Review: Smooth Sailing For Inaugural Minnesota Yacht Club Festival

It’s been more than three decades since the Red Hot Chili Peppers played St. Paul’s Harriet Island as part of the 1992 Lollapalooza tour, when many fans were first hearing the band’s hit “Give It Away” from the “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” album played live. The rockers returned Saturday to headline the inaugural Minnesota Yacht Club music festival to more than 30,000 fans and closed the set with those water-themed lyrics “do a little dance and then you drink a little water.” Here are our takeaways from the weekend.

Amy Nelson

NEXT YEAR’S RETURN

When we first interviewed Tim Sweetwood of C3 Presents (also the company behind this year’s Lollapalooza tour in Chicago, and affiliated with Live Nation) about the festival, he made sure we knew this was going to be a multiyear event. We were skeptical because we also attended the 2012 River’s Edge festival and heard the same story then, but that was one and done. A dozen years later, this event received social media praise for being well run and professionally organized. Yes, some of the lines were long and the prices for food and drink were high, but given how positively the audience and bands embraced the event, watch for (and reserve) your tickets for next year’s festival soon. It will be back.

Amy Nelson

VENUS VERSUS JUPITER

Amy Nelson

Friday’s lineup of Joan Jett , Gwen Stefani , and Alanis Morissette (among others) was proto-feminine and hella good. When the Black Crowes announced the day before the festival the band was dropping out, Gen Z crooners The Head and the Heart was elevated to near headliner status and female singers continued to dominate the setlist for the day. Morgan Wade was impressive in her admiring Joan Jett T-shirt and Taryn Durry matched her brother Austin in energy and spunk in Durry’s live set. Saturday’s mostly male lineup was remarkably different, starting with folk band Wilderado , and The Hold Steady , Hippo Campus , Soul Asylum , and RHCP . The dichotomy between the two days seemed like a joke. The dad/dude rock on Saturday was strong and ended with the bros of all bros, RHCP. But next year, let’s mix it up more, because, man…

Amy Nelson

Amy Nelson

PERFECT WEATHER

Minnesota has seen some crazy rain and awful flooding recently. Harriet Island was under water a few weeks before the festival , so congratulations to the crew that likely was sweating it out but also made it happen. St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter gave everyone a shoutout and welcome Friday for the clear grounds, it could not have been easy. The weather Friday and Saturday was warm, dry, and nearly perfect for an outdoor music festival. The next day was rainy and stormy and nobody would have wanted their blanket on the muddy ground. We also were enchanted by the nearly full moon during Alanis Morissette’s set Friday.

Amy Nelson

LOCAL ANGLE

We ran into Ber in the general audience during Gwen Stefani’s performance—and told her we are confident she will be on the lineup next year. Still, with one upcoming star in the crowd and a number on stage, Yacht Club’s focus on regional favorites was impressive. More than half of the bands were local, counting Gully Boys, Durry, Hippo Campus, and Soul Asylum among them. We also still count the Hold Steady as Minnesotans despite their move to NYC. For other local connections, Joan Jett covered the Replacements’ “Androgynous” on Friday and Trombone Shorty covered Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” on Saturday.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

There is a lot more to unpack with this first music fest that was a music must for many. We can start with the the tattoos we saw. There was Banksy’s “Girl With Balloon” on Morgan Wade’s right arm, Flea’s stomach tats, the person wearing the “Tattoos are Dumb” T-shirt in the crowd, and the many others on the young and old attendees both days. This crowd was filled with friends from the first days of RHCP and the multi-generations who were witnessing the acts for the first time and again for the reunion The ASL signers also deserve a shoutout, as do the security guards passing out the boxes of free water and those same security peeps who willingly returned the beach balls back into the crowd. It could have been just as easy to pop those balls and ruin the fun.

Amy Nelson

Amy Nelson

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