Houstonist Review: Wilco at Verizon Wireless Theater

When Wilco last played Houston in 2005, their critically acclaimed album, A Ghost Is Born, had recently been released, and they rode into town on a wave of support. 2007's Sky Blue Sky divided critics with its mellow, meandering rock, a far cry from the challenging and dynamic sounds of the Chicago-based band's previous albums. As if to directly address these critics, Wilco opened Friday night's stand at Verizon Wireless Theater with some of the most laid-back tracks from their most recent record.

As the night progressed, the band explored its wide-ranging discography, playing songs from every album they've released, and some songs that only the hard-core, bootleg-collecting among us were familiar with; the older songs were bolstered by A Ghost Is Born-era addition Nels Cline, the band's lead guitarist. With blazing speed and a deft touch, Cline brought new depth to the back catalog of this prolific band.

However chilled-out the night began, it certainly rocked much harder by the time Jeff Tweedy's merry band closed out the main portion of their set with a fuzzed-out rendition of "I'm The Man Who Loves You" off of their much-beloved Yankee Hotel Foxtrot record. Tweedy was battling a cold all night, and at times leaned heavily on the audience to go places his vocal cords would not allow. But with his self-deprecating humor, and an audience representing a cross-section of the Lone Star state (this is Wilco's only scheduled Texas stop on their current tour), the band brought the goods throughout their two hour set, culminating in a trio of country-tinged jams from 1997's double albumBeing There to close out the night.

Despite being occasionally hailed as the "American Radiohead", Wilco has managed to carve out a distinctive piece of the music world to call their own over the past decade. Those who are newer fans or old stalwarts all came away with something they recognized on Friday, and as Tweedy said from the stage, coming back to Houston was "the right choice."

In case your choices that night prevented you from remember what the show looked like, Flickr shooter finna dat was there to provide the shots below.