While there’s no shame in calling Homegrown and snipping off the wristband after Saturday night, Brunch and Recovery Sunday is there for those who need it. It’s all about sleeping in, then mustering the energy to put on sort-of clean clothes and head to Canal Park Brewing to wind down with a beer. It’s a good chance to rehash the week with friends and have actual conversations without having to shout to be heard over the music.
Battersea provided the perfect, rootsy, laid-back soundtrack to start the festivities, their ‘70s folk-rock vibe punctuated by an assortment of string instruments including the bouzouki.
While that five-piece was doing its thing at Canal Park Brewing, a re-play of the Homegrown Video Festival kicked off at the Red Herring Lounge, repeating a few times for stragglers. At Sir Ben’s, psych rockers Paper Parlor, who’d failed to sign up for the festival in time, did a pop-up show outside on the sunny patio.
Sadly, Lowland Laker Haley Rydell was stranded somewhere between Milwaukee and Duluth, leaving Nate Case to carry on as a solo act back at Canal Park Brewing. He performed some of their tunes, but also took the opportunity to slip in one he said he keeps trying to get the rest of the band on board with but that they’re not so sure about.
Case stuck around to perform, along with Tyler Dubla and Marc Gartman, behind Teague Alexy to close out the afternoon in Canal Park. Alexy, who remarked that doing a Sunday show was a new experience for him, led the crew through a set of his folksy rock tunes, throwing in a few stellar harmonica solos. Remember that Homegrown 2018 guitar we saw him carrying around on Saturday? Turns out it was a prop to symbolize the end of the festival; after balancing it on one hand and triumphantly raising it high for the crowd, Alexy smashed it, bringing the official Homegrown 2018 to a fitting end.
The most dedicated headed up to the Red Herring for one final hurrah (really, it’s the last one, we mean it this time) as the Silk Sheiks played their traditional post-Homegrown chill-out set.
As we say goodbye to Homegrown: The 20th Anniversary Edition, with its secret shows, performance art shenanigans, laser light displays, coordinated clothing schemes cooked up by the Homegrown committee (kicking off with “wear gold” night), and of course, dozens of amazing performances, we can’t help wondering what the next twenty years have in store. We can’t wait to find out.
This Homegrown Week on KUMD is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
