There may not have been 10 Wilcos on stage, just the six-piece band, but Tweedy recognized that they were playing with the emotion and excitement of 10 Wilcos.

Several songs into the concert Jeff Tweedy already knew something was different. It may have been the receptive, and for the most part respectful, audience. It could have been the response Tweedy and company were getting to a set that consisted of deeper Wilco songs, or it may have just been the smile on his band mates faces.

Whatever it was, there was clearly something in the air last Tuesday night at the Eagles Ballroom where Wilco played their first show on the current leg of their “Sky Blue Sky” Tour, in support of their most recent record with the same name.

“We are firing on all cylinders tonight,” Tweedy told the mostly full Eagles Ballroom toward the end of last Tuesday’s set. Tweedy then turned to bassist John Stirratt and acknowledged their recent 2 ½ week break from touring.

Then he said, “Our last show was two weeks ago when we were playing a baseball stadium in Louisville, but it feels like we just hopped on a plane and came straight to Milwaukee. It feels like there are 10 Wilcos on stage tonight.”

There may not have been 10 Wilcos on stage, just the six-piece band, but Tweedy recognized that they were playing with the emotion and excitement of 10 Wilcos.

The set list played was one of the most diverse and interesting that the band has performed in a long time. Drawing from every Wilco album, and from the acclaimed “Mermaid Avenue,” the set featured a good chunk of newer songs, a few classics and a slew of fan favorites, which pleasantly surprised the audience.

Although they are a band famous for playing great encores, no one in attendance expected the three separate encores, four if you count Tweedy’s solo, sans microphone, rendition of “Someone Else’s Song,” which totaled nine songs.

One member of the audience commented that they had not seen a band so enthusiastic about encores since Pearl Jam.

The last song played, “Spiders (Kidsmoke),” while an epic song to begin with, was given even greater attention as Tweedy informed the now awestruck crowd that Wilco could continue playing as long as the audience continued to clap in time together. The band rewarded the audience with an extra explosive bridge at the end of “Spiders.”

The bearded Tweedy, who donned a cowboy hat throughout the show, may have summed it up the best when he said, “This show is off the hook…as the kids say.” Wilco just may be the best band of this generation.

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