Wilco have concluded their Sky Blue Sky festival in Mexico with guest appearances from Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus and Spoon frontman Britt Daniel during their headlining set.
The band brought out Malkmus to sing lead vocals on a cover of Pavement’s 1994 single ‘Cut Your Hair’, a song Wilco have covered several times over the years. Daniel, meanwhile, was enlisted on vocals and acoustic guitar during a performance of ‘Kamera’, lifted from Wilco’s 2001 album ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’. Both Malkmus and Spoon had performed at the festival over its three days, with Wilco headlining each night.
Watch fan-shot footage of the performances below:
Malkmus and Daniel were among several guests to join Wilco during their headlining sets at the festival, which took place at the Riviera Maya in Mexico. Others who joined the band on-stage included Kurt Vile (for ‘Passenger Side’) and Soccer Mommy‘s Sophie Allison (for ‘Pot Kettle Black’).
Veteran soul singer Mavis Staples joined the band for their encore on night two, performing her own song ‘You Are Not Alone’ – which was produced by Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy – as well as a cover of The Staples Sisters’ ‘Freedom Highway’.
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The three-day festival went ahead successfully, despite calls from some fans for refunds. Several would-be attendees expressed concern over the festival going ahead in spite of the uptick of COVID cases across North America.
“I 100 per cent understand all the anxiety and anger and confusion that has been surrounding the Sky Blue Sky festival,” said Tweedy in regards to the matter during a recent broadcast of The Tweedy Show.
“Wilco, we’re in a similar boat to everyone, not the same boat obviously, but a similar boat in that we’re trying to figure it out. We’re a contracted entity for this event.”
Pavement are set to reunite in 2022, some two years after their initial reunion show at Primavera Sound was scheduled to happen. They will tour North America, as well as the UK and Europe, in addition to reissuing their final album ‘Terror Twilight’ from 1999.
Spoon, meanwhile, will release their 10th studio album ‘Lucifer on the Sofa’ next month. Two singles, ‘The Hardest Cut’ and ‘Wild’, have already been released from the album.