Wilco with Nick Lowe at Rumsey Playfield - Central Park NY Article and Images by Bill Kelly

Wilco continued its current tour behind their new release “The Whole Love” with a two night set at Central Parks Rumsey Playfield.  Opener Nick Lowe, himself touring a new release, ”The Old Magic”, was still the “Jesus of Cool”.  Unlike many of his cohort, Lowe has clearly settled comfortably into his age.  Performing a solo acoustic set , Lowe’s voice hasn’t changed all that much from his Rockpile days.  As he sang all those years ago, “ and so it goes...”.

Wilco opened with “Art of Almost” from the new release.  An intricate layered song, starting with NelsCline’s pulsing guitar and layered synthesised sound,  the song built up to a frenetic crescendo.  A microcosm of the entire show, Wilco somehow managed to weave a sonic web around the crowd, encasing the open stadium in sound.  Next up was their 45 release from the new CD, “I Might”, a pop-like song featuring a drum beat reminiscent of Joplin’s “Move Over”.  Through the evening, Tweedy’s voice somehow floated above and through the bands intricate sound.  Clearly evolved from the alt-country band that spun out of Uncle Tupelo, Wilco delighted the sold out crowd, mastering blues, rock, psychedelic haze and pop.  Late in the set, playing “Impossible Germany” from their 2007 release “Sky Blue Sky” the band again managed to close in the Manhattan evening, creating an aural barrier between the venue and surrounding bustle.  The band, clearly emancipated from the restraints of their earlier releases, seemed to be discovering their music anew, spinning and weaving, soaring to the tops of the surrounding cityscape, lighting back in the soft meadows of the park.