Wilco Fits More Rarities Into Sky Blue Sky Finale In Mexico

For the third show of Wilco‘s first Sky Blue Sky — and much like they did on the first two nights — the band mixed standards and classics with deep cuts and crowd pleasers for nearly two hours, including a multiple song encore that ended with the special treat, “The Thanks I Get.”

Other rarities for the final show included the bust outs “Airline To Heaven,” “Cold Slope,” “King Of You” and “It’s Just That Simple,” which — along with “The Thanks I Get” — hadn’t been taken off the shelf since 2016. Others, including the surprise “When You Wake Up Feeling Old” opener and a “Candyfloss” in the encore, hadn’t seen the stage since 2017. All told, Wilco was able to dust off enough sunken treasures to keep the ship sailing full steam ahead without a single repeat over their three headline performances at Sky Blue Sky.

Wilco are no strangers to hosting festivals, as they’ve curated their Solid Sound Festival in Massachusetts for the past decade, making it something of an institution, with a reputation that’s second to none. But a four-night destination beach festival on the Mexican Riviera Maya was, no doubt, a brand new adventure for the band and for most of their audience.

How the band was able to pull it off can be distilled down to one simple word: community. The welcomed isolation of an all-inclusive resort gave Wilco’s often understated “scene” a sense of togetherness, unity, self-visibility and awareness — even identity. Various band members participated in resort activities throughout the four-day bubble and, much like Jam Cruise (which is also produced by Cloud 9 Adventures), there’s a special sense of respect and camaraderie that’s fostered, between the musicians and the fans, that you just don’t really find anywhere else.

Candyfloss Captured by aalbrightalright

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Finally got to hear one of my rarely played faves #candyfloss #wilco #skybluesky #hrhrivieramaya

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Combining Wilco’s typically arresting stage candor with Cloud 9 Adventures’ typical flair, the festival asked fans to all wear their favorite Wilco shirts on the first night, leading Jeff Tweedy to comment, snidely, about the marketing genius of the theme, as well as single someone out in the front row for wearing a My Morning Jacket shirt.

The theme on the final evening was “pajama night,” and the band indulged by all wearing PJs, with most of the members in matching blue Target jammies while Tweedy wore brighter night attire. Many in the audience wore their resort robes, while others dressed in actual pajamas and various other night-themed costumes. Eric Slick of Dr. Dog (who performed their own headline show the night before) came onstage dressed in his resort robe to sit-in on percussion during “California Stars.” It was appropriate attire for the song as well as the theme night.

In a throwback to the first night, Tweedy once again jokingly singled-out the same person in the front row and remarked, “So your pajamas are a My Morning Jacket shirt?”

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You have to learn how to die. @wilco #skybluesky #wilco wilcoskybluesky

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The pajama theme made for a particularly dreamy vibe — dreamy, but decidedly not sleepy. After commenting that the entire Sky Blue Sky event seemed, in some ways, like a dream, at the end of “Reservations,” Tweedy commented, “That song was made for the beach.”

Turns out, they all were.

Video (Shared by Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky FB)

Laminated Cat, Reservations, Impossible Germany, It’s Just That Simple, California Stars

Setlist

Source: JamBase.com