There’s not a whole lot more to say about last night’s amazing set from Wilco than what JZ already covered, but I feel like I could gush about guitarist Nels Cline for pages. Adding an “experimental” guitarist to a band like Wilco could have gone wrong in countless ways, but it worked out for one of two (or both) reasons: 1. Nels and the band are a perfect fit for each other, or, 2. Nels Cline is such an amazing guitarist he could make himself fit into any band seamlessly. Tweedy is one of the best songwriters alive, but it’s the moments on Sky Blue Sky when he hands Cline the reins that the songs really get interesting. Tweedy understood that although Wilco could have just continued playing their trademark folk rock ad nauseam, adding the explosive element of Cline would keep the band sharp and innovative.

I was waiting all night to hear Cline bust out his solo on “Side With the Seeds,” and when he did all I could do is stare at his fingers in amazement. He is so much more than a soloist though – the way he uses texture both with his strumming and array of pedals contributes just as much as his intricate fingering. Even when he’s not given a spotlight he’s adding a perfect layer of lap steel or 12 string; nothing he does is unnecessary. I was slightly bummed he didn’t get a chance to really show his stuff outside the context of any of the song’s pre-determined formulas, until the closer “Spiders (Kidsmoke).” Here he was given a full ten minutes to display all the bizarre noises he could wrestle from his guitar, with Tweedy doing the same, creating an amazing dialogue of frantic noise. In Cline, Tweedy has finally found the brawns to match his brains, the perfect amount of avant-garde to keep his folk rock endlessly captivating. Hearing Cline on the new album was impressive, seeing him live was staggering.