Wilco (The Concert) Well-Oiled For Tour Opener in Cinci

Down to the song, it wasn't hard to guess how Wilco  would open the U.S. leg of it summer tour. 

I doubt Wilco (The Song) will be the opener for the rest of the band's career, Jeff Tweedy's fan-saluting anthem has the chops to get the crowd worked up before the set enters more difficult territory. 

Now, a word about that crowd ... Bonnaroo probably changed the demographics a bit, since it appear much douchier than a typical Wilco show. Those who weren't pumping fists or flashing the horns were dancing out of sync while furiously texting. One row in front of us, some guy was actually rocking the high 1980s collar (Have I lived long enough for that fashion atrocity to come back into style? No, I haven't). 

But at a theater show, the crowd is of little consequence - I had my space and didn't have to fend off swaying general admission drunks. 

Wilco's sound works in theaters and festivals, so the Aranoff Center fit them Chicago rockers well.  Wilco (The Song) shifted to the fractured pop of I Am Trying to Break Your Heart seamlessly,  the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot track shedding none of its potency after seven years as a setlist mainstay. 

The selections came almost entirely from Yankee Hotel and beyond, with a trio of old staples making the cut - Misunderstood was the only sound of Being There, California Stars' Woody Guthrie lyrics and Shot in the Arm. 

While Wilco (The Album) leans too much on mid-tempos and never really lets loose, the songs work better live, the usual case with Wilco. Bull Black Nova fit snugly against Company in My Back, just as One Wing stormed into Handshake Drugs. With its wry "Come on children, you're acting like children" opening, You Never Know emerged as an early front-runner for top track on the new record (out later this month, but streaming and leaked everywhere a month ago). 

Spiders (Kidsmoke) seems to run longer every time I hear it, but the noisy improvisation of Tweedy, Nels Cline and multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansome broke up the epic tune with blast of Neil Young-influenced bliss. 

Tweedy's banter was sharp as usual, asking the front row if there were attending as part of their community service, and invited the crowd to come down to Tennessee with them (they were on Bonnaroo's Saturday schedule).

I'm glad I didn't announce I'd driven from Nashville. Tweedy asked about someone holding a sign declaring they drove from Chicago.  "Who cares? We drive all over," he spat out. 

It had been a few songs since Tweedy declared "Wilco will love you baby," but there was no reason to worry. A five-song encore (just one, defying my prediction of at least two returns to the stage) running through The Late Greats, Hate it Here, Walken and I'm the Man Who Loves You. The last is one of my least favorite Wilco songs, but in the live setting, the band's mix of percussive music and improv can elevate an unfavored tune. 

Ending energetically, Tweedy gently strummed some chords before the tore into I'm a Wheel. 

With barely a bow they split, but Wilco never goes through the motions - they were effusive with praising the crowd (except the front row and the Chicago visitor) and never faltered in their marathon 2-hour set. 

They might not play everyone's favorites - my Web site request for Hotel Arizona went unheeded. Fortunately, they don't know how to disappoint an audience, and never came close to that in the Queen City.