LIVE
WILCO
Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Colorado, August 10
Tweedy’s steadfast sextet offer solace under smoky skies
WILCO’S “A Shot In The Arm” first appeared on Summerteeth, released way back in 1999. But the song may well be 2021’s most on-the-nose anthem, no longer evoking self-destructive drug habits but rather the Covid-19 vaccine. In an alternate universe, it might’ve felt celebratory. But with the Delta variant spreading rapidly across the US and coronavirus cases emerging even among the vaccinated, you can’t help getting a queasy feeling when Jeff Tweedy hollers, “Maybe all I need is a shot in the arm”. It’s the “maybe” that hits hardest – what if a shot in the arm just isn’t enough?
Despite the magnificence of this openair venue in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, there are other reasons to feel a little down. For more than a week, the region has been covered in a thick shroud of smoke, drifting eastward from massive wildfires burning in the Pacific Northwest and turning Colorado’s usually brilliantly blue summer skies a grim grey.