mid-Bar+, The Good Part, King of You, Feed of Man+, Deeper Down+, A Magazine Called Sunset, Blue Eyed Soul+, Sonny Feeling&, Sunloathe, Panthers$, Camera#, Dark Neon$, More Like the Moon+, Secret of the Sea, ELT$, Venus Stopped the Train@, Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard$, Just Say Goodbye$, Quiet Amplifier@, Wilco (The Song)
Enc.: Let’s Not Get Carried Away$, Kicking Television, Just a Kid+, Tell Your Friends@
Notes:
& Bust out, last played 2010
+ Bust out, last played 2014
$ Bust out, last played 2015
# Bust out, last played 2016
@ Live debut
Wilco
Solid Sound Festival
MASS MoCA – North Adams, Mass.
June 29, 2024
Set: Via Chicago, Infinite Surprise, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, Meant to Be, Annihilation@, Whole Love, Say You Love Me@, Evicted, Bird Without a Tail/ Base of My Skull, Random Name Generator, [A Ghost is Born:] At Least That’s What You Said, Hell Is Chrome, Spiders (Kidsmoke), Muzzle of Bees, Hummingbird, Handshake Drugs, Wishful Thinking, Company in My Back, I’m a Wheel, Theologians, Less Than You Think
Enc.: The Late Greats, Jesus, Etc., Impossible Germany, Falling Apart (Right Now), A Shot in the Arm
Notes:
@ Live debut
