As far as Homegrown dress-up themes go, Western Wednesday often has the biggest buy-in. Loads of folks donned duds as if they’d just stepped out of the prairie or off the saddle as the festival descended on West Duluth, with a slowly moving stampede of cowboys, cowgirls, cows, and even horses making their way from venue to venue.
Harking back to Homegrown founder Starfire's speech from Day 1, there were numerous "glimmers" throughout the night, like old friends reconnecting and the discovery of a new favorite band.
Earlier in the week someone realized that the heads of the squeaky plastic chickens Starfire had passed out could be swapped, leading to fans in the crowd exchanging, say, a blue head for a red head, creating multi-colored Frankenchickens. Fans continued to carry their chickens around and squeak them as a form of applause throughout the festival.
Wussow’s reached capacity in a hurry ahead of the 2026 Blue Ox Virtual Band Competition winner Cigarette Picnic. The trio gathered around an old-school area mic to perform songs that flirted with a smoky, folksy sound that fell somewhere between Adele and Sarah Shook. Other than wild applause between songs, the audience seemed to have silently bought into an agreement that no one would whisper, cough, take a phone call, etc.
At the West Theatre, the Owls Club Big Band may have finally found the perfect venue to truly showcase their danceable big band sound. The group's 17 members fit comfortably on the theatre stage, although the venue could not comfortably fit everyone who wanted in, with a long line snaking down the sidewalk outside.
One Homegrown volunteer at the door, tasked with keeping the venue within capacity, sympathized with a patron trying to persuade her to loosen her one-in one-out restriction. "I'm trying to be a hard ass," she said, "but I forgot that I have glitter on my face."
The comforting quiet that started the night at Wussow’s changed when ¡Radical Fun Time! took the stage for a fast as lightning, loud as thunder kind of set. The politically-inspired punk trio blasted through about a dozen songs in roughly 25 minutes, hitting on topics from pipeline projects to police brutality.
On Westside Wednesday, with so many bands sporting cowboy hats or boots, it's fun to play the game "Is this an actual country band?" before an act has played a note. Usually the answer is no, but in the case of Ricky Carl, the answer was a resounding yes. Carl introduced his backing band as two members of mathcore band Southpaw and a member of jam band the Jambronis; the versatile musicians were pure country for their lively set backing Carl on originals and covers.
The family and friends band #theindianheadband's mission statement involves taking songs by or about Native Americans that may now be seen as cringe and re-making them for modern times. A timely example from their set at the West Theatre turned "YMCA" by the Village People, a band that featured a performer dressed as a stereotypical Indian, into "BWCA," with lyrics about protecting the water.
With folk and punk in the rearview mirror, Wussow’s proved to be the most diverse musical venue of the night by concluding with jazz fusion. The five-piece troupe Theory of Light brought freewheeling instrumentation to an enthusiastic crowd. At one point an audience member inquired about the name of one of the instruments. “It’s an EWI,” said Aaron O’Connor, who had just set down his trumpet for something that might have been stolen from the Star Wars Cantina band. O’Connor went on to clarify that EWI is an acronym for Electric Wind Instrument.
Minnesota Vice started the night for Kom-on-Inn with an energetic set. They got the crowd to do a call and response, chanting "'sota!" with the response "Vice!" One jokester in the crowd tried to change it to "'sconsin!" but was met with boos. More and more people trickled into the venue as the set went on.
At the Gopher, Sometime, Maybe played a set of swoony, melodic indie rock with male and female vocals meshing beautifully.
Music at Mr. D's got underway with A Band Called Truman! It was a very fun and high energy ska-flavored hootenanny within the packed house.
Another band that seemed made for the West Theatre's spacious stage was Woodblind Jubilee Super Big Band, with core members Jason Wussow and Veikko Lepisto backed by a full band and specials guests Teague Alexy and Jen West. Like many Homegrown bands, they slipped a new song into their set. "Let's see how it goes, " said Wussow.
Back at Kom-on-Inn, heads were bangin’ and feet stompin’ for the heavy drums-and-guitar duo Dirt Magnet.
Back at the Gopher Lounge, Willem Dafoe Fan Club delivered an atmospheric, mesmerizing set. Someone in the crowd had a bubble gun pumping out a shower of tiny bubble that added to the magic of the moment. Frontman Noah Ruona, dressed for a hybrid Western / Scottish theme, introduced one tune with, "This next song is about Hollis [the band's drummer and vocalist]. She’s also the one who got me this kilt in Scotland."
Back at Mr. D's the Homegrown hootenanny was now nearing mosh pit levels. The driving guitar and bass shoved a sonic wall of metal through everyone inside and probably outside, too. This was a show where earplugs were a must and sweat flung from countless random, stomping bodies could be expected.
Midnight Kissfight got the crowd moving for their performance back at Kom-on-Inn. The gentlest mosh pit ever started on the floor, picking up as the set went on. Their setlist included "Fool Out of Me" and "Something Smart" from their recent EP, plus a song introduced as "this one's on the setlist as 'Kaylee's new one," referencing the band's Kaylee Matuszak.
Father Hennepin closed the night at Mr. D's with most of the band and some audience members sporting trucker hats with the group's initials on them that Starfire had passed out. Remaining Homegrown fans congregated in the last venue of the night, filling it up for a laid back mix of familiar tunes from the band's catalog, a new song, and covers including "She Thinks I Still Care." They ended the night with their signature covers of "I Like it in Duluth" and Neil Young's "Homegrown." It was a feel-good end to the mid-week.
Coming up:
Thursday is Superior night, with all venues in Superior, Wisconsin and the DTA trolley running between them.
One change from previous years is that the Cedar Lounge, instead of hosting Homegrown bands, has a show with Duluthian Alan Sparhawk and his solo band, making it Homegrown-adjacent.
