Wilco — 1 August 2025, Wantagh, NY (Jones Beach Theater) [Outlaw Music Festival]

[bböp]

It had been more than a dozen years since Wilco last performed at the Jones Beach Theater not far from the famed beach of the same name on the southern shore of Long Island. Back then, it was as a core element of the successful Bob Dylan-led AmericanaramA tour that traveled from coast to coast that summer. This time, Jeff and his bandmates were reunited with Dylan — both playing before Willie Nelson — as part of the 10th anniversary of the Outlaw Music Festival.

 

However, on this edition of Outlaw, Jeff and Co. are just one of a rotating cast of acts on the bill for the traveling festival and are playing just three dates among its many scheduled engagements, Jones Beach being the first. So it was that the band took the stage at 6:20 p.m. for its 75-minute set in a venue that was far from full capacity and played to an audience that wasn’t necessarily there to see them (though there were a smattering of people wearing Wilco T-shirts near where I was sitting).

 

My expectations were pretty meager going in, as it is for most amphitheater or arena shows, so I wasn’t surprised at the fact that most of the crowd up front sat for Wilco’s set and the energy seemed fairly low. It just is what it is. Given that, it was a solid enough set, but clearly it was not going to be even close to representative of what a normal show would be like. That was probably true of the AmericanaramA sets, too, but Jeff and Co. made many of those special by inviting special guests, playing unexpected songs and collaborating with as many different people as possible. At Jones Beach in 2013, for example, Wilco invited fellow AmericanaramA act Beck to play with them for a few songs, including his own hit Loser, and also featured Sean Lennon on a set-closing Beatles two-fer of Yer Blues and Tomorrow Never Knows.

 

There weren’t quite as many jaw-dropping moments during this 2025 set, but you knew Jeff and his bandmates would probably have at least one surprise up their proverbial sleeves before their time was up. And that finally came in the form of longtime Willie Nelson band member Mickey Raphael (wearing a Flaco Jimenez T-shirt as a tribute to the late, great Mexican-American accordion player and bandleader, who passed away this week) suddenly emerged near the end of California Stars to take a harmonica solo. He and Jeff briefly linked hands after the song and Jeff urged him to stay on for one final number, which turned out to be a rollicking version of the Grateful Dead’s U.S. Blues that Wilco dusted off for the first time since closing their brief 2024 summer tour with it in Chautaqua, N.Y. on July 5.

 

One funny thing I noticed (and I’m sure literally no one else cared about) during U.S. Blues came when Jeff glanced over to the digital clock that’s almost always visible at stage right to see how much time they had left and the clock must have gotten unplugged and had reset to 12:00. Jeff then glanced over in befuddlement at tour manager Eric, who stepped out to see for himself that the clock was no longer displaying the correct time and gave Jeff a hand signal instead. (I guess all of the folks on stage were just having that much fun jamming to the Dead and got lost in the (((vibes))), man.)

 

It was a very fun ending to what had been a bit of a rough beginning to the set when Pat appeared to have some issues with his electric guitar during the opening Handshake Drugs. It seemed like it was malfunctioning almost from the start, and Pat tried it a couple of times before giving up and just playing the rest of the song on keyboard. Fortunately, the guitar issues didn’t linger too much further and the rest of the set seemed to go off without any other technical hitches, even if it might not have been the greatest-sounding one ever.

 

This being a festival show with an audience comprised of people with varying levels of familiarity with Wilco, not to mention the limited time, Jeff’s visits to Banter Corner were mostly limited to several different introductions to songs — or attempts at introductions, anyway. Before If I Ever Was A Child, for example, Jeff started to give the title and then had a brain cramp for a second: “This is called…uh…I don’t know what this is called,” he said before finally getting it out. Later, he introduced Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull by calling it a “very, very old song. This is from the 16th century,” which I’m sure befuddled more than one person who wasn’t aware that Jeff co-opted the lyrics from an ancient poem. Prior to the ensuing Box Full Of Letters, Jeff quipped, “This song is almost as old as that (last) one. It's on our first album.”

 

The end of Wilco’s set wouldn’t be the last of Jeff and Co. we would see for the evening, however. The collaborative spirit of Outlaw extended to Willie Nelson’s headlining set as well when first Jeff and, after a few seconds, John and Mikael stepped out near the end to add some backing vocals to Nelson’s gospel medley of Will The Circle Be Unbroken? and I’ll Fly Away.

 

There would be no reprise of Jeff’s guest appearance on vocals during Bob Dylan’s set, though, which happened a few times during that AmericanaramA run (with Jeff, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James and others joining Dylan a few times on either Twelve Gates To The City or The Weight). This time around, Dylan’s performance was pretty insular — which isn’t too surprising to those who have followed him lately. Nor did Dylan join Nelson at all during his set, which I guess some people have been hoping for since the two legends took over as co-headliners for Outlaw a couple years ago. Nonetheless, it was nice to see that there was at least some attempt at collaboration. As the AmericanaramA tour showed, collabs — or at least some sharing of the stage between acts — are what can elevate a show like this from merely an enjoyable way to spend a summer evening to something more.

 

Here was the complete setlist, as played, for Wilco's Outlaw set at Jones Beach (didn't see a printed setlist, so can't say if there were any changes/omissions):

 

Handshake Drugs

Evicted

If I Ever Was A Child

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

Cruel Country

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

Box Full Of Letters

Hummingbird

Either Way

Impossible Germany

Jesus, etc.

Walken

California Stars (w/Mickey Raphael on harmonica)

U.S. Blues [Grateful Dead] (w/Mickey Raphael on harmonica)

[Albert Tatlock]

9 hours ago, bböp said:

the late, great Mexican-American accordion player and bandleader, who passed away this week

Really - that's a shame. I got into him via Ry Cooder back in the day.

 

Ta