Being T here

Jeff Tweedy, the jean-jacketed jukebox hero

Wilco air out their entire discography over a five-night Chicago residency. Josh Modell clears his schedule.

YOU’RE GONNA NEED / TO BE / Patient with me,” sings Jeff Tweedy, 23 songs into a five-night stand that would stretch to 160 songs and include at least one performance of every track from every Wilco album. On February 15, 2008, the first gig at Chicago’s Riviera Theatre, Tweedy’s hometown disciples wouldn’t need patience, but less rabid fans such as myself might.

Days after the final show, Tweedy tells me he’d conceptualized the residency months before and immediately knew that it wouldn’t be a one-record-per-night affair à la Sparks’ recent London run of 21 albums over 21 nights. “I didn’t want it to be chronological,” he says, “because that would defeat the purpose—not knowing what was coming next. I love Sparks, but I don’t know if I could handle 21 nights of Sparks. I’m surprised they can handle 21 nights of Sparks.”

Tweedy jokes that these shows are like a paid rehearsal, and that they would allow the latest Wilco incarnation—no fewer than 11 different people have been in the band since 1994—to get a handle on the entire catalog, which has progressed from twangy alt country to dark, experimental power pop to noodly jams. A year after the release of Sky Blue Sky and its ensuing tour ( 79 shows in 14 countries), it’s understandable that Tweedy might want to pause and take stock of a career that has not only borne personal pitfalls and the vagaries of the music industry but become more successful than ever despite them. Doing this in public, however, is something else entirely. And devoting a week to experiencing and critiquing a band’s entire repertoire, no matter how accomplished and stylistically varied it may be, is a task best left to the intrepid. Or at least to someone with a forgiving social calendar.