Our Huckleberry View in a nutshell:
Music 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵
Sound 🎵 🎵 🎵
Lighting 🎵 🎵
Layout 🎵 🎵
Vibe 🎵 🎵 🎵
Food 🎵 🎵 🎵
Overall 🎵 🎵 🎵
And we are off! As it was going to be a long road trip to Minnesota, we planned a few stops along the way. Our camper had been giving us fits for months (maybe years), so we made an appointment with Renegade in Elkhart, IN (the RV capitol of the world!) to have the manufacturer take a look. We rented a car to make it the rest of the way to St. Paul.
Later on during the trip, we made a stop in South Beloit, Wisconsin and stumbled into a great locals bar. We were so welcomed! We jumped into an awesome Bingo game…Mike even won a round and walked away with a t-shirt. A shout out loud and clear to the Rusty Wheel Tavern and bartender, Erinn! We will return!! If you ever find yourself in the area, stop by!! :You won’t regret it.
We were getting hit with some heavy smoke from the Canadian and Minnesota fires. Our fingers were crossed that it would dissipate by the time the festival started. We could only continue along our way and hope for the best.
Day 1
The hotel we booked was a bit far from the action, but, fortunately, the hotel provided a shuttle bus to the festival. If you decide to go yourselves some summer, make sure to research how close your accommodations are to Harriet Island Regional Park.
The festival takes place right along the Mississippi River with a lovely view of downtown St. Paul. Even though we were along the river, it was HOT!! Thankfully, there was no more smoke from the fires, so at least we could breathe. The organizers provided extra icing tents and cooling busses. As Riverboat VIP holders…the only way to go we had determined once we had been at the festival for a HOT second…we had access to a Riverboat all day with air conditioning, a bar, food and bathrooms. Regular VIP (and Riverboat VIPers as well – they are different) had access to a sub-par VIP Lounge with a number of bars, but no food. And not the kind of bars we were used to seeing in VIP (an actual bar with some seating). Instead, just the regular vendor vans were available for beverage purchases. Some umbrella’d seating was available as well as some stand up bar tables. The umbrellas, as usual, got scooped up early by folks who never left those seats – at least not without saving them (apparently they can’t read the signs about NOT saving seats). Blankets were allowed in VIP right behind the standing room area. This made it kind of a pain to weed through to get to the Standing Room Only (SRO) area, which was behind Platinum viewing. You could get close to the stage in GA. But it was packed! And on a hot day, you don’t want to be smushed up against other people. But this didn’t stop folks from plowing through others to get to a place closer to the stage…this was definitely happening in the VIP area. Note that there was only VIP viewing at the main Skipper stage. Viewing at the Crow’s Nest stage was open…again, with tons of blankets to get through. We don’t even think there was a boundary for blankets at this stage. You could have them right up to the front if you so desired. We don’t believe anyone did, but it meant a TON of blankets to sift through to get anywhere near the stage.
The VIP bathrooms in the lounge were convenient. There was a large stadium style seating area for VIP facing the Skipper stage, but you couldn’t go near those seats during the day as they were in the heat of the sun. They were good to hang out in at the end of the night to watch the Lumineers. As well, Mt. Joy played at the Crow’s Nest right before Lumineers went on and if you were at the top of the seats or to the side, you could get a good view of Mt. Joy’s set.
The food for VIP was in the GA+ area which was behind the Skipper stage. The area was expansive with lots of shade and picnic tables. There were bathrooms there too…way, way, way to the back. The thing about this area was that you really could not hear what was happening on stage which made the general feel for the day that the acts were too short, simply because you missed a lot if you wanted to go grab a bite or get out of the sun. Same with the VIP Riverboat. A great place to cool off, but a DJ was playing tunes rather than having a livestream of the concert. Not sure if that would even be possible, but again, cooling off on the VIP Riverboat took you out of the action.
The Riverboat cruise is a must. There is an additional Riverboat that sets out on 3 separate cruises in the afternoon, so if there is a band you are willing to miss, hop on. We saw Marcy Playground last year, so we watched the start of their act, but then hopped on the boat, so we missed Sex and Candy. We are still amazed at how awesome they sound though.
Shaky Graves was playing when we landed. It was impossible to get up close to see them, unless you don’t mind pushing through folks…not our style. We prefer to “wander” up as close as we can get. That was not happening here. We watched them from outside the crowd, which pushed you close to the bar vendors.
Yes, bars. They were easy to find. The food in the GA area…not so much. We eyed the sign for food way across the opposite side of the grounds. We planned to get to the festival early the next day to check it out. We got to the festival at 2:00 today, and it was already packed…on a Friday.
Dashboard Confessional was next at the Skipper stage. We “wandered” up as far as we dared and caught the first half of their set. It was just too hot though, nearing 100. We booked it back to the VIP Riverboat. We will say, most people were very aware and gave you room to escape from the SRO area.
We did venture up a little closer at the Crow’s Nest to see the Fray. They had lots of fans. They sounded great. It was like running an obstacle course to get out of there, though, when we exited the area to get back to get a halfway decent spot to see the Black Keys.
The Black Keys rocked it. They were really tight. It’s so amazing to think how a band can look so small on stage…just a band rocking it and enjoying playing together, but put them up on the screen, and they look like superstars…which they are, we guess.
We had just seen Mt. Joy in their own concert a couple of weeks ago in Vermont, so we decided to make way to the VIP Riverboat to cool off and then came back and grabbed some stadium seating.
It was packed, but it never felt like that first time we went to Boston Calling packed. We never felt in danger…though admittedly we did not see the entire Lumineers set because from those great stadium seating seats, we saw a MASS of people watching this last act of the night, and we did fear a little bit about how that exit would be. Plus, the hotel shuttle was not going to run after 10:30, which was exactly when Lumineers ended. We could hear them almost the entire walk back to the shuttle, so that was nice. The sound going out in that direction was good.
The food options were limited. We shared a Hot Box Wrap hot sweet chile chicken wrap for lunch in the GA+ area and a small Sam Matteo pizza at the end of the night, and on the VIP Riverboat shared a pulled pork sandwich…which was pretty tasty. It looks like they have loaded Mac and Cheese and tacos as well. That might be it.
We grabbed some swag from Recess, a non-alcoholic mocktail, which they conveniently had a bar stationed next to them to turn that mocktail into an honest to goodness cocktail. We were able to snag a hat and a bag with ironed on stickers that you picked out. Kudos to the woman running the hot press…hot on hot. Couldn’t be fun.
We noticed some professional models being guided around the grounds with a photographer. That was interesting. They were quite perfect and not a drop of sweat on them.
Speaking of looking for perfection, can the festival organizers please do better for women’s t-shirt offerings. Why are they all crop shirts? We just need a t-shirt fit for women. We don’t need to be showing off our bellies. Some of us drink beer, you know…like, for years now.
Day 2
It was a lot less hot…but still hot. We arrived before the gates opened so we could allow ourselves sometime to check out the rest of the festival area, including where the GA area had its food. They had many more options than in VIP. It would probably get packed later, but we were able to grab some lunch pretty easily.
We grabbed an awesome cooling towel from Cornbread THC Seltzer. They drenched it in ice water which felt quite fantastic around the neck. Many of the bartenders would re-drench the towel in ice water for you throughout the day. Everyone was making sure to keep folks cool. There were a couple of misting tents and security and festival workers were constantly handing out waters during the performances.
The vibe at the festival was kinda weird. There was no real chatting with folks while in front of the stage. We didn’t know if it was because it was hot or if it was because there was no real break between acts. When one band ended on one stage, the next band started right up on the other. And the stages were very close together. You could literally just stay in the front row of one stage all day and still hear everything on the other stage and actually see pretty well by watching the big screens to the sides of the stage.
Even though it was hot and we didn’t situate ourselves too close to the stage to allow some space, it didn’t stop a lot of these youngsters from plowing through people to get to the front of the stage. Anything to get to the rail. Both in the VIP area at the Skipper stage (though not that bad) and definitely at the Crow’s Nest stage which was all basically GA other that the Platinum area smack dab in the center of the viewing area (really, organizers? Right in the middle of the GA area? Do better).
There were lots more folks out in the Mississippi listening from their boats. We saw a pup that could be Watson’s fat twin brother out on a floating mat. We were glad our Watson is safe and sound with Kyle, a Rover here outside St. Paul who had a nice cool house and a large fenced-in backyard. A great break for Watson to stretch his legs after the long trek out here. We were sure he was happy to be in a house that doesn’t move.
We tried our hand at live-streaming on Facebook. We are learning… Next time we will do better…
We caught the first act, Porch Light, at the Crow’s Nest stage. It was nice to be at the festival early so we could get a little closer to the stage before it got too crowded. The band was great with a big following here as they are from the Twin City area here in Minnesota. We caught a bit of Yam Haus from afar. They too are a fun band. But then we hightailed it to the Riverboat to cool off and grab a drink before Matt & Kim hit the stage.
And what a show they put on! They were so fun to watch. Matt was having some difficulties getting the keyboard to work properly, so Kim did a lot of dancing around, which included a quick flash. Keeping us all on our toes, those 2!
Jensen McRae has a beautiful voice and we caught a little of her performance as we wandered around a bit more in the GA area. It definitely got crowded. Again, we were very thankful we upgraded to the VIP Riverboat tickets. Cooling off and keeping hydrated was key for the hot weekend.
It’s always fun to watch The All-American Rejects. The lead singer, Tyson Ritter, was very charismatic and enjoyed bantering with the audience. And they were great performers. Tyson is also an actor, so it makes sense.
We cooled off again before catching the last of Lucy Dacus’s set. It’s always great listening to her perform. We hung there afterwards at the Crow’s Nest stage and listened to Lord Huron from afar. They sounded great. We caught them last year at the High Water Festival, so wanted to get a good spot to watch Geese for the first time. And so did everyone else. Here is where we saw the most young’uns plowing through to get to the front. So we stayed for a few songs and then backed off. Geese definitely has an interesting take on music. His voice is very interesting and the instrumentation is as well. It works in some strange way.
We decided to make it an early night and caught a friendly Lyft ride home before the crowds. We overheard someone talking about waiting an hour for a rideshare last night. Something to remember, for sure.
The best places we had been meeting and chatting with folks had been on the shuttle bus over from the hotel and while sitting on the Riverboat cooling off. We missed the camping experience and/or the ability to walk to and from the festival. The festival itself seems to go by quickly, we think because the bands were on bang…bang…bang and if we wanted to catch them, we just had to stick around at the stages. Like we have said before, you could not really hear when you went to the GA+ area or to the VIP Riverboat to get food so you missed a lot. You could hear from the GA refreshment area, but it was far and it definitely got crowded.
Day 3
That adage “Last Day Best Day” was certainly the theme of the day. We started out a bit later which helped us miss the heat of the day. We opted to bypass some of the early acts and took another Riverboat cruise to start the day…nothing wrong with a couple of free margaritas to get the party started. We must mention here how wonderful the staff at this event were to us. Many were down for a chat and were interested in what we were all about. From the locals working just this event, to the bartenders traveling with the festival presenter and the security staff, everyone was cheerful and friendly.
We did speak with more folks in the viewing area today. Including a woman who was explaining to us that folks here in Minnesota were perhaps not as outgoing as we might be used to and bordered on passive aggressive. We were not sure how true that was…she was a Minnesotan herself, but it does explain how perhaps groups kept more to themselves.
On both Riverboats though, we did get an understanding that most people in VIP found the same issues we did…very crowded in the GA area, the VIP food being in the GA+ area behind the stage where you are separated from the music and festival in general was a definite negative as well as the general lack of food options, particularly for VIPers. Plus, it would really be nice rather than a DJ on the Riverboat (at least on the VIP Riverboat), they should simulcast the performances if at all possible. There had just been a general disconnect with the festival when you need to do things like eat, take a load off, hit some shade, etc. You would think that paying extra for a VIP ticket would get you a bit more than an area at one stage for viewing…behind the Platinum folks. It would be really nice if there could be a VIP area at the Crow’s Nest stage and a defined area for “no blankets.” As was the case at the Skipper stage.
The acts today were great. Semisonic still sounded great…lots of grey hair up there on stage. We appreciated that they kept it real up there. The lead singer was originally from the Twin Cities, so it was great that they were here to play at this festival.
It was fantastic seeing Passion Pit live as, if you know their music, it is quite “polished.” Lots of synthesizers and smoothing out of the vocals. It was interesting seeing more keyboards than guitars…quite the opposite of what we usually see. And it was great hearing the lead singer’s voice raw. He had quite the range! He was also very engaged with the crowd and we found their set lots of fun. They performed at the Crow’s Nest, so no VIP viewing, so we stood toward the front, but to the side. Even being there we decided to stay put for the whole set as it would have been quite a feat to move out. It was another crowded day.
Cage the Elephant followed on the Skipper stage. We watched them from the VIP viewing pit and then up on the stands. They are nothing if not consistent. We have seen them at quite a few festivals and they don’t disappoint.
We headed back to one final rest stop at the Riverboat while Atmosphere played. They are a popular local band so we let the locals have the area free from us non-local Vermonters. The night ended with the Strokes and they sounded great. It’s great to see them performing…they have been around for a while and they played both old and new stuff.
While we were on the shuttle to the festival, we scheduled a Lyft to take us back to the hotel as we knew we would be missing the last shuttle. We met up with him at the Joseph’s Grill parking lot, where we dropped in, along with a few other festival goers, for one last drink for the road. We met a gentleman who was in charge of the Taco Booth at this and many other festivals. We hope we will connect with him again. A Philly guy! Just like our son is soon to be.
So, was the festival worth the trip? We actually don’t think so. It is a good local festival, so if you live in the area, sure, why not. But the lack of VIP amenities (though I will say the bathrooms were always clean and we never really saw a line). You had to pay extra to have Riverboat access as a VIP. VIP without Riverboat access must have really been disappointing. Unless you got there early to grab a table or seat at the VIP “lounge” area (we use the word “lounge” loosely) you would only be able to get a table if you went behind the stage in the GA+ area, forgoing the ability to listen to the music. You could plop down on your butts in the grass somewhere, but it just seemed strange to us that folks can come and grab tables and never give them up allowing for other VIPers a chance to have a nice respite. Again, even with that benefit with the Riverboat VIP, you had to take yourself away from the festival to get that respite. There were places for blankets but they were end to end and they would certainly get trampled.
And the GA area was just too packed, so you definitely wouldn’t want to make the journey to hang out there…unless you are young and don’t mind being packed in.
So, Minnesota Yacht Club, we will leave you to the Minnesotans.
Postscript: We picked up our RV back in Elkhart and miracle upon miracles, the RV is running like a top. They replaced a faulty inverter and we are rolling again, on to the next festival. Stay tuned!