The Downtown Amphitheater in Raleigh has really come alive in Year 2, with acts such as The Decemberists, Bon Iver, The Fleet Foxes and more. To add to the great lineup this year, Wilco took the stage of Tuesday night, joined by opener Nick Lowe. Lowe, hailing from the UK, couldn’t help but notice it was a wee bit humid in Raleigh. But better some late summer heat and humidity than a huge storm (as was the case the previous week with Fleet Foxes). Lowe warmed up the crowd nicely.
But make no mistake, this large crowd was there to see Wilco, who were celebrating a new album coming out that same day. Frontman Jeff Tweedy was surprisingly talkative between songs as a result, sharing with the crowd that he’d spent the day reading reviews of the new album on Amazon (and discovering, as he does after every album, that the Internet thinks he is “gay”).
After an upbeat opening to the show, it settled into a bit of rut for much of the rest of the first hour, before finding its way again, especially during the long encore segment. Wilco left the crowd exhausted and having gotten their money’s worth.