"You were right about the stars, each one is a setting sun."

My recap of the Wilco and Waxahatchee concert in Tallahassee on April 26th, 2025.

On Saturday, April 26th we got something we don’t usually see happening here in Tallahassee—a major musical act came to perform. In this case, it was Wilco with Waxahatchee opening for them. It had been 10 years (to the day) since Wilco last performed in Tallahassee (at a show I had to miss because I was traveling), but I was sure to catch them this time around and they did not disappoint.

It was a great evening for a show, especially one at this venue (the Adderley Amphitheater in Cascades Park). It was warm (it had been hot during the day), but there was a nice little breeze that kept everything cool. It was a perfect evening for an amphitheater show and Wilco and Waxahatchee put on a great one.

I’d listened to a little of Waxahatchee’s albums before, but not enough to really have things I was going into the performance looking for or expecting to hear. What did jump out at me was how well their sound translated from the album to the live setting. There was a softness to those Waxahatchee albums that doesn’t always work live, especially in that amphitheater setting.

But the performances were solid and Katie Crutchfield really impressed with not only her amazing voice but also her stage presence. I was also struck by the country-ness of their sound. What I’d listened to of the group felt closer to folk than anything else, but their sound was quite county in the best way possible. They do seem like a group that’s on its way up and I could envision the next time I see them it’ll be on their own headlining tour of sizable venues.

Moving into the main set… Wilco is one of those groups, like Elvis Costello (that I covered after seeing his performance here in Tallahassee), that has such an expansive back catalogue they could put together a whole setlist from the songs they didn’t play and it could still be amazing with everyone being happy. But Wilco’s performance spanned their illustrious career and sonically wove the different twists and turns their sound took into one narrative.

Here’s a link to the setlist to give you a sense of what they played. It was pretty heavy on songs off of A Ghost Is Born (which makes sense given that they just gave that album the big re-issue treatment) and also featured quite a few off of their two most recent albums (Cruel Country and Cousin). Jeff Tweedy looked good and sounded strong leading the way, whether strumming an acoustic or an electric guitar.

Nels Cline brought forth some sonic pyrotechnics, especially on “Impossible Germany,” which was a real highlight of the show for me. Though he joined the group post Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, I think about what he (Cline) brings into the fold and the group’s adapting and shift after their first 3 albums. Cline and Pat Sansone provided great guitar sound throughout, while Mikael Jorgensen was something of a revelation for me. Given that John Stirratt and Glenn Kotche are the longest-tenured non-Tweedy members of the group, perhaps I’ve just taken them for granted.

While there were plenty of good rocking moments for the group, there were also plenty of softer and more mellow picks on the setlist. “Cruel Country” is a track that is very, perhaps not surprisingly, country music-inflected. The lyrics also have a bit of a resonance in the modern moment:

I love my country like a little boy

Red, white, and blue

I love my country, stupid and cruel

Red, white, and blue

“Hummingbird” was a crowd pleaser while “Everyone Hides” off of Ode to Joy and “You Are My Face” off of Sky Blue Sky were personal favorites and eye-openers.

“Jesus Etc,” one of the great Wilco songs, is one that doesn’t seem like it would totally performed in concert. Yet it was certainly a highlight for me along with the other Yankee Hotel Foxtrot songs (“I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” and “Heavy Metal Drummer”). I also did enjoy “Annihilation,” which is off of their recently released Hot Sun Cool Shroud EP.

The one thing I wish there’d been a bit more of were songs off of Summerteeth (not one!). This isn’t even about not playing my favorite songs, but that whole album (which is quite important in the firmament of rock/alt-country music) was totally absent. “A Shot in the Arm” seems like an obvious choice, and both “Via Chicago” and “How to Fight Loneliness” has popped up on relatively recent setlists. I was also surprise there was only one song off of Cousin, which was an album I enjoyed and thought had some tracks that were up there with Wilco’s best.

But beyond that slight quibble (which is somewhat inevitable given the expansive catalogue Wilco has), it was an excellent performance. Tweedy and co. seem to be striking the right balance of holding onto the things that make them special that people like while not becoming a stagnant nostalgia act.

Wilco’s knowledge of and appreciation of pop/rock/country music serves them well and they’ve become a foundational act—a legacy act in the best since in that they’ve left a legacy and that they fit into the larger firmament/narrative of music history—and stand as one of the greats to emerge out of the bands of the 1990s.