The new, expanded Wilco

Thursday, Oct. 13, 8 p.m.
Murat Theatre
$32.50
Information: www.rockforriley.com

Thursday’s Rock for Riley concert at the Murat Theatre will benefit an extremely worthy cause, which is all anyone needs to know.

Wilco will perform live at the Murat Theatre for the annual Rock for Riley Concert 2005 on Thursday, October 13 at 8 p.m.

But it’s hard to overlook the fact that the charity event also will bring one of America’s most revered rock bands to town for the first time in more than three years.

“An Evening with Wilco” is the theme of the second annual Rock for Riley, which is organized by IU School of Medicine students to benefit Riley Hospital for Children. Specifically, proceeds from ticket sales and sponsorships will go to the Riley Children’s Foundation for the construction of the Phase V Inpatient Tower, a $200 million, 10-story addition that will expand the hospital’s Level I pediatric trauma center, pediatric and neonatal intensive care units and operating rooms. Also, a Rock for Riley challenge grant put up by a local foundation will match donations from Riley physicians and staff up to $100,000.

Med student Greg Berman founded Rock for Riley and staged the first concert a year ago, when Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe packed the Vogue and generated more than $25,000 for the cause, donations included. This year, the 25-year-old Berman, colleague Joe Frank and their fellow students expect to generate a six-figure sum.

Berman first cooked up the concept as a means for students in the early years of med school, who are otherwise bogged down with book work, to satisfy their impulse toward community service by tackling a hands-on project with tangible results.

“This allows students in the first year to kind of become part of the medical community,” he says.

The planning process and the concert itself — scheduled to avoid conflicts with major exams — provide a great release for the many students involved.

“Your time to see concerts diminishes rapidly” when one enters medical school, Berman says. “There will be about 200 students at the show.”

After last year’s success with Karl Denson, the organizers decided to aim higher. Local promotions magnate Dave Lucas assisted in booking the act.
“We created a wish list, and Wilco was one of those top two or three,” Berman says. “I think they’ll be remembered as one of the most important American rock ’n’ roll groups of our generation.”

For whatever reason, the Chicago-based band has dodged Indianapolis since the June 2004 release of its fifth studio album, A Ghost Is Born. Our city has responded to the snub, perhaps, by taking its sweet time buying tickets. Though a sell-out of the roughly 2,500-seat hall was likely, seats still remained as of last week.

The Ghost album received Wilco’s usual response of critical raves and modest sales, though it was somehow anticlimactic in the wake of its similar and much-hyped 2002 predecessor, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, as if the band were catching its breath.

The past 18 months since its completion, however, have been eventful for Wilco. Band leader Jeff Tweedy, who is known to suffer from debilitating migraines, took the unusual step of issuing a public statement when he entered rehab last year for an attachment to prescription painkillers, a move that briefly delayed the Ghost album and tour. When the touring began in spring 2004, the band on the bus was an expanded six-member crew with some unfamiliar faces.

Now, only Tweedy and bassist John Stirratt remain from the original four-man lineup. Still with the band is innovative drummer Glenn Kotche, who replaced rock-steady original member Ken Coomer for the Foxtrot album and tour.

Gone is keyboardist-guitarist Leroy Bach, a utility man who was forced into the spotlight when star multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett was disinvited from the group during the Foxtrot sessions. In Bach’s place are keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen, who played on the Ghost sessions, multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone and guitarist Nels Cline.

Fans and critics have applauded the results. Chicago Sun Times pundit Jim Derogatis called the current roster “Wilco’s fieriest lineup ever,” saying the guitar duels between Cline and the steadily improving Tweedy recalled Sonic Youth. Cline also plays pedal steel guitar when a more rootsy feel is favored.
Wilco will wrap up its current mini-tour of the South and Central states by opening for the Rolling Stones on Saturday in Atlanta. Tweedy will spend the bulk of November on a short solo tour that will pass through Columbus, Ohio, on Nov. 9.

The next item of interest for fans will be the band’s first full-blown live album, set for release Nov. 1 on the Nonesuch label. Kicking Television: Live in Chicago is a double-disc set with 23 tracks from four May performances at the Vic Theatre, featuring the new lineup in the group’s hometown.

Scott Hall writes about music and culture at www.byrdlandstudios.com.