Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky Festival Is Back!

Despite COVID concerns, Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky festival returned this last week with its second installment. The headlining band was joined by sets by Spoon, Kurt Vile & The Violators, Waxahatchee, Thundercat, Mountain Man and Stephen Malkmus plus two shows featuring Jeff Tweedy solo, albeit with a band. Wilco lead guitarist Nels Cline performed with Julian Lage, and Wilco's Pan Sansone and John Stirratt’s The Autumn Defense also appeared. The Wilco shows were notable for the absence of longtime keyboardist, and pianist Mikael Jorgensen, who tested positive for COVID shortly before the Mexico event.

Liam Kazar, his sister Sima Cunningham and her Ohmme bandmate Macie Stewart, were recruited to fill in for Jorgensen. Tweedy dubbed them “Young Jorgensen.” According to many reports, these amply able contributors were up to the grand task.

Now let’s get to the setlists:

 

Hard Rock Hotel, Riviera Maya, Mexico 1/17/22

“Monday” / “You Never Know” / “Shouldn’t Be Ashamed” / “Side with the Seeds” / “She’s a Jar” / “Either Way” / “Company in My Back” / “Cry All Day” / “Via Chicago” / “Laminated Cat” (Aka “Not For the Season”) / “One and a Half Stars” / “Whole Love” / “Box Full of Letters” / “At My Window Sad and Lonely” / “Someone to Lose” / “You And I” / “Love is Everywhere (Beware)” / “War on War” / “Everyone Hides” / “Spiders (Kidsmoke)” / “The Lonely 1” / “The Late Greats” / “I’m A Wheel”

 

Hard Rock Hotel, Riviera Maya, Mexico 1/18/22

 

“Red Eyed and Blue” / “I Got You (At the End of the Century)” / “Wishful Thinking” / “Say You Miss Me” / “At Least That’s What You Said” / “If I Ever Was a Child” / “I Must Be High” / “Cold Slope” / “King of You” / “Country Disappeared” / “Too Far Apart” / “Pot Kettle Black” /  “Hummingbird” / “How to Fight Loneliness” / “Impossible Germany” / “Kingpin” / “Passenger Side” / “Dawned on Me” / “Airline to Heaven” / “California Stars” * / “You Are Not Alone” ** / “Freedom Highway” **

 

Special Guests:

  * Chris Funk (The Decemberists)

** Mavis Staples

 

Hard Rock Hotel, Riviera Maya, Mexico 1/20/22

 

“A Shot in the Arm” / “Random Name Generator” / “Sunloathe” / “Handshake Drugs” / “Can’t Stand it” / “In a Future Age” / “Misunderstood” / “Far, Far Away” / “Bull Black Nova” / “Forget the Flowers” / “Kamera” / “Theologians” / “Born Alone” / “Jesus, Etc.” / “Hate it Here” / “Heavy Metal Drummer” / “I’m the Man Who Loves You” / “Candyfloss” / “Casino Queen” / “Outtasite (Outta Mind)” / “Cut Your Hair”

 

Encore: “I’ll Take You There” (live debut for Wilco) / “The Weight”

 

Special Guests:

 

      * Britt Daniel (Spoon)

    ** Neal Francis

  *** Stephen Malkmus

**** Mavis Staples

 

As this blog is focused on Wilco, the setlists for Tweedy’s shows aren’t included here but you can find them on setlist.fm, and Wilco’s official website, wilcoworld.net.

 

Wilco’s isn’t scheduled until May 22nd this year when they’ll headline another big event, the Solid Sound festival in North Adams, MA, but with the rarities and all, fans should be plenty satisfied by these sets – especially if they release Roadcase editions. If so, I’ll definitely download those as I wasn’t there for the actual shows. Here’s hoping that someday I’ll be able to attend.

 

More later…

The Year In Wilco: 2021

So it’s halfway through January 2022, and I’m only now getting around to looking back at last year’s Wilco activity. As expected, Jeff Tweedy and company’s musical pursuits were scaled down due to the seemingly never-ending pandemic. They still managed to do a 40-show tour, which included several festivals; and Tweedy and family, along with help from visiting bandmates produced over 70 episodes of their Instagram program, The Tweedy Show.  

That’s where we’ll begin. Nobody expected it to last this long, but to the delight of many fans (who are dubbed “clients”) The Tweedy Show is still going strong. By this point, the tuneful family has played just about every Wilco and solo Tweedy song more than once (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but a continuing deep dive into a sea of classic covers keeps the show from ever being unengaging.

 

 Last summer, on July 29, the Tweedy family hit their 200th episode, commemorated by Jumble cartoonist, Jeff Knurek, with the glorious image below. which Many thought that this might be the last episode of The Tweedy Show as Wilco were going on tour soon after.  

They needn’t have worried as the show resumed in September, and while they were less frequent, the series aired throughout the next several months. As of this writing, their most recent program was Episode 210 (January 6, 2020).

In August, Wilco began their first tour since the covid crisis in Spokane, Washington. The tour was called “It’s Time – Summer 2021,” and was supported by Sleater-Kinney, and NNAMDÏ. I was in attendance at an odd venue that used to be a junkyard called Salvage Station in Asheville, N.C., which was superb. Please read my review here.

Wilco ended their tour by being inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame. Held at the Moody Theater in Austin, Texas, the ceremony also included inductees Alejandro Escovedo and Lucinda Williams. Jason Isbell, Margo Price, Rosanne Cash and Sheila E. helped out as guest performers at the event which was broadcast on PBS on January 8th, and is can be accessed on Wilco’s official website. Watch Wilco leading the all-star sing-a-long finale rendition of “California Stars”:

While hoping that Wilco has a more eventful 2022, it’s encouraging to see that they made the most of 2021. Right, now (January 17-20), they are kicking off the new year headlining the Sky Blue Sky festival at the Hard Rock Hotel in Riviera Maya, Mexico. Stay tuned for setlists from that event, and more up-to-date Wilco whatnot.

 

More later…