The third edition of Minnesota Yacht Club has wrapped was a resounding success. Through sweltering temperatures, heat lightning, and rain drops, none of it phased the over 35,000 fans who came each day to Harriet Regional Park. Celebrating music and summer on the water, it continues to be a highlight for the thousands of Minnesotans and the travelers.
Friday
Pat Kennedy is a name will be known far and wide very soon. Hailing from Boston, and a recent graduate of Berklee, Kennedy dances the oh so fine line of bringing classic cassette rock and roll with a modern push. Through story-like writing and a bombastic brass section, Kennedy is nothing short of intoxicating to listen to. His time on stage, kicking off the entire festival, was far too short for my liking along with many others. The captivating performance held tunes from Table 42, a new track called Babylon, and a cover of the one and only Bruce Springsteen with Born to Run. Just an incredible time had with Kennedy, you can listen to my interview with him here.
Marcy Playground brought their Minneapolis sound they have been perfecting for over 30 years to the Skipper Stage. Their is a haze to their sound, something reminiscent of some psychadelic influences in their alt rock core. Although there were. afew drummer shakeups in their earlier years, this trio has been glue since 2009 with John Wozniak on guitar, Dylan Keefe on bass and Shlomie Laive behind the kit. Marcy Playground has three dates left this year, you can find tickets here.
Shakey Graves was quite the good time on the Crow’s Nest stage. A career spanning set with three touches on his latest record, Fondness, Etc., lots of new fans walked away from this groovy roots rock jam. When I found out he was from Austin, Texas, that made a lot of sense to me. He is the ideal SXSW and Austin City Limits type artist. A unique sound and a lot of talent to back it up. A busy year awaits Shakey Graves as he marches on with Dope Lemon through their North American tour, followed by a trip across the pond and more dates in the states on his return. You can find Shakey Graves tour dates here.
Touring partners Dashboard Confessional and The Fray played back to back on the Skipper Stage and Crow’s Nest Stage. All people needed to do to see this “The Summer of Light Tour” was turn their heads. Dashboard played first to a extremely packed crowd, this was the set where it felt people were really filling in. There was old and new, including teases of an upcoming album with the unreleased song “No More Bad Days”. The Fray focused more on the classics, playing five tracks off of their breakout record How To Save A Life. The sun was no match for this duo as their tour continues this summer. You can find tickets here.
The Black Keys made a statement with their set. Their music felt perfect for this weather, heavy riffs and dancing on the fretboard was just the start for the Ohio duo. Their Peaches! Tour has just gotten started supporting their covers record from this year. We got treated to one cover, Willie Griffin’s “When There’s Smoke, There’s Fire“, but beyond that it wads a slew of classics from Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney. You can find dates for the rest of their tour here.
What a decade and what a set form Mt Joy. Over the course of the past 10 years, the Philadelphia natives have risen from small clubs and cafes to arena’s and headlining stages at festivals. Their breakout debut record set them on the path they’ve been riding ever since. 7 tracks were played from that special debut and a duo form Orange Blood with a few other scattered throughout. Modern indie folk heroes were the perfect set up to the Fridays headliner. Their set got people up and dancing from the blankets across the grounds. Mt. Joy continue celebrating their decade on tour, you can find tickets here.
With very select dates in North America this year, The Lumineers made one of their final stops at Minnesota Yacht Club. Their Automatic World Tour has seen them reach corners of the world and having them return almost a year after their first stop in Minnesota was a joy. Coming out to the Chicago Bull’s warmup song, this might be one of the final times we see this tours production and set. There were only brief touches of Automatic, Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites didn’t shy away from their classics that helped bring them around the globe. Five tracks apiece from Cleopatra and The Lumineers, fans heard everything they wanted to hear despite a 15 minute cut to their set due to weather. The Lumineers will conclude their massive tour in just a few weeks. You can find tickets here.
Saturday
Porch Light began the day with a bang. The Minnesota natives have had an incredibly busy touring and there are no signs of slowing down with their upcoming fall Hush Tour. They played a collection of tunes from their various EP’s, along with their new single “Arctic”, which got people up and moving early in the day. Friday and Saturday had some incredible acts start of the day. Their flowing sound that can rattle around your brain for hours after hearing it. You can catch Porch Light stopping at Hinterland and the rest of their Hush Tour. Tickets can be found here.
Pop-punk pillars The All American Rejects came onto the stage with a bang as the opening riff of “Dirty Little Secret” seemed to ‘Benjamin Button’ everybody back to 18 years old before their knees started to give out. Frontman Tyson Ritter was having a blast on stage, even refereeing a match of ‘who has the highest tower of water cartons’. Their set hit the old classics with a closing duo of “Move Along” and “Gives You Hell” which took the crown in 2009 on the Billboard Top 40 . While all those hits are nice, AAR put out their first record in well over a decade with Sandbox dropping in May. 3 songs form the record made its way to the setlist, “Easy Come, Easy Go“, “Get This” ,and “King Kong“. This band is exactly what you want to hear in the summer, and they stepped right up to the plate and hit it out of the park. The All American Rejects will be hitting around the country on select dates including Riot Fest and Vans Warped Tour Mexico City. You can tour dates here.
Singer/songwriter Lucy Dacus had a constantly growing crowd at Minnesota Yacht Club. Her set has heavy on her two most recent records, 2025’s Forever Is A Feeling and 2021’s Home Video. These two made up 75% of her beautiful set which featured an incredible performance by her band. They had an audible pulse and were all at the top of their game, especially Dacus who held the attention of every passerby and barricade attendee alike. The day after this great show, Dacus performed with the Chicago Philharmonic in Milenium Park. This is range of performance that people dream of. Near the end of the set “True Blue” was played. The boygenius track, which is her supergroup with Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers, was received with an eruption of cheers when it set it on the crowd. The group is on hiatus as all three attend to their immensely successful solo careers. Dacus has select dates for the rest of the year including Newport Folk Fest and Bumbershoot. You can find tickets here.
Geese. What else is there to say but Geese. A dominating force in the current landscape of not only alternative music, but music as a whole. They rose to the occasion in grand fashion, closing out and practically burning down the Crow’s Nest Stage. In one hour, Geese flew through a dozen songs, 75% from Getting Killed and the final quarter from 3D Country. Noticeably missing from their set was “Cobra“, one of their most popular tunes but it took until after the set to realize due to their chaotic and lively show. There isn’t much left to say besides go see Geese. It’s fun. Frontman Cameron Winter said that they last time they played Minnesota, it was a bar and grill (Amsterdam to be exact, with Racing Mount Pleasant opening up), and that they will be returning to that shortly. Geese will be hitting the road this fall for their Getting Killed… AGAIN! tour including a stop at Hinterland on August 2nd. You can find tour dates here.
Matchbox Twenty was the headliner Saturday night, with their first show in almost two years. They had a warm reception back as from a packed crowd Saturday night, providing the tunes to a incredible sunset. This fest starts off a collection of shows they have across the country where they will bring their unmistakable sound to thousands of fans. This set was a classic show with a few twists. Hits like “3AM” and “Push” were played and two covers made their way into the order. “She Came In Through The Bathroom Window”, a deep cut from The Beatle’s Abbey Road was a shock and joy to hear live. Rob Thomas and company made stellar work of the tune along with “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” by Simple Minds. The band seemed happy to be back playing, and the crowd was right there with them. You can find tickets to their 2026 tour here.
Sunday
If you has to itch to mosh this weekend, the combination of local heroes Heart To Gold and Die Spitz would have been the golden opportunity. These two bands laid waste to the massive stage, letting the people get their anger, happiness, or any other emotion out through their incredible performances. Heart To Gold was dominant and unapologetic, tearing into favorites from their 2024 record Free Help. The band recently recorded an Audiotree session which you can listen to here. Die Spitz continued pressing down on the gas afterwards with a dozen songs. Half came from their 2025 record Something to Consume and the remaining six split amongst their debut record Teeth and two singles. The biting guitars itch something in my ear and their live show is joy to have seen. Die Spitz will be all over the globe with Foo Fighters, Olivia Rodrigo, and their own headlining tour. You can find tickets, including a stop at Hinterland, here. You can find Heart To Gold tour dates here.
Semisonic made their return this weekend with a duo of shows, their first in two years. Bassist and founding members John Munson suffered a stroke in February 2025 which caused a cancellation of a gigs for the band. Until this past weekend where Semisonic played a kickoff show on Thursday night and The Varsity Theater and the Skipper Stage on Sunday. The band was back in full force for this hometown show in what felt like an incredibly well earned victory lap. The set featured “Don’t Give Up Yet“, a song written by frontman Dan Wilson for Munson while I.C.E. raids were terrorizing their hometown. This optimistic tune is their first new material in almost three years. Wilson told a story about a time he saw fellow Minnesotan Bob Dylan play this park, where he prefaced his performance of “Blowin’ in the Wind” with the line “This song is a time honored classic”, which he attributed to their finale “Closing Time“. He’s not wrong, this tune has closed bars, venues, weddings, and any establishment with people inside who need to leave. To have a song this impactful come out of the Twin Cities and then performed there to 35,000+ people almost three decades later is really spectacular. Semisonic is absolutely a time honored classic. The band doesn’t have any dates lined up as of now, but stayed tuned to their website for updates!
Cage the Elephant have always stepped right up to the plate and knocked it out of the park. Whether its playing main stages at every fest imaginable or playing stadiums and arenas around the world, the Kentucky quintet have never been anything less than superb. In one hour, there was barely a moment to breath throughout the rapid fire set which featured tracks from all but one of their records, 2024’s Neon Pill. In addition to all of the classics like “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” and “Shake Me Down” was their latest single “Beaches In Tennessee“. The band has been working on the music during a relatively quiet first half of 2026 as they ramp up to an album release announcement. After their set, I asked some patrons their thoughts on the band to which all had golden things to say. Bob, a Bostonian entering his 66th year on Earth this August, said “musicians come and go, rockstars are remembered even when they don’t stick around. These guys are rock stars” after seeing them for the first time. Not far away was Molly, who had seen Cage the Elephant in the fall, who seconded Bob’s enthusiasm for their showmanship. “Seeing them feels like what my parents talk about when they said they saw bands like Zeppelin” is about the highest praise you can get as a live band. Stay tuned to Cage the Elephant website for updates.
During the finale, “Come A Little Closer“, guitarist Brad Schultz came down to a boy in the crowd and strapped his black and white 1449 Silvertone guitar around a young boy who brought a sign. The breakdown and final chorus was spent making this lifetime memory for the kid sporting an Interpol shirt. If you weren’t a fan of Cage the Elephant before, you are now (even if Schultz tumbled on the stairs and “ate shit on the way down”, his words).
A quick and breezy set for The Strokes as they closed out the fifth edition of Minnesota Yacht Club. The New York natives started off with an “Evening Sun“, which was only the fourth time this year it has been played. That was far from the only showing from the record First Impressions of Earth, which tied the lead with Is This It with four songs a piece in the set. Newer favorite “The Adults Are Talking” was second on the set followed by an older classic “Reptilia” which is usually reserved as a main set closer but used to electrify the crowd early. The stage design continued this futuristic vibe with lasers and strobes painting the sides of the band in bright colors. Mainly a backlit set with the cherry on top of sunglasses on frontman Julian Casablancas at 10:00pm was a sign that the band in their element. The Strokes saved their sole Reality Awaits track, “Going Shopping” until almost the very end with the record set to release this Friday. The Strokes roll on their tour throughout 2026, you can find dates here.
Minnesota Yacht Club delivered a top tier festival experience, combining some incredible bands with a prestigious and plush feel on Harriet Island. Spending the weekend next to the river with boats soaking up the sun with the backdrop of St. Paul was postcard worthy. Inside the festival grounds were an incredibly friendly and excited staff who helped put on the biggest weekend of music in Minnesota this year. Blankets spread all across the park and surrounded by music is the ideal way to spend a summer. Stay tuned to Minnesota Yacht Club’s socials and website for updates on next years edition!
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