Wilco hosted its annual Sky Blue Sky destination festival in Mexico over the weekend, where the Chicago alt-folk rock band bookended the weekend with a tribute to Bob Weir and guest spots from MJ Lenderman and Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis.

Wilco opened Sky Blue Sky 2026 on Thursday with the band’s first of three full shows on the beach at the Hard Rock Hotel in Riviera Maya. The band kicked off the festival with the first “Red-Eyed and Blue” since 2024, followed by more multi-year bustouts of “Kingpin”, “A Magazine Called Sunset”, “Hotel Arizona”, and “Passenger Side”, plus the full-band debut of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot‘s “Shakin’ Sugar”. Wilco hadn’t performed the latter in any capacity since 2014 in Chicago, per Setlist.fm.

As the band came back out for the encore, Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy shared a few words on their former touring partner Bob Weir. Tweedy reflected, “He stood up and he played, and that’s all he wanted to do and that’s what he spread. And that’s what he meant to us. That’s all we want to do, and that’s all we’re gonna do, as far as we can do it.” To honor Weir’s legacy, Wilco dusted off a song the band performed with the Grateful Dead rhythm guitarist throughout their time opening for Bob Dylan on his 2013 Americanarama Festival of Music tour, The Beatles‘ psychedelic masterpiece “Tomorrow Never Knows”. Wilco hadn’t played the cover since 2019.

After “Candyfloss”, Wilco closed the bust-out heavy show with the first “Dreamer in My Dreams” since the band’s full-album performance of Being There at its 2017 Solid Sound Festival.

Wilco — “Tomorrow Never Knows” (The Beatles) — 1/15/26

[Video: Oliver Yun]

Three days and a whole lot of music later, Wilco wrapped Sky Blue Sky with its third and final beachside show. After a 20-song setlist, Wilco came out for the encore with MJ Lenderman. The rising indie-slacker singer-songwriter, formerly of Wednesday, was the man about town in Riviera Maya, sitting in with Yo La Tengo and bringing out Katie Crutchfield (a.k.a. Waxahatchee) and J Mascis during his own set with backing band The Wind.

Wilco enlisted Lenderman for another Being There rarity, “Outta Mind (Outta Sight)”, played Sunday for just the fourth time this decade. After Lenderman took off and Wilco played “Falling Apart (Right Now)”, the band brought out J Mascis for Neil Young‘s “Cortez the Killer”. The Dino Jr. shredder was put to good use on the cover, adding sharp distortion to Wilco’s gentle presence, even prompting Tweedy to rattle off a noisy, dissonant guitar solo, whammy bar’d to hell. The song was Mascis’ second Young cover of the weekend after he joined MJ for “Lotta Love” a couple days earlier.

Wilco, J Mascis — “Cortez The Killer” (Neil Young) — 1/18/26

[Video: Oliver Yun]

MJ Lenderman & The Wind, J Mascis — “Lotta Love” (Neil Young) — 1/16/26

[Video: Kevin Coyne]

Out of the electric fury of “Cortez the Killer”, Wilco wrapped the weekend and Sky Blue Sky 2026 by way of Woody Guthrie with “California Stars”.

Up next for Wilco is another curated festival, Solid Sound in North Adams, MA. The band will revisit “California Stars” for the first-ever full-album performance of Mermaid Avenue, the band’s 1998 collaboration with Billy Bragg that brought to life a collection of previously unheard lyrics by Woody Guthrie. As of now, two nights at Solid Sound are the only U.S. tour dates on the band’s calendar. Find tickets here.