PHOTO GALLERY: The Big Wu heats up First Ave on a cold Saturday

The Big Wu, playing First Avenue for the third consecutive December, showed how serious they take the honor of playing the venue.

They first played First Ave in 1997 — and playing the famous room is not something they’ve taken for granted.

It was a roughly three-hour, two-set show, the type of performance that veteran jam bands are uniquely capable of pulling off — while still keeping their fans captivated and toasty on a freezing night in Minneapolis.

Among several covers they played David Bowie’s “Starman” for the first time in honor of the recently departed Conrad Sverkerson, First Avenue’s long-time stage manager who died of cancer in September. Sverkerson was given one of the venue’s famous stars on the wall before his passing — placed near the door where bands load in.

They also busted out a cover of The Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”
The Big Wu, perhaps Minnesota’s most beloved jam band, also covered Thin Lizzy’s “Boys Are Back in Town” to open the show, and Eric Clapton’s “Got to Get Better in a Little While.”

The Clapton cover also included a sit-in with opener Kiss the Tiger’s Meghan Kreidler and Michael Anderson.

One other bustout: “Angie O’plasty” from their 2000 LP Folktales.

They played fan favorite “Kangaroo” in the second set off their classic 1997 LP Tracking Buffalo Through the Bathtub, perhaps a nod to their first show at the venue.

And two other second-set highlights included sandwiching Gordon Lightfoot’s “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” with original “S.O.S. (Save Our Ship)” and “Drankinbooze” inside “House of Wu,” — because on this night, First Ave was the House of Wu, and then chased it with “Texas Fireball” to end the set.

They sent everyone out into the night on a Bob Marley “Could You Be Loved?” encore, reflecting the mutual love this band shares with its long-time fans.