An Evening with Wilco, Frederik Meijer Gardens Amphitheatre, Grand Rapids Michigan, June 12, 2026.

It turns out that I’ve seen Wilco live about once every ten years – and it’s interesting to think back to the overall vibe of each show.

In 2006, Wilco was probably at the peak of their mass culture reach — coming off two albums of intense studio experimentation that earned them widespread cred with both listeners and critics, settling into a stable lineup for the first time in five years. While frontman Jeff Tweedy still prowled the stage with nervy, coiled intensity – to the extent of calling out any inattentive folks in the front rows – his new songs (from the then-unreleased Sky Blue Sky) seemed more settled lyrically, more fluid musically, written for a band that had jelled in the course of extensive live work. In contrast, the 2015 concert was looser and skronkier; Wilco slammed through their current album Star Wars (alternate title if Lucasfilm had objected: Cease and Desist) in its entirety for starters, then leaned hard into their more rambunctious material; even an all-acoustic encore felt like anything could happen at any time.

This time around, where would the vibe land? Taking Meijer Gardens’ stage on a perfect late-spring evening, Wilco kicked off the show with “Handshake Drugs” from 2004’s A Ghost Is Born. Chanted to a sing-song melody and his acoustic strumming, Tweedy’s blurry snapshot of a man trapped in self-inflicted confusion gave way to guitarist Nels Cline’s keening lead break, while utility player Pat Sansone, keyboardist Mike Jorgenson, and rhythm buddies John Stirratt and Glenn Kotche plowed onward. When Tweedy switched to electric guitar and joined Cline in a feedback-laden playout, it seemed a statement of intent, and the sell-out crowd cheered on the band, seemingly ready for more.

What they got — well, openings can be deceiving! Downshifting for a good chunk of the first set, Wilco eased into the calmer, spacious folk/Americana groove that’s marked more recent albums Shmilco, Ode to Joy and Cruel Country. Cline traded off between electric, resonator, and lap steel guitars, always hitting a sweet spot with his lead lines; Sansone, Jorgensen, Stirratt (who took the vocal on his “It’s Just That Simple” from debut album A.M.) and Kotche brought home one charming moment after the other. And Tweedy settled into his best southern Illinois drawl, at ease as I’d never seen him on both newer material and appropriate oldies like “Forget the Flowers” and “You and I”. The expansive “Bird Without a Tail/Base of My Skull” gave the entire band room to stretch out in the middle, shaping an organic instrumental jam any Deadhead would bliss out over.

But just as the crowd was settling in, the disturbed dream-pop of “Via Chicago” popped out of a dark alley. His voice a flat mumble, Tweedy threaded his way through spooky neuroses (“I dreamed about killing you again last night/And it felt alright with me”), the tune’s mournful slow drag randomly shattered by jagged, horror-soundtrack noise squalls from Cline and Kotche. Our nerves soothed at the halfway point by the sing-along “California Stars” (words by Woody Guthrie, covered by Bob Seger), we were nonetheless back to wondering what might be in store for the second set.

The answer — much, much more rock! Fan favorites from 2001’s breakthrough album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot bookended the set, with “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart”, “War On War”, “Heavy Metal Drummer” and “I’m the Man Who Loves You” all garnering enthusiastic reactions. And the jams got more extravagant, more exuberant: the rich triple guitar weave of “Impossible Germany”, mutant offspring of The Allman Brothers and Television; a raging “Kingpin”, with Sansone going toe to toe with Cline in a bluesy duet; Tweedy firing off one random yet right lick after another to punctuate the motorik monochord workout “Spiders (Kidsmoke)”. And to top off the night, Wilco’s primal roots – alt-country scruffiness laced with hardcore distortion and attitude – came through loud and proud on encores “The Late Greats”, “I Got You (At the End of the Century)” and “Outtasite (Outta Mind)”.

So which Wilco showed up? Both of them – or all of them – did, the vibe shifting as they went, and 1500+ people couldn’t have been happier. A great night from a band that’s relentlessly blazed their own trail across three decades, musically restless yet utterly relaxed, at the height of their powers onstage. Surprising and satisfying in equal proportions, they’re well worth catching if you can.

— Rick Krueger

Setlist:

• Handshake Drugs
• If I Ever Was a Child
• Cruel Country
• Forget the Flowers
• Evicted
• Bird Without a Tail / Base of My Skull
• I’m Always in Love
• Everyone Hides
• Hummingbird
• It’s Just That Simple
• You and I
• Shouldn’t Be Ashamed
• Via Chicago
• California Stars
• Falling Apart (Right Now)
• Box Full of Letters
• Annihilation
• I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
• War on War
• Either Way
• Impossible Germany
• Jesus, Etc.
• Theologians
• Walken
• Kingpin
• Heavy Metal Drummer
• I’m the Man Who Loves You
• Spiders (Kidsmoke)
• The Late Greats
• I Got You (At the End of the Century)
• Outtasite (Outta Mind)