Wilco announce concerts to commemorate 20th anniversary of 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'

Wilco will play six shows this April to celebrate 20 years since the release of their acclaimed fourth album ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’.

The shows, announced earlier this week (February 8), will see the band playing the album in its entirety every night. The shows have been sub-titled ‘We Are Touring To Break Your Heart’ – a reference to the album’s opening song, ‘I Am Trying To Break Your Heart’.

Four shows will take place at the United Palace in New York City, while a further two shows will take place in the band’s native Chicago at the Auditorium Theater. Chicago is also where the band recorded ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’ itself, at their studio The Loft.

Coincidentally, the tour’s final night (April 23) will mark exactly 20 years to the date that the album was officially released in 2002 by Nonesuch Records. The band originally put the album up online for free in September 2001 to spite their then-label, Reprise, who were reportedly unhappy with the sound of the record.

Since its release, ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’ has become widely regarded as one of the best indie-rock records of the 2000s. NME praised the album for “streamlining [Wilco’s] sound down to a painful bareness” in a way that “works brilliantly”.

“It’s hard going, but it’s worth it,” the review read, “and that is undoubtedly their point.”

Wilco most recently performed last month as part of the Sky Blue Sky festival in Mexico – which was named for their sixth album from 2007. The band served as the headlining act across all three nights, bringing on guests such as Pavement‘s Stephen Malkmus and Spoon‘s Britt Daniel to perform with them.

In May, the band will perform at the Solid Sound festival, which they also curated. They will be joined by the likes of Japanese Breakfast and Sylvan Esso at the three-day festival, taking place at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts.

Wilco’s ‘We Are Touring To Break Your Heart’ 2022 dates are:

APRIL
Friday 15, Saturday 16, Sunday 17 and Tuesday 19 – New York City, United Palace
Friday 22 and Saturday 23 – Chicago, Auditorium Theater