Openers & Closers
Where songs land in the show — which ones open the night, close the main set, close the whole show, and turn up in the encore, plus how encore length has moved over time. The opener is the first song; the main-set closer is the last song before the encore; the show closer is the very last song of the night.
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- 1 Via Chicago 122
- 2 Misunderstood 104
- 3 Sunken Treasure 102
- 4 Handshake Drugs 99
- 5 I Am Trying To Break Your Heart 85
- 6 Wilco (The Song) 76
- 7 One Sunday Morning (Song For Jane Smiley's Boyfriend) 70
- 8 Bright Leaves 66
- 9 More... 65
- 10 A Shot In The Arm 51
- 11 Ashes Of American Flags 51
- 12 You Are My Face 50
- 13 Airline To Heaven 45
- 14 Spiders (Kidsmoke) 44
- 15 Hell Is Chrome 36
- 16 I'm Always In Love 35
- 17 One Tiny Flower 34
- 18 Story to Tell 33
- 19 Infinite Surprise 31
- 20 At Least That's What You Said 30
- 21 Art of Almost 28
- 22 Company In My Back 28
- 23 Normal American Kids 28
- 24 Poor Places 28
- 25 Not For The Season 25
Top 25 of 175 distinct songs
- 1 I'm The Man Who Loves You 308
- 2 A Shot In The Arm 226
- 3 Spiders (Kidsmoke) 175
- 4 The Late Greats 154
- 5 Outtasite (Outta Mind) 109
- 6 Hummingbird 105
- 7 California Stars 70
- 8 Lou Reed Was My Babysitter 63
- 9 Misunderstood 59
- 10 Reservations 43
- 11 I'm A Wheel 39
- 12 I'm Always In Love 33
- 13 Casino Queen 31
- 14 We've Been Had 30
- 15 Hoodoo Voodoo 29
- 16 I Got You (At The End Of The Century) 28
- 17 Acuff-Rose 26
- 18 Outta Mind (Outta Sight) 26
- 19 Dawned On Me 21
- 20 On And On And On 21
- 21 The Lonely 1 18
- 22 Monday 17
- 23 Falling Apart (Right Now) 14
- 24 Dreamer In My Dreams 13
- 25 Jesus, Etc. 13
Top 25 of 166 distinct songs
- 1 Outtasite (Outta Mind) 286
- 2 I'm A Wheel 158
- 3 A Shot In The Arm 127
- 4 California Stars 125
- 5 Spiders (Kidsmoke) 117
- 6 Acuff-Rose 107
- 7 Hoodoo Voodoo 96
- 8 I'm The Man Who Loves You 88
- 9 I Got You (At The End Of The Century) 84
- 10 The Late Greats 66
- 11 Enough 62
- 12 The Lonely 1 49
- 13 Misunderstood 47
- 14 Outta Mind (Outta Sight) 38
- 15 Casino Queen 37
- 16 Dreamer In My Dreams 29
- 17 We've Been Had 27
- 18 Be Not So Fearful 26
- 19 Monday 26
- 20 Heavy Metal Drummer 19
- 21 Passenger Side 18
- 22 Kingpin 17
- 23 I Shall Be Released 15
- 24 Kicking Television 15
- 25 U.S. Blues 14
Top 25 of 156 distinct songs
- 1 California Stars 512
- 2 The Late Greats 371
- 3 Outtasite (Outta Mind) 352
- 4 I Got You (At The End Of The Century) 297
- 5 Heavy Metal Drummer 296
- 6 I'm A Wheel 281
- 7 Spiders (Kidsmoke) 268
- 8 Misunderstood 253
- 9 I'm The Man Who Loves You 208
- 10 Monday 201
- 11 Red-Eyed And Blue 189
- 12 Kingpin 185
- 13 A Shot In The Arm 178
- 14 Hate It Here 139
- 15 Walken 138
- 16 Jesus, Etc. 135
- 17 Hoodoo Voodoo 132
- 18 Passenger Side 127
- 19 Casino Queen 109
- 20 I'm Always In Love 108
- 21 Via Chicago 107
- 22 Falling Apart (Right Now) 105
- 23 War On War 102
- 24 Acuff-Rose 92
- 25 Enough 61
Top 25 of 349 distinct songs
Encore length by year
| Year | Encores | Avg songs |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 2 | 3.0 |
| 1997 | 3 | 5.7 |
| 1998 | 1 | 9.0 |
| 1999 | 5 | 5.8 |
| 2000 | 3 | 7.0 |
| 2001 | 20 | 6.7 |
| 2002 | 43 | 7.1 |
| 2003 | 3 | 7.3 |
| 2004 | 57 | 7.3 |
| 2005 | 64 | 8.3 |
| 2006 | 66 | 6.8 |
| 2007 | 82 | 6.7 |
| 2008 | 53 | 7.2 |
| 2009 | 66 | 7.0 |
| 2010 | 37 | 4.3 |
| 2011 | 54 | 6.2 |
| 2012 | 81 | 6.5 |
| 2013 | 20 | 4.6 |
| 2014 | 25 | 5.1 |
| 2015 | 54 | 4.8 |
| 2016 | 71 | 5.5 |
| 2017 | 46 | 5.5 |
| 2018 | 22 | 4.2 |
| 2019 | 93 | 3.5 |
| 2020 | 7 | 3.1 |
| 2021 | 38 | 2.9 |
| 2022 | 43 | 3.5 |
| 2023 | 66 | 3.7 |
| 2024 | 34 | 3.5 |
| 2025 | 77 | 3.9 |
| 2026 | 76 | 3.4 |
Setlists here don’t carry explicit “encore” labels, so the encore is inferred from set breaks: it’s the run of shorter sets at the end of the night (each under half the length of the show’s longest set), which keeps a genuine second set from being counted as an encore. Shows where the setlist wasn’t split into sets contribute an opener and closers but no encore.