On Saturday, Wilcos Jeff Tweedy headlined the Clearwater Festivals Spring Splash benefit at Beacon High School in Beacon, NY. The annual event aids Pete Seegers Clearwater Revival Festival, which takes place each June in Croton-on-Hudson, NY to help clean the Hudson River. Seeger opened the evening with an endearing performance that included sing-a-longs like Somewhere Over the Rainbow backed by a classroom of local 4th grade students. Tweedy then took the stage for a solo set that opened with Remember the Mountain Bed, a track off the Wilco/Billy Bragg collaboration that places lost lyrics written by Seegers good friend Woody Guthrie over original music. According to Bob Dylan’s autobiography, although Guthrie had promised Dylan the lyrics before he died, the Bard showed up at Guthries house only to be turned away empty-handed after Arlo Guthrie couldn’t locate the material.
Tweedy, who referenced Dylan later in the night by playing the Wilco track Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard, appeared loose throughout the evening as he joked with the audience about the surreal nature of playing a high school auditorium following one of his biggest heroes. Seeger and his grandson Tao Rodriguez-Seeger later took the stage with Tweedy near the end of the night for the traditional songs Midnight Special and Jacob’s Ladder. The Wilco frontman then ended the evening with completely acoustic versions of Someone Else’s Song and Acuff-Rose in celebration of Earth Hour.