As Trampled by Turtles, Wilco and Bob Dylan have shown in the past, the rock acts that play Bayfront Festival Park in Duluth tend to want to come back — and that's good news this year for Bon Iver and Hippo Campus fans in Minnesota.
An Aug. 2 date at the harborside amphitheater near Canal Park was included in Bon Iver's new list of summer tour dates announced Monday. The Wednesday night concert there will be the first U.S. date on the calendar for Wisconsinite Justin Vernon and his partly Minnesotan crew, who are also due at the Hinterland festival near Des Moines on Aug. 4, followed by Breese Stevens Field in Madison, Wis., on Aug. 5.
Tickets for Bon Iver's Bayfront gig go on sale Friday via AXS.com, with presale options beginning Wednesday. Prices will be $65 for general admission or $85 for a g.a. "pit" near the front of the stage. This will be the full-scale Bon Iver lineup's first concert in Minnesota since a 2019 show at Xcel Energy Center.
A stripped-down version of Bon Iver performed at Bayfront back in August 2021 for the Water Is Life environmental festival, where the act on before him was Twin Cities indie-rock Hippo Campus — who also recently announced their first-ever Bayfront Park headlining gig on June 24 with openers Miloe and Papa Mbye. Tickets for that one are already on sale via AXS.com for $35.
Trampled by Turtles also already announced their almost-annual gig at Bayfront on July 8 with Los Angeles indie-twang favorite Jenny Lewis warming up. Tickets for that are also on sale via AXS.com for $45, and they are likely to sell out ahead of time. This year marks 20 years since the acoustic sextet formed up the hill from the venue.
Like Trampled, Wilco and Duluth homeboy Dylan have both also been repeat players at Bayfront Festival Park, which can hold more than 15,000 fans for big concerts spread out on the grass with the Aerial Lift Bridge for a backdrop.
Bayfront also has its usual mix of homegrown music festivals on its calendar for this year, including: the beloved Bayfront Blues Fest from Aug. 11-13 with performers yet to be announced; the Bayfront Reggae & World Music Fest on July 13 (also artists TBA), and the Tribute Fest with metal and classic rock cover bands on the weekend of Aug. 25-26.
Word is the Water Is Life Festival for activist Winona LuDuke's Honor the Earth organization also will return for a third straight year to Bayfront in mid-July. Stay tuned for that lineup announcement.
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