Going to a Wilco concert at the Pageant is a bit like going on a tour in an art museum.

Paintings you have only read about or seen in history books are all of sudden at your fingertips in a small set of outspread ballrooms that maze into smaller rooms of priceless pieces. Where do you look first? The artwork does not fit one category, and so instead, the rooms organize the art by time or artist.

Wilco has been monikered “the alternative-country pioneer,” but that name gives no justice to its countless variables, which the band never makes independent or dependent. Which of the five types of guitars is frontman Jeff Tweedy strumming, or is he strumming at all? Are the other five members of the band experimenting with drums or a sound board or jazzmaster or piano or some percussion instrument or windmill arm guitar move? Wilco fuses country, blues and rock ‘n’ roll and tours the genres alongside its fans in a museum of music, reflecting old and new themes.

On Sunday, Wilco returned to the Pageant for the first time in four years, and with the intimate, interactive venue, fans could see the clear, detailed strokes of artwork they had previously only witnessed second-hand.

Some of the artwork was not what fans expected. Tweedy, for example, had a few extra inches of locks dangling from under his chin and nose. Sporting the scraggly look of a troll, Tweedy announced to fans the “stench of air” the band brought from their performance from night before in Arkansas.

Tweedy greeted his fans with a rhythmic clap in preparation for the optimistic folk song “Airline to Heaven,” taken from the album Mermaid Avenue, Vol. II. The album’s lyrics were taken directly from a box of song lyrics written by legendary folk musician Woody Guthrie. Billy Bragg, a British musician, originally envisioned adding melodies to the Guthrie’s words and noticed in the margins Guthrie’s intention for his songs: “supersonic boogie,” said Bragg in a National Public Radio interview.

And boogie it was, with jazzmaster player Nels Cline and bassist John Stirratt playing the folk acoustics and singing, “Them’s got ears, let them hear. Them’s got eyes, let them see.”

And the audience saw. Their tour guide slipped up. As Tweedy approached the microphone for the opening line of “At Least That’s What You Said,” he stepped back to drummer Glenn Kotche. Tweedy forgot the opening lyrics and had to discreetly ask the bass player for a reminder.

Tweedy continued to sing the following two songs off the album A Ghost is Born: “Hell is Chrome” and “Spiders (Kidsmoke).” The latter was a dynamic performance bringing on incongruent forces of techno keyboard, drum and electric guitar, which took turns, with a crowd-pleasing crescendo to a synchronized beat.

To everyone’s surprise, Wilco then made the unseen transition from a harder rock song to the soft, imagery-filled tunes of “Forget the Flowers” and “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart.” Keyboardist Pat Sansone and pianist Mikael Jorgenson supplemented the smooth drumming of Kotche, who played his drum set from left to right like it was a xylophone.

Their solid and always soothing rendition of the anthemic “Jesus, etc.” inspired couples in the pit to slow dance, and Tweedy, charmed, announced the happy fans to the audience and encouraged everyone to “partner up.” He sat and waited and eventually called out threesomes in the audience. No one moved, and so Tweedy took the audience on a tour to a song no one knew except for Tweedy’s father, who was sitting in the balcony. “Walken,” an acoustic balladry, is his father’s new favorite, which is sure to be played when Tweedy is near his hometown.

The show ended with two encores. The first set included “New Madrid,” a classic from Tweedy’s days with the seminal alt-country band Uncle Tupelo. Lastly, Tweedy played two sing-alongs: “California Stars” and “Late Greats.” The strong, harmonious energy of “Late Greats” drew in new fans, and the perfect coordination of piano and electric guitar made the crowd instinctively bounce higher to the beat. Sansone struck his guitar with noticeably more energy, too, with his trademark windmill arm guitar move. The song was meant to be played live and towards the end. The art was meant to be seen up close.