When the dates, cities and venues for Wilco’s 2026 European summer tour got announced way back in February, I think it’s fair to say — objectively speaking — that the most intriguing stop was the final one. A place that Jeff and his bandmates had never played before? A beautiful part of a country that isn’t a frequent tour stop for many American bands? A relatively intimate amphitheater inside a medieval fortress with picturesque vistas? Sign me up…
The setting for tonight’s tour finale certainly couldn’t have been much further away from the first time Wilco played in Croatia, back in 2012. After initially being slated for a club in gritty Zagreb, the show was moved to a random warehouse-like building within a sprawling complex of exhibition halls — the Zagrebački velesajam, or Zagreb City Fair — where the setting was not especially memorable or conducive to a concert (though it turned out to be a pretty enjoyable one). Contrast that with the roughly 1,100-capacity setup at St. Michael’s Fortress set above the lovely coastal city of Šibenik with views of the old town and Adriatic Sea below. It was a pity that the doors to the venue didn’t open until after the sun had gone down, so those attending the show couldn’t fully take in the sunset.
By the time Jeff and Co. took the stage for their third-ever appearance in Croatia — they also played a festival in Zagreb in 2016 — the sun had long sunk below the horizon. But it was ultimately a small price to pay for one of the best, or at least most fun, shows of the tour. For the second straight show there was no “Wilco” backdrop informing the audience who was playing (and the picket fence behind the band in Šibenik couldn’t quite compare with the colonnade at Palazzo Te in Mantova, Italy, two nights earlier) but the mood of the band and the energy of the sold-out crowd made up for any aesthetic shortcomings.
Like the Mantova show, there were chairs virtually all the way up to the barricade and so, as usual, there were questions about whether people would sit or stand. Some of the diehards up front made the move to stand right when the band came on, but it seemed like there would be some tension when at least a few people tried to shout them down. However, several working photographers also had to stand in front for the first couple of songs in order to get their shots and, fortunately, I think that might have given the standers enough cover to remain on their feet until it was just generally accepted. Because of the stadium seating for most of the crowd, I don’t think too many people had difficulty seeing so ultimately I guess the standers just won out.
In any event, the first half of the show went pretty much by the book with Jeff staying mostly away from Banter Corner, though he did joke about the steady breeze making him feel like he was on a runway. “I feel like I’m doing a fashion show,” Jeff said a few songs into the show. “I have the wind in my hair. I feel like Cindy Crawford. That’s the only model I can think of (right now). Maybe Paulina Porizkova?” Early on, Jeff also tried to sprinkle in the two Croatian words he apparently knows — hvala (thank you), after a couple of songs, and bok (hello), when he changed the “What was I thinking when we said…” lyric in I Am Trying To Break Your Heart. His pronunciation might have been a bit tentative, but eventually he concluded, “Close enough, right?”
About mid-way through the main set, Jeff did open up a bit more when he mentioned this was “the last night of our tour in Europe” and took the time to mention each individual member of the Wilcrew by name — saving his own namesake for last, of course ( #twotweedys ). “My guitar tech (is) named Jeff Fucking Tweedy,” frontman Jeff said. “We call him JT2. He’s the best in the business, and not just because he shares a name with me — which is pretty amazing, I think.” This came before Annihilation and JT1 evidently used most of his concentration up on the crew shoutouts because he subsequently tried to tell the audience about the song being on the Hot Sun Cool Shroud EP and how that title came from a similarly named sushi restaurant in Chicago but amusingly got the words all jumbled up.
Oh well, at least he got his act together by the end of the main set when we finally got the “southern rock” version of Kingpin for the first and only time on this European run. It had been a bit curious, given its regularity on setlists in the U.S. this year, why Kingpin dropped out of rotation in Europe. I’m sure time constraints had something to do with it, given the shorter sets on this side of the Atlantic, but I always thought this version with the guitar duel between Pat and Nels would translate well, even if European audiences might not get the lyrics as much. Jeff had already missed plenty of opportunities to change the “livin’ in…” line to something that would work perfectly with Pekin — Nijmegen, London, Scotland — so when he unleashed “livin’ in…Croatia,” well, it was kind of sadly awkward. But no one in the crowd seemed to mind, especially when Jeff delivered his usual heartfelt sentiments about not knowing what to do, but wanting to give his love away anyway. “Where we’re from, a lot of people are like this,” Jeff said in part, displaying clenched fists. “Some people could use a fucking hug. That’s all we’re here to do.”
It could have been a real banner night for Being There if Jeff had granted, instead of shrugged off, a clearly audible request for Misunderstood and/or closed the show with the I Got You (At The End Of The Century)/Outtasite (Outta Mind) duo instead of just the former (or, I suppose, added Red-Eyed And Blue to I Got You, which I feel like hasn’t happened in a long time). But in addition to I Got You and Kingpin, we also got the always-delightful and relatively deep cut Say You Miss Me as well as Forget The Flowers, so not too shabby.
I don’t know if Kingpin deserves all the credit, but it seemed like from that point on — for about the last half-hour or so of the 2-hour, 10-minute show — Jeff and his bandmates just kind of let loose in a good way. There was a brief moment of confusion at the start of Kingpin when Glenn appeared to not know what song was next because Heavy Metal Drummer had actually been on the printed setlist, but evidently Jeff decided to cut it without Glenn’s knowledge. Finally, though, all the band members got on the same page and through Kingpin before leaving the stage slightly earlier than planned. And fortunately there wouldn’t be any more songs cut from the printed setlist. I’m The Man Who Loves You, which had been the planned end of the main set, instead became the first song of the encore.
As the band returned to the stage, Glenn got a small measure of “revenge” by somewhat mischievously stopping at Jeff’s microphone and properly pronouncing hvala on his way back behind his drum kit. For his part, Jeff displayed a bit of mock indignation, asking what Glenn had said. It was all in good fun, of course, just before Jeff and Co. sent the crowd of Croatians — and, OK, more than a handful of foreigners — out with an extra skip in their steps as they descended out of the fortress and into the Šibenik streets below. Here’s hoping that it won’t be another decade before Wilco makes it back to this lovely corner of the planet.
This was the complete setlist, as played (as mentioned, Heavy Metal Drummer was on the printed setlist but wasn’t played, while I’m The Man Who Loves You was bumped from the last song of the main set to the first song of the encore):
Art Of Almost
Handshake Drugs
If I Ever Was A Child
Via Chicago
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart>
California Stars
Forget The Flowers
Evicted
Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull
I’m Always In Love (acoustic arrangement)
War On War
Annihilation
Hummingbird
It’s Just That Simple
Say You Miss Me
Impossible Germany
Jesus, etc.
Walken
Kingpin
Encore
I’m The Man Who Loves You
Spiders (Kidsmoke)
I Got You (At The End Of The Century)
Thanks Paul, great write up and photos! Great to see you there! -HarryO
What a beautiful venue!