The last time Minneapolis musician Mike Kota played on the same stage as Hozier was in 2023, when she opened for the Irish singer-songwriter at a pop-up concert at First Avenue in Minneapolis. She played for a crowd of about 1,500 people.
Now, two years later, Kota is playing on the same day as Hozier at the Minnesota Yacht Club Festival, which is expected to draw 30,000 people each day over three days this weekend.
“I appreciate that they put us on the same day again,” Kota said. “It’s such an honor. But I just kind of view myself as a little peasant here, and those are the kings.”
The Yacht Club Festival at St. Paul’s Harriet Island Regional Park launched last summer, drawing about 70,000 concertgoers over two days. This year, the event has expanded to three days, Friday through Sunday.
Minnesota artists Kota, Maygen & the Birdwatcher, Motion City Soundtrack, Cory Wong, Rafaella, Laamar and Landon Conrath will be performing in a lineup alongside Hozier, Fall Out Boy, Green Day, Sublime and Weezer.
For local musicians, the Yacht Club Festival is more than a fun outdoor gig. It’s a chance to promote new music, gain a wider audience and represent the Minnesota music scene, they say.
“I think for a lot of us, for myself, it’s like I need to showcase what the Twin Cities arts community developed in me,” Minneapolis musician Wong said. “And how we can play alongside all the cats from all the major music towns.”
Maygen & the Birdwatcher
Minnesota folk-country band Maygen & the Birdwatcher kicks off the festival at 12:50 p.m. Friday with a set from their seven-piece band.
Lead singer-songwriters Maygen Lacey and Noah Neumann said they’re squeezing seven songs into their 30-minute show.
The group has played festivals before, including the Blue Ox Music Festival in Eau Claire, Wis., where they shared a stage with Sierra Ferrell and Old Crow Medicine Show. But Yacht Club is the largest festival they’ve played to date.
“We actually have to pinch ourselves, that we get to, you know, be at a festival playing with all these amazing bands,” Lacey said. “Especially in our hometown.”
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What to know if you’re headed to the Minnesota Yacht Club Festival
Lacey and Neumann said they play on the same day as Sheryl Crow.
“I’ve been listening to her since I was like, 4,” Neumann said.
Maygen & the Birdwatcher blends its country, bluegrass and soul influences in its new album, “The Americana Dream,” which will be released Oct. 10. The band already released two singles, and is closing its act Friday with an unreleased single from the album.
“It’s giant because it’s going to hopefully just increase our exposure here,” Lacey said. “Who knows, maybe Sheryl Crow will ask us to come open for her or something. You never know what could happen when you play a festival.”
Mike Kota
Singer-songwriter Mike Kota plays at 1:20 p.m. Friday.
Kota has already experienced the ripple effect of performing alongside a big-name artist. She said opening for Hozier exposed her to local booking agents and led to her next gig, opening for Shakey Graves and Lucius in 2023 at Bauhaus Brew Labs in Minneapolis.
“More shows came from that show. So that was huge,” Kota said. “It was a good real-life affirmation of ‘I’m on the right path.’”
Kota gets inspiration for her genre-blurring indie music from alternative artists such as King Krule, whose music she described as an “acquired taste.” Her new EP, “Through Fire,” releases Friday, the same day as her Yacht Club Festival performance.
“It’s a huge audience to pitch the EP to,” Kota said. “My goal performing live is to kind of lose myself in the song and do the music justice.”
Motion City Soundtrack
Minneapolis rock band Motion City Soundtrack plays at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. The band first formed in 1997, releasing six albums before going on hiatus in 2016.
After gradually returning to touring after the pandemic, the band will release “The Same Old Wasted Wonderful World,” its first album in almost a decade, on Sept. 19.
“This one, I think, is special,” lead guitarist Joshua Cain said. “It feels like an important record for us.”
Cain said the Yacht Club Festival is the band’s last big show before the album releases. The group will play its newest single, “She Is Afraid,” on Saturday.
“It’s just fun to play a Minnesota crowd, you know,” Cain said. “We haven’t done a Minnesota show in a little bit.”
Cain said playing music festivals allows Minnesota artists to reach a wider audience, versus playing local venues that often attract a specific group of people. And although Motion City Soundtrack is a “unique, nerdy band,” Cain said the members are inspired by Fall Out Boy, Weezer and Green Day.
“We like the music at this festival a lot as a band,” he said. “It’s just amazing to get to play shows with these guys.”
Cory Wong
Cory Wong plays at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. He just returned to the United States after playing July 12 at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Earlier this summer, he headlined a tour in Japan.
“It’s fun to come back home after playing all these other big festivals and other big shows,” Wong said. “I have a bunch of friends that are coming in town, a bunch of the other bands. I almost feel like I’m, in a little way, hosting.”
He said the Yacht Club Festival lineup might seem random to some people, but that he and his friends are the perfect target audience for it.
“We’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is the best lineup ever,’” Wong said. “There’s such an amazing combination of really big, powerful acts, bands that have some sort of nostalgia to us, and also a lot of new and up-and-coming bands.”
Wong’s mostly-instrumental funk music takes inspiration from Prince and Tower of Power. His 10-piece band will play a set Saturday that alternates between “meticulously arranged music” and experimental improvisation.
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Wong also wanted to use his show to highlight other local artists. He’s having Lars Pruitt, vocalist for the Minneapolis indie rock band Yam Haus, join his set for a song.
“There is a real sense of camaraderie coming from the same sort of place,” Wong said. “A lot of us (Minnesota musicians) look out for each other and check in on each other.”
Lacey said she was personally excited to see Kota’s set.
“A lot of the local artists are familiar names, and they’re all sweethearts and deserve it, so I’m very excited,” Kota said.
As Lacey said, you never know what could happen when you play a festival.
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