Dan and Matt Wilson: Part Everly, Smothers... and Van Halen?

"We had two meetings just to compile a list of all the songs we wrote together," Dan Wilson said in the opening half of Friday's sold-out show with brother Matt Wilson at the Pantages Theater, the first time the rock siblings have performed together as a duo. Dan added, "And then we had another meeting where we vetoed three-fourths of those songs as unsuitable."

The concert involved a lot of that kind of self-deprecating humor, plus a few hilarious parts where they took brotherly pot-shots at each other (like when Dan complained he couldn't hear his guitar; said Matt, "I know, it was wonderful. I could only hear me!"). Of course, the brothers were pretty serious about wrapping their harmonies around each other, and they did so wonderfully on quite a few occasions, especially "Chemistry" and an interesting new one they wrote together (in some kind of minor key) titled "Anyone." The concert was heaviest on Trip Shakespeare material, which was to be expected considering that's the era when Dan and Matt worked most closely together. Personally, I'd have preferred to hear more of their recent stuff, but based on all the requests hollered out of the crowd ("The Slacks," "Pearle," you name it), I was clearly in the minority. Dan was even surprised by the Trip requests, saying, "We chose all the ones they're not shouting."

The brothers joked about planning an acoustic concert and winding up using so much electric guitar. One valid critique of the show might be that there was indeed too much attempt to electrify the set. Some of the best moments were the mellowest and most intimate, particularly during a pair of Matt's most beautiful ballads ("Alone" and "Hello Caller"), plus Dan's audience-participated "All Kinds of Beautiful." The finale cover song by those other Wilson brothers made the perfect farewell, touching enough for Dan and Matt to hug before leaving the stage. I felt like hugging somebody, too. Here's the whole set list, with the original recording act behind each song in parentheses:

FIRST SET: Reception (Trip Shakespeare) / Never You Mind (Semisonic) / Hello Stranger (Dan solo; botched attempt) / Unlucky Lady (TS) / Alone (Twilight Hours) / ?? / Chemistry (Semi) / Anyone (new one they co-wrote) / Made to Last (Semi)