Stefani and Morissette Get Minnesota Yacht Club Festival Off to a ‘Hella Good’ Start

Experience matters. Even in rock ‘n’ roll — and especially at rock ‘n’ roll festivals.

After eight months of cutesy marketing and extensive media coverage, the St. Paul’s Minnesota Yacht Club festival finally set sail for Harriet Island Regional Park on Friday, getting off to a remarkably swift and smooth start to an inaugural music festival. Much of the credit for the success must go to the experienced crew.

The festival’s music lineup is heavily stocked with old pros, and that proved to be no bad thing on Friday. Opening day’s feminist rock trilogy, Alanis Morissette, Gwen Stefani, and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, all expertly strutted their stuff and showed the kids how it’s done. It didn’t matter that there were few kids in the crowd of 34,000 fans.

While these venerable artists deserve all the credit, the organizers of Minnesota’s first major music festival in more than a decade also deserve praise.

The event was launched by C3 Presents, the Texas-based company behind Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, and a few dozen other festivals. These people really know music festivals. It was time for Twin Cities fans to get in on the action.

Yacht Club’s electronic wristbands and well-trained security personnel made for a smooth entrance. The stage production and sound were excellent. The layout and flow between the two stages was well-organized. The music was almost non-stop and on time. And all the various VIP and “platinum” areas provided an added convenience for those willing to pay at least a few hundred dollars more than the relatively inexpensive $215-$255 two-day general admission tickets.

One notable downside: the lines for food and drinks got long as the crowds swelled in the late afternoon. Luckily, many Minnesotans are too cheap to drink $15 beers, or it could have been worse.

But seriously, the opening day crowd was clearly devoid of youth and almost exclusively middle-aged. MYC’s lack of musical and generational diversity could be considered a shortcoming for what was billed as a hip, modern festival.

All those teens and college kids shopping at Urban Outfitters and Kohl’s for throwback Chili Peppers and No Doubt t-shirts are apparently more interested in cheap fashion than in the music of those bands, because none of them showed up at Yacht Club on opening day. If they had to move the festival to September for whatever reason, it probably wouldn’t make much of a difference to attendance.

There is plenty to learn and apply to future years. In the meantime, here are some general takeaways from Friday’s festival:

Women were clearly in charge. It was a nostalgic lineup, to be sure, but this one feature of Friday’s lineup could be seen as a hip, modern element. Outside of specifically targeted events like Lilith Fair, you’d never have seen a festival with so many female vocalists on the poster in the ’90s, when Morissette and Stefani’s old band No Doubt were in their heyday; certainly not in the ’80s, when Jett ruled.

The loss of the Black Crowes from the lineup due to illness was a real disappointment, but it only served to highlight the female headliners. What’s more, the day also saw electrifying sets from a couple of other female-led acts: Country rocker Morgan Wade and the punky hometown band that kicked off the day in a hard-throttling way, Gully Boys.

Stefani seemed to be having the most fun. Her husband, Blake Shelton, may have been picking up on the strong female vibe when he showed up to sing one song with her — and only one! — on their new single, “Purple Irises,” compared to the three she sang with him around town during his 2022 TC Summer Jam performance. She seemed to love that bit, but so did the rapt response from the crowd throughout her 60-minute set, from the opening “Sunday Morning” to the groover “Hella Good” midway through the set to her blazing closer, “Just a Girl.”

“Think of how many years I’ve loved you!” she cheered before the finale, adding: “This song means even more now.” Especially on this day.

The eldest stateswoman shook the hardest. This was the best and most bombastic of Jett’s many performances here in recent years. Of course, the 65-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s major hits were praised in droves at a major summer music festival, including “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll,” “Bad Reputation” and the Runaways’ “Cherry Bomb.” She also dropped a cool set of edgier, deeper songs with inclusive messages, including “Different” and a cover of the Minnesota classic “Androgynous,” which she introduced by saying, “I’m a huge fan of this band and its songwriter, Paul Westerberg and the Replacements.”

Morissette hasn’t changed much (and that’s a good thing). With an orange moon adding dramatic ambiance, the Canadian record maker/breaker delivered a bold, in-your-face, 90-minute performance predictably packed with her big hits, including the opener “One Hand in My Pocket” and “You Oughta Know” toward the close. But she made the set far better than a nostalgic sing-along by delivering some equally emphatic, viscerally tumultuous newer numbers, including the epic piano ballad “Rest” and the rockier “Smiling,” the latter written for her hit Broadway musical, “Jagged Little Pill.” Her voice was as strong as ever, her band was versatile, and she clearly deserved to headline.

There was one new element to the show, however, that we didn’t see in the ’90s: Morissette brought along her 8-year-old daughter Onyx and another young friend to sing “Ironic.” How ironic to hear it sung with such sweetness.

Even the younger artists sang the hits of Generation X. Wade drew loud applause for her semi-ironic cover of Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl.” The nerdy but impactful indie rocker Michigander from Kalamazoo sang a portion of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” The U2 song suited his own lost, soul-searching vibe, evident in his unreleased follow-up, “Giving Up.” And after their own hit “Who’s Laughing Now,” local rockers Durry closed their set with a stirring version of Jimmyeatworld’s “The Middle” (technically a millennial hit, but it’s close).

The standout of the day was…. Clad in a Jett T-shirt and playing under a blazing midday sun — it would cool off quickly with a cloud cover — Wade coolly delivered an ultra-impressive set of musically refined, ruggedly poetic twang rock that contrasted sharply with her choice of covers. The Virginia singer came across as a tattooed Stevie Nicks on down-and-out rockers like “The Night” and “2 AM in London,” each fueled by her smoky-yet-sweet vocals. A genuine wow.

What about day two? The bro factor should be much higher on Saturday, with the Red Hot Chili Peppers headlining, preceded by the Offspring, Gary Clark Jr., the Hold Steady, Soul Asylum and Hippo Campus. Tickets are sold out except for a few pricier platinum and VIP options.