When I told my grandmother I was going to a concert in the Teatro Metropólitan in Mexico City’s downtown, she immediately doubted the nature of the concert. She’s been aware of my constant visits to the capital to see, usually, rock concerts. After I clarified it was an alternative rock band from Chicago named Wilco, it wasn’t that surprising for her. 

Teatro Metropólitan is a former cinema located in the heart of the city, it was opened in 1943 and nowadays is operated by Ocesa, the biggest concert organizer in Mexico. Being the first time I went to a concert in this venue I was looking forward to a rock concert in a place with only seats and with considerably different acoustics. It turned out to be an amazing show and a perfect place to the sometimes charming and sometimes raucous songs of one of USA’s most interesting bands of the century: Wilco.

Before them, a Chicago-based duo of women named Ohmme opened the concert. Invited by Wilco directly, the duo is a dynamic double guitar act. Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart sing perfectly harmonized, and have excellent and very experienced voices. Their set was short, including a Kate Bush cover, who seems like one of their main influences, and it was dazzling. Their two instruments and their voices were enough to fill out the place and were well-received by the audience. They have an album called, Parts,that came out in 2018, and it includes drums. I seriously recommend them.

For those of you who’ve shared thoughts and conversations about music with me lately, my love for Wilco is known. The band had never come to Mexico City before, and only debuted in Mexico last January 18th in a ridiculously exclusive festival in the Riviera Maya. And although the announcement of that expensive event made me roll my eyes, seeing that they were coming to a proper one the following week was like a shot of adrenaline. Wilco was without question the band that I awaited the most to see live. And they delivered.  

For context, the particular traits of this presentation are important to remark. Not only it was Wilco’s first time in the most important city, concert-wise, in the country, it was their first time after 25 years existing. This band has been in the festival and headlining radar for at least 20 years and they had never come to Mexico. This added to a concert where the band didn’t had to pull punches and almost all of the songs, from tracks from last year’s Ode To Joy and to many fan favorites, were received with utmost excitement. For the fans that assisted, which weren’t enough to fill out the venue, every song was a hit. But again, the band delivered.

Since the first tunes, Wilco showed they’re seasoned musicians. Frontman/guitarist Jeff Tweedy, bassist John Stirratt, guitarist Nels Cline, drummer Glenn Kotche, multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone and keyboardist/pianist Mikael Jorgensen have been playing together since 2004; everyone of them is great at their instrument and the internal dynamics within the band are notable. Of course, it’s a testament to Tweedy’s songwriting that many of the songs of the sets work very, very well but as a showcase for the band’s talent, the concert and the venue, were ideal. They opened with ‘Before Us’, a modest, acoustic track from their latest record. Tweedy’s voice and the backing vocals from Stirratt slowly gliding over keyboards and gentle drumming. It wasn’t long until this atmosphere turned into full noisey shredding.

After playing more uptempo tracks like ‘I Am Trying to Break Your Heart’, which ruled by the way, and ‘Handshake Drugs’, the first chords of  ‘At Least That’s What You Said’ started. This song starts slow and quiet, while Tweedy sings about a failing love relationship. There’s only two verses and then, Nels Cline starts a powerful strumming of stacatto chords along with the drums and the song jumps into a full-throttle solo. Cline and Tweedy went from melodic piercing notes to fast chord strumming throughout it, gaining the praise from the audience. That was the first moment of many in the night that proved this band is seriously good at rocking when they want.

And although the instrumental star of the evening was guitar shredding, Glenn Kotche is a creative and inventive drummer who can also smash his drums at will. A good example is the gentle and obscure ‘Via Chicago’. At the middle of the song, Tweedy keeps singing and strumming his acoustic guitar while Kotche, for a brief moment, starts a manic drum fill creating a noisey background to the song and after that he continues with the original rhythm. Is a moment that takes you by surprise, even if you’ve heard the recording, and seeing Kotche going mad live is priceless. He seems like a great guy, though.

The band also connects well with the audience. Tweedy said ‘Gracias’ many times, tried to say a few other words in spanish, he gave up, but still tried to engage with us. He encouraged us to sing along with the instrumental chorus of their 10 minute jam ‘Spiders (Kidsmoke)’, also inviting the openers, Ohmme. The audience responded with singing ‘California Stars’, a song written by folk legend, Woody Guthrie, which Wilco composed the music to, back in 1998. Sansone played the banjo, sitting, and Ohmme came out to sing again. Before starting the great tune ‘I’m The Man Who Loves You’, Kotche pulled out a Mexican flag and stepped on his drum set while the rest of the band pointed at it. It was funny and worked well with the people in the theater.

The most important takeaway I had of this concert it’s how good Wilco songs are that they can be played right next to each other even if they’re remarkably different. In what could be considered a climax, they played two of their most well-known songs side by side, songs that are inherently different. ‘Impossible Germany’ is an up-tempo ballad that Tweedy sings with melancholy. And it was Nels Cline’s crowning moment. The recorded solo is engaging by itself but live Cline decided to extend it, playing fast arpeggios, sliding his fingers quickly along the neck of his guitar and shredding like there was no tomorrow. He’s not an ‘only-solo’ guitarist but he’s fucking good at it. After that he took out the lap steel and the band played ‘Jesus, Etc.’ one of their most arresting and finest ballads. The contrast was breath-taking and very satisfying.

So, I guess that happens when a band gives a concert for the first time to many people that haven’t heard them live, with years and years of experience. And despise this, the venue wasn’t small for them, it was perfect. That’s also probably a main reason for their long absence from our country: Wilco, a talented and focused band, have always maintained themselves below the popularity line, and they’re still acclaimed and well-known, but they definitely wouldn’t sell out bigger venues in our country. All the better for it, as the Teatro Metropólitan was the ideal place to enjoy a band that is sadly underrated, and yet deserving of all the praise they do have.

I hope I can see them again.

Setlist:

Before Us
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
War On War
Handshake Drugs
At Least That’s What You Said
One And A Half Stars
Can’t Stand It
Hummingbird
Via Chicago
Bull Black Nova
Random Name Generator
Reservations
Impossible Germany
Jesus, Etc.
Love Is Everywhere (Beware)
Box Full Of Letters
Everyone Hides
Heavy Metal Drummer
I’m The Man Who Loves You
Hold Me Anyway
Spiders (Kidsmoke)
The Late Greats

Encore:

Kingpin
California Stars
Red-Eyed and Blue
I Got You (At The End Of The Century)
Outtasite (Outta Mind)
A Shot In The Arm

“Tall buildings shake, voices escape singing sad, sad songs tuned to chords strung down your cheeks, bitter melodies turning your orbit around”.