TORONTO -- This is for the person who passed out on the floor beside me literally 30 seconds into Wilco's packed-to-the-rafters show at the Guvernment on Saturday night.

 First of all, talk about timing.

 And secondly, if somebody could have poured a pot of coffee into you and brought you back in time for the show's rollicking second half, you wouldn't have actually missed much.

 The alt-country foursome from Chicago who went and got all pop and Beatle-like on their month-old album, Summer Teeth, took a while to get going, but once they did, there was no turning back.

 Long a Toronto favourite, Wilco -- fronted by sexy-voiced singer-guitarist Jeff Tweedy -- let everyone know from the get-go that it was a night for new material.

 "That's what we feel like playing," Tweedy said simply.

 That meant an eclectic set list primarily made up of songs from Summer Teeth; a delectable few from Mermaid Avenue, Wilco's excellent 1998 collaboration with Billy Bragg on Woody Guthrie lyrics; and a couple of tunes from Wilco's highly praised, 1996 double CD odyssey, Being There.

 With harmonizing henchmen Jay Bennett on keyboards and guitar, with a cigarette often dangling from his mouth, and bassist John Stirratt, drummer Ken Coomer and a fourth touring musician in tow, Tweedy ploughed straight ahead despite sluggish audience response.

 It was a brave thing to do considering Summer Teeth is so new and the band only began their tour last Wednesday.

 The vibe changed considerably with the trio of songs, Hotel Arizona, with nice guitar work from Tweedy at the end, and the upbeat Nothing'severgonnastand-inmyway(again) and I Got You (At The End Of The Century).

 Better still were the new songs, A Shot In The Arm, which ended with crashing guitars, the jangly Can't Stand It, and the twangy, lively Mermaid numbers, Hesitating Beauty and Christ For President.

 The crowd, who finally came around once Wilco turned the energy up, were full of hoots and hollers by then even if the cowboy hats were few and far between.

 One guy even passed me with a beatific smile on his face, nodding his head and saying appreciatively: "Tweedy!"

 Wilco, who were preceded by Georgian singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt on Saturday night, return Aug. 24 to become an opening act themselves, for R.E.M. at the Molson Amphitheatre.

Encore #3

21. Far, Far Away

22. I Got You (At The End Of The Century

JAM! Rating: 4 out of 5