Wilco: Live at La Bataclan, Paris – 29th May 2007

admin on May 31st 2007

Wilco. What does the name conjure up? The nephew of Uncle Tupelo?While I’ve never had more than a passing familiarity with their back catalogue, I’ve maintained somewhat of a distant curiosity…or at least I thought I had. How and ever, having always wanted to attend a concert in the famous La Bataclan, this opportunity seemed like a good way to begin a gig-heavy sojourn in Paris.

From the start, it was clear that Wilco have a very business-like approach on stage. While it was a fine performance, in terms of engaging the audience, it left a lot to be desired. Effort levels never seemed to raise above pedestrian, meaning no real connection or atmosphere were established. Perhaps the crowd have to take some of the responsibility, but one was still left with the impression that Wilco are happy to go through the motions, night in, night out.

The set-list drew heavily from the new album, and while there’s nothing unusual about that, I’m always a tad suspicious when a band stuff the encore full of new material – it smacks of trying a bit too hard to sell it – and in this case, they felt a little late. For instance, the momentum might have appeared less disjointed had songs like “Hate It Here” been played alongside “Walkin’” in the main body of the show, and if nothing else, the die hard fans present may have been momentarily distracted from the burning desire to flog a few extra copies of “Sky Blue Sky.”

A stray tampon hits the floor at Wilco – arguably as intersting as it got.

Overall, this felt like a middle of the road night for Wilco – it didn’t yield much of an impact one way or another, only posing the question (at least in my mind): are Wilco one of the most over-hyped bands around today?