Wilco Prove Price Was Right

Massey Hall

Toronto, ON

on Oct 14 2009

Travis Persaud (CHARTattack)

10/15/2009 4:37pm

Bob Barker would have been proud.

Wilco walked on stage with the theme music from The Price Is Right filling Toronto's Massey Hall as all three tiers of the aural pleasing venue whooped and hollered.

Wilco (the band) began the first of two sold-out shows with "Wilco (The Song)" to warm up the crowd — the entire floor section standing with pockets in the upper sections on their feet to take in celebrated sextet.

The band looked calm and in high spirits. When they transitioned into "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart," guitarist Nels Cline held his guitar close as he repeatedly threw it towards his amp, playing with feedback noises. Beams of light fired up into the air as beautiful moments of dissonance ended the song and it was easy to see lead singer Jeff Tweedy and bassist John Stirratt genuinely enjoying themselves on stage.

There was a moment of technical difficulty early in the set, leading Tweedy to comment on the tradition of sound troubles at Massey Hall.

"I remember the first time we played here there was a talkback mic on for the first three or four songs," he said while people scampered across the stage to fix the issue. "That's to say, it sounded really bad."

With the problem fixed, they launched into a succession of songs that included "I'm The Man Who Loves You," "You Are My Face," "Theologians," "One Wing" and "Impossible Germany," where Cline displayed his arresting axe skills on its lengthy solo.

Tweedy kept the banter to a minimum, but did use a small break to ask the crowd to assist in a singalong.

"Some people don't like this... but I don't care," the enigmatic lead singer said, as the crowd laughed boisterously.

He walked away from the mic, came to the front of the stage and played conductor as the crowd sang "Jesus, Etc." At the end he said the effort was, "Really, really good. Not great... I'm not going to lie."

After the next song though, he said he was joking.

"You guys were really great. I didn't know you were so needy," he teased.

The highlight of the night came during "A Shot In The Arm." Near the end of the song, the band broke into raucous, spacey jam section and their energy spiked. There's something about middle-aged men playing inspired music and jumping around the stage that should bring a smile to your face, and this certainly did.

Wilco were constrained by the venue to end at 11 p.m., so their encore didn't quite reach 10 songs like on earlier shows during this tour. But it did include gems like the bouncy "Can't Stand It," "You Never Know" featuring opener Liam Finn and the show ender, "Hoodoo Voodoo."

Wilco could have done no wrong no matter what happened, but they backed up the hype with a radiant show that displayed them at their best. The price was certainly right.