Sunsquashed.net

So this past Sunday I went down to my hometown in Massachusetts to have Easter with the family. Actually, this was only part of the reason–Wilco were playing an Easter Sunday show at Lupo’s in Providence, RI, and my hometown is on the border with Rhode Island, so it was a great excuse for a Wilco road trip.  The show did not disappoint.  With no opening act, Wilco played for three straight hours without intermission, with a stunning mini-acoustic set in the middle of the show and loads of rarities sprinkled throughout.

And now, there’s this: Wilco are curating a festival called the Solid Sound Festival, to be held August 13-15 at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (better known as MASS MoCA) in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts. It’s a really cool idea: Wilco will be playing two shows themselves that weekend, and all of the Wilco members’ other bands will be playing sets as well (The Autumn Defense, Pronto, The Nels Cline Singers, On Fillmore).

Then add in a comedy stage, various installations and exhibits, and the fact that it’s at the already-awesome MASS MoCA and you’ve got the makings of a unique and amazing weekend. It’s a great idea.

If this were me, say, three years ago, I wouldn’t balk at the $78 ticket price. But, despite my glowing review up at the top of this post, Sunday’s show did leave me with a few reservations (!) about the modern Wilco experience.

First of all, they’re really into this self-aware meta-rockstar thing. These days the band members get introduced individually at concerts, during the opening “Wilco (the song)”, by a Macspeak voice while striking a silly rockstar pose. It’s kinda cute, I guess, but it’s also pure schtick. And it’s hard to take them seriously playing a song like “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” or “She’s a Jar” or “Handshake Drugs” when they’re treating the rest of the show like it’s all a big joke. Sure, rock music generally takes itself too seriously, but Jeff Tweedy’s a guy who knows the power of a rock’n'roll concert, and surely he knows that a good one can be supremely meaningful and powerful. Introducing all kinds of postmodern joke elements cheapens the experience, in my eyes.

Second of all, put simply, Wilco’s music has slid seriously downhill since A Ghost is Born. Sky Blue Sky was alright for what it was–the band playing simple, well put-together songs, stripped of too much studio trickery and experimentation. That was fine, once. But then last year they hit us with Wilco (the album)–again with the meta thing, ha ha you’re so funny Jeff Tweedy–and it seems more like they’re just going through the motions now, lacking in new ideas and not willing to exert the effort to experiment and contribute something new to the musical landscape. Luckily they still play lots of old Wilco at their shows (see Sunday’s setlist as proof), but tripe like “Sonny Feeling” and “You Never Know” seem really weak when played next to their mid-90s/early-2000s brilliance. And those will seem even worse when contrasted with the innovation of Nels Cline and Glenn Kotche’s respective solo projects during this festival.

So I’m pretty torn about this. Sure, the ticket prices are high ($78) and they’re getting really pompous and their new music is crap. But they’re a band that’s clearly all about trying to please the fans (even the whiny “the-old-days-were-so-much-better” ones, like me), and this weekend is going to be seriously special. It may be the Wilco of 2010…but that’s still Wilco.

[UPDATE: The real problem with this festival?  No Loose Fur, who's clearly the best of the Wilco side projects and whose albums I would rank up there with Wilco's best. Where are you, Jim O'Rourke?]