After a jam-packed three days that saw headliners like Hozier, Weezer, Fall Out Boy and Green Day perform for tens of thousands at Harriet Island Regional Park, the Minnesota Yacht Club festival wrapped up Sunday night. And with the exception of a Friday night weather evacuation that cut Hozier’s set short by about 20 minutes, the festival was smooth sailing.

After last year’s inaugural festival was well-received by both fans and critics, organizers expanded from two to three days and adopted a slightly bolder booking strategy than last year’s ‘90s-nostalgia-heavy lineup. Certainly, nostalgia was a big draw — just look at the Sunday lineup, which also featured Garbage, 311 and Sublime — but other popular acts like Remi Wolf, Gigi Perez and Beach Bunny were geared toward a younger audience.The 2025 festival also featured several cross-lineup collaborations, which we hope will remain a recurring trend going forward. On Friday, Perez duetted briefly with Hozier; on Saturday, Wolf popped up onstage for a song during local jazz-funk pro Cory Wong’s set and Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump subbed in for sick Motion City Soundtrack frontman Justin Pierre.

Sunday: ‘I’m here for Green Day’

Throughout the day on Sunday, the sun beat down on a crowd wearing tie-dye, bucket hats and ’90s band merch.

“I’m here for Green Day. And everything else is diminishing in importance,” said festival attendee Kris Jeronimus.

Local musician Landon Conrath kicked off the third day of the festival 20 minutes after doors opened, and by the end of the upbeat indie-rock set, a few hundred people were politely bopping their heads.

“I live in St. Paul, so my commute to this was like seven minutes,” he told the crowd. “It was wonderful.”

Nashville-based Winona Fighter raised the energy with a raging pop-punk set, during which frontwoman Coco Kinnon ran around onstage doing high kicks, screaming into the mic and encouraging the audience to open a mosh pit. Up next, fellow Nashville musicians Grace Bowers and the Hodge Podge jammed out with songs full of funk, soul and rock influences. The voice of 18-year-old Bowers was sometimes difficult to hear over the six-piece band, but her groovy guitar solos shined during the set.

Harriet Island was beginning to fill up by the time Blind Melon took the stage at 2:50 p.m. However, no matter how many times vocalist Travis Warren hoarsely yelled “Come on, Minnesota!” the audience stayed pretty calm until the band played its biggest hit.

“Here comes the one Blind Melon song I know,” Jeronimus said as the 1993 tune “No Rain” began to play.

Midway through the afternoon, indie rock band Beach Bunny began its set with “Cloud 9,” one of the songs that brought the Chicago-based group widespread TikTok fame in 2020. Throughout the hour-long performance, frontwoman Lili Trifilio had the audience clapping and singing along to the band’s catchy alternative tunes. She changed the lyrics in “Ms. California” for the set, yelling, “Everything is better in Minnesota!”

All-female Canadian rock band The Beaches also kept the audience entertained, with high-energy songs interspersed with banter among band members. The band closed with 2023 viral hit “Blame Brett” and the crowd sang along, chanting “Blame my ex!” repeatedly.

Although Shirley Manson, lead singer of Madison, Wis.-founded Garbage, told the audience she was overheated and not feeling well, the band still put on a nostalgic hourlong set. Manson shouted out the ’90s babies in the crowd as the band played hits including “Stupid Girl” and “Only Happy When it Rains.”

Headliner Sublime got the crowd moving, with frontman Jakob Nowell cracking jokes and encouraging people to jump around from the very first song.

“It was super fun,” said festival-goer Julius Huffcutt-Grant, who was watching Sublime from the pit. “It was kids, older people, younger people. They all got really into it.”

When rock band 311 took the stage a little before 8 p.m., the crowd was growing restless for the final headliner, Green Day, but 311 did its best to keep everyone entertained. Lead singer and guitarist Nick Hexum had the audience clap and sing to upbeat hits, and the band also played a mellow cover of “Lovesong” by The Cure.

And Green Day, finally, was loud and bold. From the opening notes of “American Idiot,” Billie Joe Armstrong had the crowd in the palm of his hand — or rather, his fist.

The performance featured flashy pyrotechnics and a lawn packed with people singing along, and at one point, the band invited a fan onstage to sing “Know Your Enemy.” Armstrong told the crowd he wanted to see everyone “go crazy tonight,” and the audience responded in kind, ending this year’s Minnesota Yacht Club festival with one of the liveliest sets of the day.

— Kathryn Kovalenko

Saturday’s highlights

After Friday’s otherwise electric opening day was cut slightly short by severe weather, the massive crowds on Saturday were treated to sunnier skies and hard-rocking performers.

The day kicked off with local musicians Lamaar and Raffaella and Bruce Springsteen’s saxophonist Jake Clemons, and really hit its stride when California alt-rockers Silversun Pickups erupted onstage.

And even without ill frontman Justin Pierre, Minneapolis-launched Motion City Soundtrack delivered one of the day’s most fun sets with “special guest” lead singers including Patrick Stump, of the day’s final headliner Fall Out Boy, and local musicians Ber and Gully Boys members Kathy Callahan and a particularly impressive Nadi McGill.

Weezer, those California alt-rock nerd icons, rocked — and subbed in local references in their lyrics, to much crowd applause — and pop singer Remi Wolf also quickly won over the audience with her singable earworms, dirty jokes and enthusiastic stage presence. Fall Out Boy closed the night with a fireball-filled set that, though slightly overlong, was an energetic and cathartic end to the day.

— Jared Kaufman