Wilco — 13 July 2026, Wilmington, NC (Greenfield Lake Amphitheater)

[note: Your humble correspondent did not attend four shows following the previous post: 5 July (Houston, TX); 7 July (Memphis, TN); 9 July (LaGrange, GA); and 11 July (Durham, NC)]

Not to be too egotistical or anything, but when you do what I do with these little recaps and then you’re at a show and you hear the words “We don’t usually comment on what people write about us, but…” come out of Jeff’s mouth, well, a few thoughts immediately start going through your head. Like, am I about to get called out here? If so, what could I possibly have written that would’ve prompted this? And if it happens, what would be an appropriate reaction?

Fortunately, it would all be a moot point seconds later when Jeff revealed the true source of his agitation — namely, a now-infamous Reddit post about Wilco’s performance nine days earlier at Willie Nelson’s 4^th of July Picnic in Austin, Tex., and specifically the part that likened Glenn to Animal from The Muppets and asserted in part that he “just starts going crazy out of nowhere on the drums” during Via Chicago. Continued the Redditor, “Is that Wilco‘s whole shtick? That the drummer is just crazy and you never know what’s gonna come out?” If we didn’t get enough of an idea, Glenn himself briefly demonstrated it while simultaneously cracking up. “Don’t be surprised if that happens,” Jeff quipped. “We’re gonna draw straws at every show and one of us just goes nuts at some point. You’re never gonna see two shows (that are) alike. Anyway, shout out to that Reddit person for being, uh, tuned in.”

I don’t know if Jeff had previously addressed this at any of the band’s other shows since that Austin set, but maybe it had just been brought to his attention today because I think that’s when Team Tweedy shared the “review” on Wilco’s social media. In any case, this all took place on a day when Jeff and Co. once again battled the elements following the postponement — and eventual cancellation — of their show in Charleston, S.C., a few days earlier.

Tonight, a little further north along the Carolina coast, the band was fortunate to get a full show in when a storm with lightning descended on the Greenfield Lake Amphitheater just around the time when gates had been scheduled to open. For a variety of reasons, including the inclement weather, I was going to have a difficult time making it to the venue on time so the delayed opening was a lucky reprieve for me. But I felt badly for the Wilcrew, who basically had to set up the whole stage again as people were entering. Somehow, though, the start of the show was only delayed by about half an hour.

Naturally most of Jeff’s visits to Banter Corner early on related to the weather conditions, like when he complimented the damp audience by saying in part, “You all look good, like you just got out of the shower.” A bit later, he checked in by asking, “Everybody having a good time? Even if it rained again, I think it would still be a good time. We’d gladly play if we didn’t have a roof, but it’s nice that we have one.” (The band had a roof over its head, but the audience didn’t, for what it’s worth. Anyway, a persistent drizzle throughout the show ensured that everyone was a bit moist — though I’m pretty sure Jeff was the only band member to change shirts between sets, interestingly enough.)

A brief word on the venue, which is a relatively intimate neighborhood amphitheater/bandshell type of place set in a wooded area next to its namesake, Greenfield Lake. With a capacity of 1,400, I can see why this show sold out so quickly. It was almost certainly a better venue in which to see Wilco than the much-larger shed across town, where the band played just over a year earlier (even though both places are apparently operated by Live Nation...ugh.)

Once the show got going, Set 1 pretty much went by the book aside from Jeff’s Reddit “rant” after Via Chicago followed by California Stars, during which Jeff pandered to the crowd by changing the lyrics to “Carolina Stars.” By the time the second set rolled around (and the relative darkness set in — which caused a weird moment when it seemed like there was a power failure or something and there was just one bright light focused on Jeff, who pondered aloud whether he was about to be hit by a car), the mood seemed to shift to a slightly rowdier one that made for an intense conclusion to the show.

We got the new song Losing Traction swapped in for Whole Love, which had been on the printed setlist. Then Jeff gave one of the more impassioned Kingpin spiels I’d heard him give since that became a thing, telling the audience in part that “it’s hard to give your love away nowadays. Some of the people who need love the most are the people I’m angriest at. … I’m not talking about sexual love; I’m talking about decency. Kindness, let’s do it.” Afterward Jeff admitted that the spiel probably had been a little “preachy, but that’s OK.”

When Jeff and his bandmates came out for the encore, they applauded those who had stuck around. Jeff said he usually made a joke about likening good Monday audiences to at least a Tuesday night crowd, but of this Monday assemblage, he said, “You guy are full-on Saturday night. Maybe we should hose every audience down before a show.” It wasn’t quite enough to get, say, Monday played in celebration, but the band did audible to a frenetic Spiders (Kidsmoke) to close out the proceedings. And I, for one, could only imagine what that Redditor would have said about that…

Here was the complete setlist, as played (didn’t get a look at a printed setlist for Set 1, but as mentioned in Set 2, Losing Traction replaced the planned Whole Love mid-set, while Spiders (Kidsmoke) replaced Outtasite (Outta Mind) in the encore):

Set 1

1. Handshake Drugs

2. If I Ever Was A Child

3. Cruel Country

4. Forget The Flowers

5. Evicted

6. Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

7. I’m Always In Love (acoustic arrangement)

8. Everyone Hides

9. Hummingbird

10. It’s Just That Simple

11. War On War

12. Via Chicago

13. California Stars

14. Falling Apart (Right Now)

Set 2

15. Box Full Of Letters

16. Annihilation

17. I Am Trying To Break Your Heart>

18. Kamera

19. Either Way

20. Impossible Germany

21. Jesus, etc.

22. new song-Losing Traction

23. Hate It Here

24. Walken

25. Kingpin

26. Heavy Metal Drummer

27. I’m The Man Who Loves You

Encore

28. The Late Greats

29. I Got You (At The End Of The Century)

30. Spiders (Kidsmoke)