Day 6 of the Duluth Homegrown music festival was a busy night, with fire marshals keeping close tabs on things and lines out the door at several venues.
Homegrown expanded to the Lakeside neighborhood for the first time, with new venue Spirit of the Lake Community Arts, in the building that formerly housed Lester Park United Methodist Church. It attracted folks from the neighborhood who were delighted to be able to walk from home to a Homegrown show for the first time to enjoy the music as well as a Homegrown-themed art show and pop up food vendors.
Born Too Late, playing as a duo, took full advantage of the wonderful acoustics of the former church as they became the first band ever to perform at the venue.They announced that this was their 9th Homegrown; they started performing as kids and are now young adults. Their set included songs from their new Terrible Twos album as well as a cover of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me, Babe." There were many kids in the audience, and the duo invited them onstage while they played "The Apple Song;" the eight or so children stayed on stage for the rest of the set.
While music was getting underway at the easternmost venue of the festival, it was simultaneously happening at Wussow's Concert Cafe, the westernmost venue where the Penny Peaches performed songs from their Good For Me album.
Next up at Spirit of the Lake was The Langertsons, another group that, like Born Too Late, has been playing Homegrown since they were very young, giving audiences a chance to watch them grow and mature as musicians through the years.
At Sacred Heart Music Center, duo the Trash Cats performed, mentioning that they've been a band for ten years. They included some fun covers including Green Day's "She," Pink Floyd's "Brain Damage" (in honor of their performance for Duluth Does Pink Floyd in that same venue), and Bastille's "Pompeii," which turned into an audience sing-along.
Next up at Sacred Heart, Saltydog kept the full venue grooving throughout their set,
Sir Benedict's Tavern had never been more club-like than when it started its Homegrown Friday night with a performance by DJ ADUB. The crowd amassed in the small space in front of the stage showed no notable enthusiasm… until a “sandy” mash-up turned the tide; the performer blended “Enter Sandman” by Metallica with “Sandstorm” by Darude to get the place jumping.
Acoustic folk-punk duo Campfire Tranarchist played to a full house at the Owl’s Club. “Nothing is sacred,” said the group’s Bee Goldskye before they launched into what they said was their most popular song, which takes aim at revered Minnesota musician Bob Dylan. Their cheeky irreverance was refreshing, and, as always, Rhea Goldskye's guitar skills drew appreciative cheers.
A packed house at the Zeitgeist Theatre was a no-doubter with the Gemstones on the schedule. Just a few bars into their opening song, the over-capacity audience was responding with cheers for their all-originals set.
he brooding improvisation of Anatomy of Ruminants opened up the evening at Carmody. "We practiced maybe an hour" said lead vocalist Tina Fox before the band proceeded to open with Technotronic’s “Pump Up the Jam” – which was just a sound check. The band then entered into a dark dreamscape of vocals, bass, and synthesized sounds.
Young trio Willem Dafoe Fam Club, playing their second Homegrown, wrapped up the night on Sacred Heart's altar stage.
Playing songs from their recently released EP War: Brought to You By Our Sponsors, Deep Fake Five took their well-crafted, hard rock tunes to the stage at R.T. Quinlan’s. And similarly to Junkyard Mule from the night before, who threw circular stickers into the audience, Deep Fake Five distributed actual frisbees that featured the band’s logo.
At the Moorish Room in Greysolon Plaza, Sadkin’s Max Mileski remarked on the lavish surroundings of the space. “Check out my chandelier,” he said after raising his hand and accidentally brushing the fancy light fixture directly above him. They tested out a new song on the audience, and it turned out to be a slice of synth-rock perfection.
Even after being told that no one would be permitted to enter for at least 30 minutes, a line formed out the door at Blacklist just before Baharat took the stage. The venue was over capacity, disappointing some festival-goers and leading others to muse about what bigger venue Baharat might be playing at Homegrown 2026.
Greg Cougar Conley’s seven-piece band came onstage wearing matching white western shirts with glittering designs. Conley has been in a myriad of Twin Ports rock bands through the years and once released a soul album, but you’d never know from the band’s complete commitment to a classic country sound that he hadn’t spent his music career in that genre.
Playing their first Homegrown Music Festival (though not their first Homegrown event – the band played the Winter Fiasco band in January) Old Love closed out Sir Ben’s to a full-house. Typically a trio, the band added a drummer to give their already lively folk tunes a bit of an energetic push during the late night time slot.
Dubh Linn on a Friday night is packed with 20-somethings; add Homegrown on top of that and it can be a challenge to squeeze through the crowd and into the back room where the action was. Those who managed the feat were treated to a set from bluegrass band Tin Can Gin, recently reunited and clearly having a blast, as was the audience. They closed their set with a fitting original for Homegrown, “Duluth.”
Back at the Moorish Room, the ambient, ethereal, esoterics sounds of Zeta Carinae filled the room. Dancers in black flowy outfits popped up, flash mob style, to move along to a song that included snippets of the melody of "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."
At Pizza Luce, Mara Lovejoy combined theatrics and loud rock in a set that included originals and a cover of Chappell Roan's "Red Wine Supernova."
Back at the Moorish Room, Homegrown veterans Superior Siren took the stage, introducing their new, fifth member Erin Aldridge.
Venus de Mars and All the Pretty Horses rocked well past midnight at R.T. Quinlan's, with the riffs getting harder as the set wore on.
Instrumental post-rock stalwarts Portrait of a Drowned Man ended the night at Pizza Luce; they're planning a new album in 2025.
