Review: Yacht Club festival kicks off second year with energetic Friday lineup

If opening day of the Minnesota Yacht Club music festival is any indication of what the rest of the weekend will hold the success of last year s inaugural festival was no mere beginner s luck On a relatively cool Friday afternoon Harriet Island Regional Park felt bustling as soon as the festival gates opened at and became even more electric as tens of thousands of people filled the park throughout the afternoon Official attendance numbers were not made available but in the lead-up to the festival organizers anticipated daily attendance at about The festival drew about people to Harriet Island and despite snags like pre-festival park floods and one band s last-minute cancellation was well-received by both critics and fans For this year the festival is expanded from two to three days and features headliners including Hozier Green Day Fall Out Boy Weezer and one of the first scheduled performances from Alabama Shakes since C Presents the company that runs the Yacht Club as well as other festivals like Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits has also added additional concession stands and amenities to alleviate lines As of Friday largest part three-day ticket packages and single-day tickets for Friday and Sunday were sold out This translates to millions of dollars in economic impact for the city of St Paul according to Visit Saint Paul spokesperson Chelsea Fey who commented multiple downtown hotels are nearly sold out for the weekend And despite particular frustration caused by all of St Paul s Green Line light rail stations going offline for Metro Transit construction during the festival transportation to the festival was fairly smooth numerous attendees announced The greater part interviewed Friday declared they chose to either drive and park downtown or nearby on the West Side or take rideshares like Uber or Lyft despite selected complaints from attendees last year about high prices or long wait times for post-festival rides It sucks that the Green Line wasn t running explained Alex Calametti attending the festival with two family members It would ve been a lot easier to not have to pay for parking Other festival-goers arrived by more creative means Bill May of St Paul and Lindsey Den Bleyker of Colorado both docked at the nearby St Paul Yacht Club marina by boat from Inver Grove Heights This year s festival schedule which also uplifts local artists in addition to national headliners feels more wide-ranging in both genre and fanbase age than last year s s-nostalgia-heavy lineup and on Friday attendees seemed to love every minute of it Music fans gather on Harriet Island in St Paul for the opening day of the Minnesota Yacht Club Festival on Friday July The three-day festival runs through Sunday John Autey Pioneer Press Local opening acts Maygen The Birdwatcher and Mike Kota each drew solid crowds of several hundred fans apiece Performing solo Hamilton Leithauser of s indie band The Walkmen had a bit more of a low-key stage presence vacillating between a fun crowd-pleasing gritty rock sound and a Bob Dylan pastiche that was let s say less effective But up next across the park Florida indie folk-rockers The s kicked the whole day s vigor up a notch with bluegrassy hits like Hey Julia and Just A Little While Saxophonist Joe Capati s red-in-the-face solos were a highlight of the whole day Festival organizers run a tight schedule Not more than one minute after the crowd broke into applause for The s fellow Florida-raised singer-songwriter Gigi Perez walked onto the festival s other stage with her powerful deep vocals that initially gained her TikTok fame in Late in the afternoon first headliner Sheryl Crow delivered no surprise an incredibly solid performance of favorites like If It Makes You Happy and Everyday Is A Winding Road as well as the live debut of a new song just published Friday The New Normal It was clear that plenty of people arrived specifically in time to see Crow And despite the more mellow sound of the next headliner Father John Misty he managed to keep the potency going his classic dapper suit didn t hurt either But the real treat of the night came next when Alabama Shakes reunited onstage for one of its first performances since the band went on hiatus in so its members particularly frontwoman Brittany Howard could pursue solo careers Howard and her bandmates stepped onstage Friday to the day s majority of raucous applause thus far and boy was it warranted Returning to the old Alabama Shakes catalog on Friday with tracks like Don t Wanna Fight and Sound and Color Howard s powerful voice was by turns gravelly and soulful and maybe even angelic I tell you what it s felt good playing these songs Howard stated from the stage It felt good to hear them again too The night s second-to-last headliner Train played plenty of their radio-friendly hits Drive By Bruises and of discipline Hey Soul Sister interspersed with Redbone s Come and Get Your Love and they sounded just OK honestly At times frontman Pat Monahan seemed a bit bored of his songs as if he was just going through the motions But any threat that the night would lag evaporated as soon as Irish singer-songwriter Hozier took the stage with a -piece backing band to deliver high-octane rock-ified renditions of new and old favorites like Nobody s Soldier and Jackie and Wilson Although a drizzle of rain began about halfway through his set when he was warbling an acoustic number standing in the middle of the massive crowd no less Hozier gave us an electric end to a wonderful-sounding day along the river Related Articles Minnesota musicians enter the Yacht Club Festival with high hopes Steve Miller Band cancels Minnesota State Fair Grandstand show due to situation change Hot in Herre hitmaker Nelly to headline the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand What to know if you re headed to the Minnesota Yacht Club Festival Concert review Belcher s violin elegant and expressive in Minnesota Orchestra s German Romances