Dijon, Daniel Caesar, Lil Yachty and Aimee Mann are atop the bill for the returning Eaux Claires, the festival founded by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and the National’s Aaron Dessner that initially ran from 2015-2019. As previously reported, this year’s edition is set for July 24-25 at the 2,856-capacity Carson Park in Vernon’s hometown of Eau Claire, Wi.
The big question going in was whether Vernon would play at his own event, after vowing to take a long break from live performance while promoting his Grammy-nominated 2025 comeback album, SABLE, fABLE. He did return to the live stage in December as a surprise guitar player in friend and collaborator Dijon’s extended band during a New York gig at Terminal 5 and then on NBC’s Saturday Night Live.
And while Bon Iver isn’t billed, someone or something called Bon Dylan is, and sources say it will feature Vernon and as-yet-unannounced, high-profile special guests celebrating the Bob Dylan catalog. Mann will perform her 2000 album Bachelor No. 2 or, the Last Remains of the Dodo in its entirety, while Kevin Morby, Julianna Barwick and Mary Lattimore, Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas, Monica Martin, Hotline TNT, the Union featuring Phil Cook and Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner’s Black Sabbath Cover Band Rehearsal will also be on hand. In a nod to the local scene, esteemed Minneapolis musicians such as Prince drummer Michael Bland and vocalist Liv Warfield will assemble as Urban Classic Presents Revelation.
Meanwhile, the festival’s inaugural class of Writers In Residence will include Sheila Heti, Sean Thor Conroe, Benjamin Percy, Mustafa, Amanda Petrusich, Katie Ka Vang, Michael Perry, Kyle Seibel and Adam Voith. Special area shows in the days surrounding the event are also in the works.
Local residents will have first crack at tickets today (Feb. 12) at such businesses as the Local Store, Leona’s Pizzeria, Revival Records and the Racy D’Lenes Coffee Lounge. A separate fan presale is set for Friday at 9 AM CT, with all remaining tickets becoming available an hour later.
The debut Eaux Claires featured sets by Bon Iver, the National, Sturgill Simpson, Sylvan Esso, Spoon and Indigo Girls. In subsequent years, the event hosted a multi-artist Grateful Dead tribute, an extended performance by Vernon and Dessner’s Big Red Machine side project and, in 2017, one of the last U.S. festival appearances by John Prine, who died of COVID-19 in early 2020.
In related news, Vernon is a late addition to the lineup for the Hippo Campus-headlined I.C.E. OUT! benefit show, which will be staged Feb. 15 at First Avenue in Minneapolis. All proceeds will be donated to families impacted by escalating immigration aids in around the Twin Cities. The loaded bill includes Low’s Alan Sparhawk, Sylvan Esso’s Amelia Meath, the Hold Steady’s Craig Finn, Semisonic’s Dan Wilson, Soul Asylun’s Dave Pirner and Now, Now’s KC Rae. Tickets are sold out but fans can bid on the chance to attend by clicking here.
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