Wilco at the Royal Albert Hall

Wilco

Deep Sea Diver

Royal Albert Hall, 22 June 2025 

About twenty years ago, Wilco were my absolute favourite band. I was actually a little obsessed with them and managed to see them live many times including several Jeff Tweedy solo shows. A few of those gigs were sublime almost life-changing experiences for me but in recent years I had moved on to other obsessions. Their last album, Cousin, though was so good that it kind of reawakened my love for Wilco and it shocked me to discover that it's actually been 15 years since I last saw them live (although I did see Jeff Tweedy solo in 2014). I was determined to fix this and when they announced, what is certainly their biggest ever London show at the grandiose and legendary Royal Albert Hall, I paid more than I've ever paid for a Wilco show and bought a ticket.

Although they did play the Forum last year (I tried to get a ticket but it was sold out), the last time I saw Wilco live was at another seated venue, the Royal Festival Hall, in 2010 and looking back at my blog entry for that show,  I can see I was a little frustrated by the lack of energy there because everyone was, understandably, sitting for most of the show and worse, often more interested in keeping their beer supply topped up. I have to say, there was a lot of that going on tonight too and I found myself missing the atmosphere you get when you are standing down at the front (you definitely don't get people constantly trying to get by you to go to the bar or the toilet anyway).

One thing that is always nice though at venues like the Royal Albert Hall, is that it always starts early and on time, so I was glad when support act Deep Sea Diver promptly arrived on stage at 7.30pm, despite many empty seats still (I'm sure the bar was heaving though).

I was completely unfamiliar with Seattle band Deep Sea Diver (who of course are on Sub Pop!) but it turns out that they have been around for over 15 years. Not only that, frontwoman Jessica Dobson has been a touring member of The Shins and Beck's band. I can definitely see why because not only is she a magnetic presence onstage she is also an absolutely incredible guitarist. 

Surprisingly, Dobson told us this was their first time in London: it wasn't their first show though as they had played the previous two nights at Third Man Records. What a contrast in venues though, as the Blue Room at Third Man could not be more tiny, yet they were absolute naturals at commanding the big stage and the huge audience in front of them. 

Because I was seated almost at the side of the stage, my view of the band was partially obscured by the keyboard player, but Dobson was the focal point anyway: it was a beautiful thing witnessing her shredding on her guitar and singing, looking very cool wearing a white shirt and mini skirt.

They played a six song set mainly comprised of songs from the band's new album Billboard Heart (which I picked up after the show), ending on an older song called Eyes Are Red (Don't Be Afraid), which saw Dobson standing on an amp at the edge of the stage, playing her guitar as she looked out to into the audience: it looked very cool indeed. I can't wait to listen to the record now because they were fantastic. 

There was a lot of noise when Deep Sea Diver was on but they seemed to go down well. The audience though, I noticed, were mainly older white males. I mean I'm older too, but it did re-enforce the idea that Wilco are firmly in the dad rock camp now (something, years ago I took offense to, but they were right!). There was also a lot of beer and even, shock horror, snacks. I don't think I've ever seen so many snacks being consumed at a concert, it was definitely a strange feeling and didn't really feel like we were about to rock out, more like we were at the theatre.

When the band emerged (on time of course), to big cheers, they did indeed look a lot older too (but definitely very cool with it), with Tweedy in particular now sporting a big fluffy head of white hair and glasses too (I don't recall ever seeing him perform with glasses on before). They launched into the excellent Company In My Back and I was actually surprised just how many tunes from A Ghost Is Born they played tonight: six songs in all, far more than any other album in their back catalogue. They were definitely crowd pleasers though, with tracks like Handshake Drugs, Hummingbird, Less Than You Think, Muzzle Of Bees and Spiders (Kidsmoke) all sounding like the classics they now are (so weird to think when I was in my Wilco phase these were all relatively new songs!).

I was looking forward to hearing tracks from the new record (well, it's two years old now but it's their most recent one anyway), but we only got two songs from it tonight, Evicted (which I must say went down really well, I looked out at the audience and could see many singing along) and Meant To Be later in the set. 

It was interesting to me how much of the set was from those first seven albums and out of the 23 song set, only seven songs were from the last ten years (there was nothing at all from The Whole Love). I was kind of excited to hear some of the newer songs because I hadn't seen them live in so long, but the majority of the set could have been from the era when I was constantly seeing them live, so it was weird but of course very nostalgic, to see how little it had changed. I will say, Wilco is a band who change up their setlist all the time, so another night it could have been very different, and they may well have been catering to the audience with "the hits" so to speak because it was the Royal Albert Hall, but I don't know for sure. 

Of all these classic songs though, I'd say Via Chicago went down particularly well, especially the crashing distorted noisy parts, which always sound so cool over the sweet melody. The crowd thought so too and it drew plenty of cheers. Also, Impossible Germany, with all it's dueling guitar parts, had the audience on its feet by the end. I must say, this song has always been a favourite of mine and while it sounded good, hearing them play this at Shepherd's Bush Empire back in the day far surpassed it for me.

Because I was seated on the right side of the stage, most of the show I saw was in profile, and most of the action I could see came from keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen (looking very Wes Anderson, I must say, in his glasses and yellow jacket) and the always wonderful Nels Cline, surely one of the greatest guitarists in the world. It was actually fascinating to see the interplay between Cline and Tweedy: out of all the band, Cline was the one who he seemed to interact with the most, often looking at him for reassurance and smiling when their guitar parts beautifully intertwined. I may not have noticed this if I was seated straight on, so that was nice, although I did miss watching Glenn Kotche play (he was kind of partially obscured to me from my angle) as he's one of the drum greats and always great fun to observe.

One thing though, I had forgotten just how funny Jeff Tweedy can be. It's strange to think at one time he was quite angry and could be combative with the audience. Now when he performs he often has a big grin on his face and he even doesn't mind chatting with the audience. He bemoans the fact that every time he plays these days there's always an empty seat at the front right opposite to him (which sounds like seated venues is their thing now). When someone finally turns up quite a few songs in, huge glass of wine in hand, and takes the seat, Tweedy clocks it immediately. "Hey, you're here finally!" he says to him, "did you get stuck in the white wine line?" Later, someone else takes the seat and again Tweedy notices "it's a different guy!" he says. "It's the seat of shame."

Later in the show, Tweedy laughs, "this is the point of the show where people realise they are not going to hear the song they came to hear," he jokes. "We actually have pamphlets in the lobby at shows for people who didn't hear their song." (I think this was probably more true in the old days though, as the set was filled with plenty of old favourites tonight.)

My favourite moment though came when he announced they were going to play Box Full Of Letters (which was a joy to hear, I must admit), which he told us came from their very first album A.M. "And just looking around at you all," he laughed, "I have a feeling you might know it." I did chuckle, I can't deny, it was indeed a very grey-haired crowd.

After this they played a song from their last EP, Hot Sun Cool Shroud, called Annihilation, which sounded great and Tweedy introduced it by saying, they like to play their oldest song and their newest song together, so we can all marvel at the band's artistic progression.

"We're almost at the end," Tweedy said to many boos, "not of the show, just in general I mean." But they then did play the song that often closes their shows, Spiders (Kidsmoke), which actually sounded pretty incredible, even though we were all seated and it's hard to rock out, sitting. For a while I thought, this is the old Wilco I know, and I got excited, because it sounded so angular and cool, but then at the end, Tweedy asked the audience to participate. "I haven't even asked you to stand up, but I want your help now, and it will bring you joy, you'll go home and you'll remember this part." Everyone actually started to stand and he asked us all to sing the wordless chant at the end of the song, which everyone did. I hated it. I know I'm no fun, but I found it so cheesy and it totally ruined the vibe of the song for me. But everyone sang along and loved it, so what do I know. The whole band also seemed delighted at the response and went off stage with huge smiles on their faces.

They of course returned for an encore and the audience remained standing for these last few songs, which did admittedly bring a lot more energy to the show (even though my view wasn't quite as good, but I was seated quite near the stage, so I shouldn't complain too much). "I should have asked you to stand earlier on!" Tweedy exclaimed and it was true, people seemed much more animated and it definitely helped to elevate things. 

They played a "country song," Falling Apart (Right Now), one of the newer tracks from the 2022 album Cruel Country, which sounded lovely, but it was the always joyful California Stars, the fun Walken and the rousing pop of I Got You (End Of The Century) which ended the show on a high note.

Earlier Tweedy had said that he just realised that the show before this one was at a place called the Junkyard (in Germany), a complete contrast to the regal place they were in tonight. The whole band seemed a bit overwhelmed by it, which was actually rather nice and at the end, Tweedy thanked us for one of the best nights of their lives. 

I do think a lot of the audience felt the same but I don't know if it was because I was trying to recapture a feeling from my past, but I didn't quite feel it tonight. I know I felt a similar way at the Royal Festival Hall, where I thought the venue gave the show a different less exciting atmosphere than I was hoping for but I do realise the band and their audience is older now so maybe they don't want to be standing in a grotty venue and it's nicer to be in the grand, impressive atmosphere of a place like the Royal Albert Hall. Ultimately a place like this is probably a good fit for a, now veteran, band like Wilco.

So I didn't have that magic moment tonight, as I had hoped, and that is probably on me, but I still think Wilco is a wonderful band and I'm definitely glad I got to experience them again. Overall I know for most it was simply a beautiful show and it was certainly filled with lots of good feeling.