Regardless of whether you consider them alt-country, indie rock, the American answer to Radiohead, all or none of the above, there’s no denying that Wilco have been one of the most important bands in the rock scene for the past decade-plus. Led by songwriter extraordinaire Jeff Tweedy, the once-fluctuating lineup of musicians that make up Wilco has solidified over the past five years into a six-member core that is brilliant both live and in the studio.
Regardless of whether you consider them alt-country, indie rock, the American answer to Radiohead, all or none of the above, there’s no denying that Wilco have been one of the most important bands in the rock scene for the past decade-plus. Led by songwriter extraordinaire Jeff Tweedy, the once-fluctuating lineup of musicians that make up Wilco has solidified over the past five years into a six-member core that is brilliant both live and in the studio. You’ve all heard the evidence of the latter on their eight albums–the most recent of which, The Whole Love, was released by the band’s own label, dBpm, last fall–but now you have a unique opportunity to see them prove it in the flesh a mere hour’s drive away from our beautiful hometown of RVA. That’s right, they’ll be taking the stage at Charlottesville’s nTelos Wireless Pavilion on Thursday, July 19–that’s tomorrow night!–and tickets for the show are still available. For those of you who didn’t grab tickets to their Wolf Trap Theatre dates in Vienna–or did, and want an encore dose of live Wilco–this is the perfect prescription.
The show also features opening act the Lee Ranaldo Band. The more reserved of Sonic Youth’s two guitarists released a solo album (of actual rock songs rather than noise experiments), Between The Times And The Tides, earlier this year, and now he’s put together a band to bring this music to the live stage. No word on whether or not Wilco’s Nels Cline, who played on Between The Times And The Tides, will be joining Ranaldo and co. onstage, but either way, it should be an excellent set displaying a rarely-seen side of Ranaldo’s creative work, so be sure to get to the show early and check that out.
WHAT: Wilco And The Lee Ranaldo Band In C-ville!
WHERE: nTelos Wireless Pavilion, Charlottesville
WHEN: Thursday, July 19, Doors 6 PM, Show 7 PM
ADMISSION: $45 general admission; purchase advance tickets HERE
Just in case you’re still not convinced, we’ve got two live videos for you down below. First, Wilco performing the title track from their new album live on David Letterman last fall, and then an amazing fan-shot recording of the Lee Ranaldo Band (featuring Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley on drums) performing their song “Xtina As I Knew Her” live in Leeds, England last month. Once you see these, we’re sure you’ll want to see a lot more of both of these bands.
