Minnesota Yacht Club, Harriet Island (July 18, 2025)

Reasonably cooler weather (rain alert for day one!), a well organized festival, two stages to keep the whole day on schedule, the Minnesota Yacht Club show at Harriet Island in downtown St. Paul was the place to be.

Maygen and the Birdwatcher

Early side note: In a bit of a storybook moment, two pairs of strangers were making fast friends, and when they were looking to get together, I happily offered the rest of the table I had snagged early. The four (from New York and Rochester, MN) held down my spot for the duration of day one, letting me get to a lot of different places on the festival grounds. Thanks ladies!

Maygen and the Birdwatcher is a fun Americana band with full instrumentation, and seven members on stage to kick the festival off: two guitar/vocalists, fiddle, standup bass, banjo, mandolin, and drums. One of the bands real strengths is the dual lead vocalists of Lacey and Neumann. That banjo work was bright against the other guitar work. Drummer Peter Anderson, who we just saw as part of Willie Wisely’s show (July 12, 2025) kept the band together well considering the size of the stage and outdoor, windy conditions. There was some great fiddle work to end the third song, and the band was hitting on all cylinders. Right Where You Belong, off their recent EP (it came out last week!) was a more introspective number before following into a faster song, with another great banjo solo. I loved that the band owned the stage and looked quite comfortable up there, as Lacey was a bit of a dervish, getting the crowd going. The band had brought big energy and nailed their thirty-minute set perfectly.

Mike Kota

Nate Walker at 7th Street (Dec 12, 2024)

Mike Kota came on as a quartet on the main stage (vocals/guitar, guitar, bass and drums) and her distinctive alto was great on the opener Rift and had a great closing guitar solo from Nate Walker (who we saw in August 2024 backing Daphne Jane). Thanking the crowd, Kota mentioned she lives in St. Paul and the band was all from the Twin Cities, “playing the largest show of our entire lives!”. I think Kota has real star potential, and her soulful singing riding over the guitar work was awesome. Doing a King Krule cover of Alone, Omen 3 was an unexpectedly brilliant match of Kota’s singing to the Brit’s deep vocal style. Kota had a bit of banter where she mentioned they had released an EP today, and played the song Boy from it, bringing on guest Nolan Lahey, playing guitar with a violin bow for a long distorted intro and a dreamy sound throughout. Ending on Corner, Mike Kota closed out on a slower and more intimate song.

Hamilton Leithauser

Unlike the first two performers, we had the smallest of breaks before Hamilton Leithauser got going, giving me time to find a perfect spot to watch. The quartet (vocals/guitar, guitar, bass, and drums) got going soon enough, playing new songs off that latest album. What Do I Think? had an Americana feel on guitar, but with those super strong Leithauser vocals. He’s still one heck of a singer, and made very complicated note jumps and dynamic changes sound very simple. A great bit about the Jumbotron ended with Leithauser saying, “Raise your hand if you’re having an affair! Get those people on camera…”. Knockin Heart was a blitz with the guitarist providing great backing harmonies and a solid solo as well. A 1000 Times hit hard and highlighted Leithauser’s vocal strengths again. Georgiana, his daughter (named for a great aunt from Minneapolis), was to get a song, but it “didn’t sound too good”, so it became Alexandra. Going between the newest album and old favorites, Leithauser struck a nice balance on the set list. Happy Lights was a late, but super energetic number. As they finished up, Leithauser continued to prove he is one of the vocal greats.

Audience observation: Lady in her 60’s rocking the AC/DC shirt? Madam, I salute you.

The 502’s

Flying out of the gate with a saxophone intro, The 502’s made for an interesting blend of genre sounds with Isola’s banjo. There was a lot of obvious joy with big smiles as they went into the keyboard solo. That energy from the sextet (vocals/banjo, sax/clarinet, guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums) was infectious and a group in front of me were soon jumping along. There was no break between the early songs, as the band raced from one to the next, keeping things moving fast. One of those songs leaned a little more country, and it was interesting to see how the instrument profile moved them across different genre sounds. Our first banter was to instruct some hand waving from the crowd for the song Waves. A little later and without the banjo, Isola was jumping for nearly all of Magdalene, with much of the band following suit. The 502’s hung their hat on that happy, high energy and were well rewarded by a delighted crowd. Something’s Gonna Go Our Way was more of that with clarinet making another tone change to the underlying music. Playing a song for only the second time (coming out soon, with new music to be released this fall) had a slightly western rock feel. There was a hint of E Street Band feel at times, and if you are looking from some early era Springsteen adjacent music, you could do far worse than the 502’s. Ending on Just a Little While, it ended as it had began, high energy, upbeat and happy dancing from band and crowd.

Gigi Perez

Perez and band (vocals/guitar, guitar, bass/keys, and drums) came out with Perez’ vocals the central focus. And it was a voice worth listening to, as Perez has a good range and tone. Even by the second song she had shown some dynamic range on volume, as well as long held notes. And while she could probably have played solo on guitar, that backing band was a good choice, giving Perez the opportunity to be louder as some of the song lyrics demanded. A switch of guitars got the first bit of Perez introducing herself and then led into Fable, a darkly rich sounding number that quietly faded to its close. That led to a more wistful song really featuring Perez alone on guitar before the band came in on the second verse, and included an excellent guitar solo. Perez kept talk to a minimum, even when changing over guitars, which seemed to be every single song (and at least four or five different ones). A little bit of electronic instrumentation was a nice additional layer to some of the numbers. Similarly, there was a song in the second half that led with heavy pulsing drums and gave the song an almost dance style feel. Sailor Song was the obvious choice to end on, and Perez played it perfectly for an appreciative crowd, including a pause to thank the crowd before starting back up and finishing her set.

Sheryl Crow

Crow and band came out with Steve McQueen and the sextet (guitar/vocals, dual guitars, bass, piano/keys, and drums) was rolling early. A switch to acoustic brought A Change Would Do You Good, where she weirdly dumped that guitar after the intro to sing the first verse, then was given a differentacoustic guitar for the remainder of the song. (Color me puzzled.) The sun had also come out from behind the clouds, giving a different look to the stage. Crow kept right on with the hits, and If It Makes You Happy had most of the audience in full throated sing along. Crow’s harmonica work was impressive and brief, a winning combo. Strong Enough got the full western treatment with steel guitar effect. Crow was super professional, with just enough banter to get the next song ready and then moving on to maximize her time. After a funny story involving Lionel Ritchie ended with “You know when you play a new song? Never!”, Crow in fact, played a new song called The New Normal. Coming back to the hits, Crow and band were making sure to get them all in before the end of her hour. The big finish came with Everyday Is a Winding Road with an extended guitar solo and Sheryl Crow engaged with a young (toddler) fan who was jumping to her singing. Crow thanked the crowd and finished up a fun set.

Father John Misty

Clad in black suit, Misty and band (vocals/guitar, saxophone, keys, drums, bass) came out with a darkly funky sound, even edging into some electronic sound. After ditching his guitar, Misty prowled and sauntered across the front of the stage. He’s got a real presence and the sultry funk mood was creating a real vibe. Getting a guitar again, Misty was on with a rocker, and a whistling solo to end the song. A funky keys intro to the next song made it clear that this was going to be the lowest key set of the day. It was a zag to the other performers’ zig in terms of pace and energy, and Misty stood out as doing something different. The saxophone solo on a mid-set song was jazzy and continued the more mellow feel. This was stripped down from all of the vocal effects that Misty will use, and it was nice to hear him simply sing. A latter song felt like it would play perfectly as part of a lounge act, and that’s a compliment. Just as he lulled the crowd into that vibe, he and the popped into the higher energy She Cleans Up and Misty was in full strut mode. While some of the audience may have been puzzled, I really liked what Father John Misty did with his set.

Alabama Shakes

It’s great to have Alabama Shakes back in action and the band came out with a lot of performers, but all supporting Howard’s tremendous vocals. Her banter was as powerful as her singing and after switching guitars, she started a great riff for the next song. Her high range singing was shockingly good as she then dropped back into her normal range. Cockrell’s closing bass work was also excellent. The interplay between Howard and Fogg’s guitar and Cockrell’s bass was the key interest in a funky number, even as all of the additional performers (and there were a lot, as I think I counted nine total on stage) added a lot on vocals, keys, and drums. Some bands thrive in a live setting, and Alabama Shakes was showing they are definitely one. Howard switched guitars again and they launched into Hold On and the entire band was into it, with Howard’s big smile closing it out. (“I love it when y’all sing along, y’all are so beautiful.”) A quieter song followed before moving back to the faster tempo songs. The fastest song yet in The Greatest, which had everyone tromping along until a purposeful slowed tempo in the middle, that then gave way to the original speed and a frenzied ending. At some point, Fogg had also changed guitars; I think to one of the ones Howard had been playing. A very appreciative Howard introduced the band before going into a very R&B intro guitar lick. One last guitar switch and the band was nearly done, with a powerful closer, Gimme All Your Love.

Train

This was all pop rock and they worked through their set very professionally. During their early hit Meet Virginia, singer Monahan told the crowd th le guitarist is from Minneaplis. We also got him throwing out t-shirts to the crowd. That long guitar interlude gave us a brief cover of Steve Miller Band’s The Jokerbefore moving back into the song (it might be the longest interlude I’ve ever seen). A bit of banter and thanks led to a bit of call and response and into a lighter sounding number. It was a very polished sound, with the band following their script well. Promising to get to “the songs you probably came for”, we were told there would be a new song. With that, we got a bit of banter about the fear of a band saying new song (“oh, sh*t”), but he also introduced a “woo hoo” sing along component for the crowd and it seemed to go over pretty well. Leaning into the expected hits, there was plenty of audience singing along on Hey Soul Sister / Come and Get Your Love. Late in the set there was l a small part of Hey Jude and then went into a full blown cover of the Bowie/Mercury Pressure. The final song, Drops of Jupiter, had that earnest piano alongside those vocals, though the crowd was nearly as loud as Monahan. The lights were starting to have a bigger effect as dusk came on for the very end of Train’s performance.

Hozier

With the briefest of hellos, it was right into the music. Starting with Nobody’s Soldier, Hozier’s vocals backed by the great bass riff was excellent and supported by multiple backing vocals. And there were plenty of vocalists, as it was an absolutely packed stage, with almost a dozen people on stage. That made for a very rich sound and strengthened that blues rock sound Hozier has been building. Jackie and Wilson followed and that choral sound on backing vocals and string instruments was a delight. The lighting effects were excellent and as night had finally fallen, were quite effective. It’s a little difficult to explain the fullness of the sound, as there were a lot of variations of instrumentation; the three backing vocalists also had access to a variety of percussion, which was utilized in certain songs. Hozier got the chance to show off his vocals, with a loud, sustained note that garnered a lot of cheers. His activist side came through on Eat Your Young, a song about the money made through war, with some very sobering statistics playing on screen behind him. Francesca was a song that takes a pair of characters from Dante’s Inferno and completely reimagines it. There was a cheekiness from Hozier that I liked in his commentary. An early song with Hozier solo on guitar got huge cheers on the first chords; the band joined in after the first verse. Hozier then headed into the crowd, getting to a spot just behind the light booth right in the middle of the crowd, but up on a very small stage. Playing Cherry Wine solo on acoustic guitar, it was quite the intimate song. Noting, “there’s the rain”, Hozier kept on playing out on that exposed space and the crowd certainly appreciated it. Back to the main stage, Gigi Perez appeared for Work Song. With the weather turning quickly, Hozier had to slim down a few songs, and chose well. Would That I was a pure hit and as they finally had to close up shop, Hozier ended with the powerful Nina Cried Power. Immediately after, it was over due to lightning and everyone had to get out. But Day 1 of Minnesota Yacht Club Festival had been a wild success.