By Erin DostalThe Daily Northwestern

Wilco, a Chicago-based band with a new album release and an upcoming European tour, performed on campus Friday for a crowd of more than 1,200 cheering fans.

The show, which also featured the French Kicks, drew a sold-out crowd at Patten Gym on Friday for A&O Productions’ annual A&O Ball.

Alex White, A&O’s incoming chairman, said he was excited for the show ever since the group booked the band.

“It’s not often that a band in the height of its popularity falls in our price range and is available on a date that works for us,” the SESP junior said.

Students began lining up outside Patten as early as 4 p.m. for the 8 p.m. show.

Tim DeMay, a Weinberg sophomore, said the show was one of the best he had seen in years.

“I knew kind of what to expect, but it definitely blew my expectations out of the water,” DeMay said.

After the French Kicks played an opening set from 8 p.m. until 8:30 p.m., Wilco performed a two-hour show from 9 p.m. until 11 p.m.

Wilco, which formed in 1994, performed several songs from their new album, “Sky Blue Sky,” which will be released Tuesday, as well as many of their older works. Crowd favorites included “Hummingbird” off their 2004 album “A Ghost is Born” and “Jesus, Etc.” from their 2002 release, “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.”

Even while tuning one of his many guitars, Jeff Tweedy, Wilco’s frontman, kept the audience’s attention by cracking jokes.

“You guys realize that you live in a wedding cake or something?” he teased, later admitting he wasn’t really sure what that meant.

Usually, A&O picks up artists performing at NU from the airport or their hotel. But because Wilco is based in Chicago, they drove themselves to the venue.

Tweedy dedicated the song “Hate it Here” to his wife, adding that she called it “The Liar Song” because it includes lyrics such as, “I do the dishes, I mow the lawn.”

Tweedy said his wife attended the concert because Wilco will be abroad for the next three weeks, promoting their new release in several European cities.

Forrest Wickman, a Weinberg sophomore and the incoming A&O director of concerts, said he was thrilled to see one of his favorite bands perform at NU. He added that he was happy to see students looking forward to the show.

“The student body cares a lot about these shows, and frankly we always get tons of praise and tons of criticism, which just shows how much people care about this,” Wickman said. “All that pressure makes me really want to bring the best.”

White said A&O tried to make Patten feel as little like a gym as possible, moving merchandise and concessions into the lobby to create a “lounge feel” and lining the main hallway with posters from previous shows to “put the show into context … in the history of A&O.”

More than 30 A&O members crewed the show, arriving at 7:30 a.m. to begin building the stage and working with sound and lighting engineers to set up for the two acts.

After the long preparation, the atmosphere during the performance was electric.

“Years from now we’ll know that we brought one of the best bands in America at the time,” Wickman said. “Everybody knew this was the band to go.”

Reach Erin Dostal at [email protected].