A couple of months ago, we learned that Eaux Claires, the festival founded by Bon Iver's Justin Vernon and the National's Aaron Dessner, is returning this year. For years, the festival brought extremely cool one-off lineups to Vernon's Eau Claire, Wisconsin hometown. The festival took 2019 off, and the pandemic made the planned 2020 edition impossible. Finally, though, Eaux Claires is coming back for the first time in eight years, and the lineup is out now.
As widely rumored, Eaux Claires has a new home. It goes down July 24-25 at Eau Claire's Carson Park baseball stadium. Interestingly enough, Bon Iver is not on the bill for this year's festival. However, the post does feature something called "Bon Dylan." What could that be? Is it Justin Vernon covering Bob Dylan? Is it him playing with Bob Dylan? Is it some other thing? We don't know!
The Eaux Claires bill features a bunch of names that you'll probably recognize. It's a stylistically diverse crew that includes a number of people who have worked with Justin Vernon, this year's sole curator. Bigger names include Dijon, Lil Yachty, Kevin Morby, Daniel Caesar, Hotline TNT, Gully Boys, and the team of Julianna Barwick and Mary Lattimore. Aimee Mann will perform her 2000 album Bachelor No. 2 Or, The Last Remains Of The Dodo in full.
There's plenty of other stuff on the bill that you won't see on too many other festival posters. That includes Black Sabbath Cover Band Rehearsal, the all-star good-time tribute act with a lineup that includes Angel Deradoorian, Greg Fox, Yeah Yeahs' Nick Zinner, Interpol's Brad Truax, and Krallice's Mick Barr. Urban Classic Presents Revelation, a group of veteran Minneapolis musicians, will play "a retrospective of the Minneapolis sound," which should also be extremely fun.
New Orleans will be represented in the form of funk/R&B group Jon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen and zydeco group Nathan & The Zydeco Cha Chas. Longtime Justin Vernon collaborator Phil Cook will play with the Union, a band that he recently produced. The Larry Goldings Trio, a jazz combo, will play with bassist David Piltch and drummer Beth Goodfellow. The bill also includes Wisconsin acts Bizhiki, Gash, and Monica Martin.
For the first time ever, Eaux Claires will also feature a group of Writers In Residence doing readings, discussions, and collaborations. That group includes Michael Perry, Sheila Heti, Hala Alyan, Sean Thor Conroe, Kyle Seibel, Jon Mueller, Nicholas Gulig, Harold Rogers, Mike Nagel, Benjamin Percy, Nishant Jain, Mustafa, Safia Elhillo, Patrycja Humienik, Brent Schoonover, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Brenda Cárdenas, Katie Ka Vang, Adam Voith, Avery Gregurich, Donika Kelly, and my homegirl Amanda Petrusich. On top of that, Justin Vernon is promising "fair activities and added fun across Carson Park," as well as other events coming to town during the surrounding days.
Justin Vernon revealed the lineup in an announcement party last night, and he's offering locals the chance to get the first tickets. They're available right now, with special access codes only available at a few small businesses in Eau Claire. Here's the list:
The Local Store: 9AM - 9PM
Leona's Pizzeria: 12PM - 2PM/4PM
Revival Records: 10AM - 6PM
Abraxas Wax: 11AM - 7PM
The Joynt: 1PM - 2AM
Racy D'Lenes Coffee Lounge: 8AM - 2PM
Specially fan presale tickets go on sale tomorrow at 9AM CST, and the rest of the tickets go on sale at 11AM. Sign up here.
