Wilco Salutes Bob Weir, Dusts Off Rarities On Opening Night Of Sky Blue Sky 2026
Watch Jeff Tweedy pay homage to the late Grateful Dead guitarist before the band broke out a cover they used to perform with Weir.
By Scott Bernstein Jan 16, 2026 • 11:20 am PST
Wilco closed out the main stage action at the first day of their 2026 Sky Blue Sky festival in Riviera Maya, Mexico with a surprise-filled performance. Jeff Tweedy & Co. dug deep into their massive repertoire at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya for a series of bust-outs and dedicated a Beatles cover to late Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir.
Wilco — guitarist/vocalist Jeff Tweedy, guitarist Nels Cline, multi-instrumentalist Patrick Sansone, keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen, bassist John Stirratt and drummer Glenn Kotche — treated fans to a 20-song concert. The band’s first of three headlining shows at the destination event began with the return of “Red-Eyed and Blue,” which according to Setlist.FM hadn’t been played since March 2024 and was in old-school fashion was connected to fellow Being There track “I Got You (At The End Of The Century).”
The rarity set the tone for the night with the frequently paired numbers followed by another cut from their 1996 double-album, “Someone Else’s Song.” Wilco last performed “Someone Else’s Song” on December 13, 2024. In total, eight of the 19 songs found on Being There were trotted out in Mexico on Thursday, as “Monday,” “Hotel Arizona” and “Kingpin” came next, while “Forget The Flowers” was played mid-set and “Dreamer In My Dreams” ended the night. “Dreamer In My Dreams” had been shelved since the album was performed in its entirety at Wilco’s 2017 Solid Sound Festival. Additionally, “Hotel Arizona” and “Kingpin” were each last played on December 15, 2024.
After Wilco opened the set with six Being There tracks, they revived “A Magazine Called Sunset” and A.M. gem “Passenger Side” for the first time since the previously mentioned December 15, 2024 show. From there, the band delivered a run of fan favorites “Evicted,” “If I Ever Was A Child,” “Forget The Flowers,” “Many Worlds,” “Via Chicago” and “Handshake Drugs” before they dusted off the fitting “Sky Blue Sky,” which had been missing in action since … you guessed it: December 15, 2024.
The biggest bust out of the night, “Shakin’ Sugar,” led into the set-closing “I’m Always In Love.” Wilco had only played the former, a cut featured on their legendary Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album, twice prior on January 4, 2000 and December 9, 2014.
Wilco returned for the encore of their first show since Bob Weir died with a tribute to their Americanarama tourmate. Jeff Tweedy described the Weir as “everything you want a musician to be.” Tweedy went on to say Bobby “wanted to play, he stood everywhere he could play and he stood up and he played. That’s all he wanted to do and that’s what he spread.”
The Wilco frontman told the crowd they were going to perform a song they had covered with Weir five times during the 2013 trek because “it feels very appropriate.” With that, the band lit into their first cover of The Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows” since December 15, 2019. Wilco wrapped the show with more rarely performed gems: “Candyfloss” and the aforementioned “Dreamer In My Dreams.”
Watch fan-shot footage of Wilco’s tribute to Bob Weir below (scroll to last frame of Instagram clip):
https://www.instagram.com/gmfeld/p/DTlG7VyDoqhSetlist
- Red-Eyed and Blue
- I Got You (At the End of the Century)
- Someone Else's Song
- Monday
- Hotel Arizona
- Kingpin
- A Magazine Called Sunset
- Passenger Side
- Evicted
- If I Ever Was a Child
- Forget the Flowers
- Many Worlds
- Via Chicago
- Handshake Drugs
- Sky Blue Sky
- Alone (aka Shakin' Sugar)
- I'm Always in Love
- Tomorrow Never Knows
- Candyfloss
- Dreamer in My Dreams
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