Everything to know for Minnesota Yacht Club 2025, with tips from last year’s attendees

Music festivals don’t get soft openings, like restaurants. But they do get to benefit from their attendees’ hard lessons.

Last year’s inaugural Minnesota Yacht Club fest was widely deemed a successful maiden voyage, with a near sell-out crowd of 35,000 music lovers enjoying artists nonstop for 10 hours over two days at St. Paul’s Harriet Island Regional Park.

Things went swimmingly enough for organizers to add a third day to the lineup in 2025, with top performers including Green Day, Hozier, Fall Out Boy, Sheryl Crow, Weezer, Garbage and the newly reunited Alabama Shakes. But the first year wasn’t without its snags.

The Twin Cities had not seen a major music festival of this scope since Live Nation’s failed attempt to launch the River’s Edge festival on the same site in 2012. There was a relatively sharp learning curve for both fans at last year’s MYC as well as its organizers at C3 Presents, which puts on the perennially popular Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits festivals.

C3 has tweaked some things on its end, as explained below by the company’s promoter Tim Sweetwood. The company also has a lot of useful info posted in the FAQ section of the festival’s website.

Here’s some other info you won’t find there, though, as we offer up what we learned as well as advice from last year’s festgoers.

Forget chairs. Consider blankets. The ban on lawn chairs wasn’t just because of the mushy ground after flooding on the island last year. It’s a permanent ban that C3 has implemented at many of its other festivals, too.

“The problem with chairs at a festival is: a) obviously it’s a tripping hazard, especially at night when you and I are walking around and run into a chair,” Sweetwood said, “and b) you’re not there to stake your claim to a spot. No one really has that right at a festival like this.”

Toward that end, there also will be new limits on where blankets can be laid out at this year’s fest, after they were a big hit last year. Look for designated “blanket zones.”

Also consider VIP tickets for comfort. In the decade-plus since the Twin Cities last saw the launch of a music festival of this sort, VIP options have greatly expanded and become a key revenue generator for music festivals nationwide. Even pennywise Minnesotans bought into the variously jacked up ticket prices at MYC last year — in part, because they do offer seating, plus they come with separate viewing areas and concession stands (more on those below).

“Absolutely worth it,” said Jesse Stensby, a regular festgoer from Minneapolis who upgraded to the GA+ option last year after standing in line for “all of Gwen Stefani’s set” to get a beer on the first day. He listed off the pluses: “Nicer bathrooms with shorter lines. Shorter lines for everything, including beer. Also places to sit down.”

About those tickets… Some general admission and GA+ tickets are still available for Saturday for $310 (three-day, Friday and Sunday are listed as waitlist only). There also are the pricier VIP, Riverboat VIP and Platinum tickets available for all days, which come with nicer lounging and viewing areas and food options, to the tune of $845-$2,300 for three-day tickets or $450-$1,100 for a single-day ticket.

They heard you: Concession lines were too long. C3 organizers admit they were understaffed and a bit too disorganized at the food and drink stands in 2024, issues they improved on for the second day and planned to tweak even further for the second year.

“We added a bit more footage and a lot of staff,” Sweetwood promised.

Don’t rely on cell service. During last year’s fest, cellphones were about as useful as broccolini at a barbecue joint. Texting friends or posting to social media was a big challenge, because cellular service was ultra-spotty with 35,000 users flooding Harriet Island (which sits at a low point between river bluffs). This is one trouble spot that might not see improvement.

“I always wish that was 100% under our control, but unfortunately it’s not,” said Sweetwood. He added that his team asked cell service providers to up coverage, but C3 is not sure they will comply.

Also don’t rely on Metro Transit rail service. Because of some inarguably ill-timed maintenance, Metro Transit’s Green Line service will be out of service this weekend despite 35,000 taxpaying music lovers needing to get to and from the festival each day. Bus shuttles are being put into service to the rail line’s 13 stations as backup. Yeah, good luck.

Reconsider ridesharing. Lots of complaints were generated last year over inflated fares, confused drivers and a poorly mapped pickup point for Uber, Lyft and other rideshare options. Festival organizers have tweaked the pickup point, now mapped at 119 S. Livingston Av., but the other problems could remain.

One attendee said he saved a lot on fees and headaches last year by walking back into downtown and using a pickup point by Xcel Energy Center. Others suggested just eating the cost of parking, which includes ample public garages and lots downtown or private lots charging $30-$40 on the west side of the river.

You might discover your new favorite band. With only two alternating stages — compared with four or five overlapping stages at Lollapalooza and C3’s bigger festivals — MYC virtually forces its attendees to listen to every act on the bill. That was actually a good thing, according to many Year 1 attendees, who variously raved about getting turned onto Morgan Wade, local entrants Hippo Campus and Gully Boys or the New Orleans funk master not typically seen at other rock events.

“The Trombone Shorty set was one of the best things I’ve ever seen musically,” Year 1 attendee Justin Bell raved of last year’s pleasant surprise.

Or rediscover an old fave. Come on, admit it. Many of you who rolled your eyes when you saw the Offspring on the lineup for last year’s fest wound up rolling up to the stage for “Come Out and Play.” C3 does a good job rounding up Gen-X oldies acts who’ll remind you just how many radio hits they had in the ‘90s. This year’s undercard nostalgia-act roster includes Garbage, 311 and Sublime — the latter newly fronted by Jakob Nowell, son of the band’s late frontman, Bradley Nowell.

Or maybe don’t go at all. Seriously, that was also one bit of advice offered by some of last year’s attendees: Don’t go. Even diehard music fans sometimes weren’t ashamed to admit they just aren’t made for festivals.

“The novelty of waiting in line for 30-plus minutes for a $15 beer has worn off,” said Ben Leach, one fan who’s staying away. Maria Elena Baca of Minnetonka put it more bluntly after her experience being pressed elbow-to-elbow near the stage last year: “I love a crowd, but [that’s] not my vibe,” she said. “I’d just as soon watch them on YouTube.”

Great advice for those who might suffer from FOMO — although if that cell service problem persists, those bootlegged YouTube clips from the fest might not post for days.

When: 12:30-10:30 p.m. Fri., Sat. & Sun.

Where: Harriet Island Regional Park, 49 Harriet Island Road, St. Paul.

Tickets and info: minnesotayachtclubfestival.com

Maygen & the Birdwatcher (12:50 p.m.) / Mike Kota (1:20 p.m.) / Hamilton Leithauser (2:05 p.m.) / The 502s (2:50 p.m.) / Gigi Perez (3:50 p.m.) / Sheryl Crow (4:50 p.m.) / Father John Misty (5:50 p.m.) / Alabama Shakes (6:50 p.m.) / Train (7:50 p.m.) / Hozier (8:50-10:30 p.m.)

Laamar (12:40 p.m.) / Raffaella (1:10 p.m.) / Jake Clemons (1:45 p.m.) / Silversun Pickups (2:30 p.m.) / Motion City Soundtrack (3:30 p.m.) / O.A.R. (4:30 p.m.) / Cory Wong (5:30 p.m.) / Weezer (6:30 p.m.) / Remi Wolf (7:45 p.m.) / Fall Out Boy (8:45-10:30 p.m.)

Landon Conrath (12:50 p.m.) / Winona Fighter (1:20 p.m.) / Grace Bowers & the Hodge Podge (2:05 p.m.) / Blind Melon (2:50 p.m.) / Beach Bunny (3:50 p.m.) / The Beaches (4:50 p.m.) / Garbage (5:50 p.m.) / Sublime (6:50 p.m.) / 311 (7:50 p.m.) / Green Day (8:50-10:30 p.m.)