Recap & Photos: Justin Vernon and friends build a field of dreams on day one of Eaux Claires Festival 2026
by Luke Taylor and Laura Buhman
July 25, 2026
Eaux Claires Festival is back, and it has loaded the bases. After an eight-year hiatus, the cadre of musicians and artists in the orbit of Justin Vernon have put together a two-day event that celebrates music, writers, and the culture of Wisconsin’s Chippewa Valley. Walking around the festival grounds before the music started, it was common to hear attendees greeting one another with reciprocated calls of “Happy Eaux Claires.”
Formerly held at a campground beyond the city limits, the newly constituted Eaux Claires brings the festival right into the center of the city of Eau Claire, although at a carefully selected location that remains a place apart. Surrounded by pines and encircled by the oxbow Half Moon Lake sits Carson Park, a 1930s-constructed baseball stadium aligned next to a gridiron football field. Both are still used for those purposes, and the facilities’ expansive space and adjoining stadium seating absorbed the throngs of music fans on day one of Eaux Claires 2026 in a way that created community but never felt overwhelming or overcrowded.
Thematically, Vernon and company have fully embraced the baseball setting, from the pennant-festooned event where the newly hatched festival was announced, to the preview radio program (dubbed “Eaux Claires Spring Training”) to the fact the PA announcer, Paul Schommer, for the Northwoods League’s Eau Claire Express, was hired to make announcements during the festival itself. From his perch in the press box high above home plate at Carson Park, Schommer could feel the festival’s energy. “I think the purpose of any festival like this is bringing people together,” he said. “The theme for this year's festival is ‘more something for more everybody,’ so I think it's safe to say that the festival is trying to cater to a little bit of everybody, bring people together [in] positivity, community.”
Many festivalgoers also embraced the baseball theme by wearing baseball shirts and caps from various teams and leagues.
Baseball inspiration aside, music is unapologetically at the forefront at Eaux Claires. Producer Sarah Magill, who was cueing up tracks on a playlist carried on the stadium PA system, explained the playlist had been curated by Justin Vernon himself. “It's just very cool how everything at this festival has been really thought through,” Magill said. “People who really care about this town and this community have made every single detail, from the playlist as you walk in to all the art installations, everything. It's beautiful.”
One of Minnesota’s most ardent fans of live music, Kyle Matteson. Matteson, who had never missed an Eaux Claires in its previous incarnation, was delighted at the festival’s return. “I've heard that they always wanted to do one in [Eau Claire] all along, so this feels like what they envisioned originally, rather than a big camping festival,” Matteson said. “I think this setup seems great, the branding's really cool, and it's like it's going to be a good vibe.”
And with day one’s lineup billed as Dylan Jennings + Bizhiki, Hotline TNT, The Union with Phil Cook, Black Sabbath Cover Band Rehearsal, Jon Cleary & the Absolute Monster Gentlemen, Aimee Mann; a slot formerly held by Kevin Morby now listed simply and somewhat cryptically as “Bon,” a slot formerly held by Lil Yachty now occupied by Aaron & Fred, and the slightly mysterious Bon Dylan, music fans were in for some surprises.
Dylan Jennings + Bizhiki
The first act to perform on day one got its start at the very first Eaux Claires, held back in 2015. Bizhiki formed when Ojibwe singers Dylan Jennings and Joe Rainey met at that inaugural festival and began collaborating with S. Carey and others; their album Unbound released in 2024.
Throwing out the first pitch, if you will, from the baseball stage at Eaux Claires 2026, Jennings (vocals, hand drum), Rainey (vocals) and Carey (drums) were joined by Steve Garrington (bass), Ben Lester (keys), Mike Lewis (sax), Jeremy Ylvisaker (guitar), and by Ojibwe dancers. The music blends Indigenous powwow singing with rock and hip-hop elements.
Welcoming the crowd back to Eaux Claires, Jennings gave a blessing that declared the sacredness of the land, sky and water, and of the people gathered there, at “a place where our ancestors spent many generations taking care of these lands, taking care of these waters, and respecting all orders of creation, they told us to remember to take care of all those things that we've been entrusted with, from the four-leggeds, to the ones that swim, to the ones that fly, to all those ones that help to give us life, each and every one of us.”
Bizhiki encouraged audience participation and unity; they asked audience members to turn to the person on their left and greet them with the Ojibwe, Boozhoo, then to embrace the person on their right and to say “I love you” in Ojibwe: Gizhawenimin. The message of love and stewardship was further punctuated by Bizhiki’s performance of “She’s All We Have,” a song Jenning says he sings to his children, with lyrics that call for the care and restoration of the land.
Bizhiki concluded their set by leading the entire audience in a huge, round dance that encircled the entire outfield, everyone joining hands and dancing in unison.
From the start, Bizhiki made clear Eaux Claires day one would be a special day.
Hotline TNT
New York-based band Hotline TNT were up next, shifting the crowd’s attention to the gridiron stage. Frontman Will Anderson proudly shared his Wisconsin bona fides, sharing that his hometown is nearby Chippewa Falls. “It’s good to be back in Eau Claire once again,” he said.
That said, Hotline TNT wear their love of Seattle grunge firmly on their sleeves. With a set list that included tracks from their 2025 album, Raspberry Moon, Hotline TNT’s crushing guitars and driving drums invite comparisons to Nirvana.
From stage, Hotline TNT constantly showed their gratitude for the festival slot, the weather, and the highly engaged audience. “We couldn’t ask for a better crowd,” Anderson said.
The Union feat. Phil Cook
Singers Leslie Gardner and Simone Appleby anchor The Union, and musician Phil Cook (whose roots are in Eau Claire but who is now based in North Carolina) produced their 2025 album, Eclectic. The music and lyrics are unabashedly gospel, and the performance was praiseworthy in more ways than one.
Their spirited performance on the baseball stage delivered a rollicking take on faithful devotion, filled with uplift and joy. The set included tracks from Eclectic, including the reminiscent “There Was a Time” and the inspirational “99 and a Half Won’t Do,” plus covers including the Staple Singers’ “Freedom Highway” and Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend.”
With harmonious vocals, shimmering organ, powerful backbeat and driving guitar, it’s possible to hear in The Union’s gospel music the origins of so many forms of American music: jazz, blues, R&B, rock ‘n’ roll, bluegrass, soul, disco, and hip-hop.
The sheer joy in The Union’s music is palpable. If the word “gospel” means good news, then The Union delivered the news — and it was good.
Black Sabbath Cover Band Rehearsal
Over on the gridiron stage, New York-based Black Sabbath Cover Band Rehearsal were next. The five-piece devotees of Black Sabbath play the music completely in earnest, while the attitude is one of fun and frivolity. Between songs, the band members maintain they are only rehearsing. At one point when the guitarists were tuning, frontperson Angel Deradoorian, who naturally sings all the Ozzy parts, kept the audience entertained by naming NFL teams following a circuitous geographical pattern across the U.S.
BSCBR are clearly good musicians (they are members of other bands including Interpol and Yeah Yeah Yeahs), but the connection to Eaux Claires wasn’t necessarily obvious. “Our first guitar player is actually from Minneapolis, Jeremy Ylvisaker,” Deradoorian explained backstage following the band’s set.
The group initially came together in 2018, when Deradoorian met Ylvisaker, Greg Fox and Nick Zinner at People Residency in Berlin. They decided to form a Black Sabbath cover band, and it came together in two hours. Because the band is based in New York, a new guitarist was found to replace Ylvisaker for practical reasons. Eight years in, BSCBR continue to book and sell out gigs.
“Being in this band has been a really amazing experience of just channeling heavy metal music and just not having any kind of attachment to it, no ego attachment, anything like that,” Deradoorian said. “This band is all about just having fun and making jokes with each other all the time, and that's how we intend to keep it: very, very loose. ‘Rehearsal’ is in the name for a reason.”
It’s not Deradoorian’s only project; Deradoorian and Greg Fox play Berlin nightclub in Minneapolis on Monday, July 27. And BSCBR weren’t the only cover band to capture the attention and imagination of Eaux Claires attendees on Friday. More on that later.
Jon Cleary & the Absolute Monster Gentlemen
Back on the baseball stage, it was time for a New Orleans-style good time, and Jon Cleary & the Absolute Monster Gentlemen held nothing back. The five-piece band — Cleary on keys (and guitar on a couple), Aaron Narcisse on tenor sax, Thomas Glass on drums, Charlie Halloran on trombone and Cornell Williams on bass — lit up the stage with their raucous, celebratory music that transported the Carson Park crowd to the Crescent City.
The band’s latest album is 2025’s The Bywater Sessions, and their set included songs from it, including “Boneyard,” the tribute “Fessa Longhair Boogaloo,” and the playfully rude “Zulu Coconuts” and “Pickle for a Tickle.”
Silly though some of the lyrics may be, the musicianship is top-notch, and right up close to stage, a large knot of under-21s were totally captivated, dancing and singing along. Also admiring Cleary and company’s set, watching from the wing at stage right, were bassist Steve Garrington from Bizhiki, and Justin Vernon.
Aimee Mann
Although there were some mysteries going into the day, the expectations for Aimee Mann’s set were unambiguous. Mann performed her 2000 album, Bachelor No. 2, in its entirety. Accompanied by guitarist/bassist Kimon Kirk, drummer John Sands, guitarist Michael Lockwood (who played on the album) and keyboardist Jamie Edwards, Mann gave the audience an annotated Bachelor No. 2, providing stories behind each of the songs, including tracks that initially became popular through their inclusion in the soundtrack for the 1999 film, Magnolia. Mann’s fans showed up big time, and they ate it up.
Among them was Joe Tomter of Milwaukee. Tomter frequently travels for work, but he wasn’t going to miss Mann’s set at Eaux Claires; he flew from Louisville to Chicago to Eau Claire just to see Mann, his first time seeing her live. “I became a fan because of Magnolia,” Tomter explained. “When I was going through some tough stuff in my life as a senior in high school, the Magnolia soundtrack and Bachelor No. 2 two really helped me through some stuff. It was important to be here.”
“I think Aimee hears a fair amount of that,” affirmed guitarist/bassist Kimon Kirk backstage after the set. “A certain record or certain songs resonated for people very deeply when they were going through something difficult or something like that.
“It was nice to see people out there singing along,” Kirk added.
Bon
A slot initially set for Kevin Morby was revisited when parental duties took precedence after the birth of Morby and his partner Katie Crutchfield’s child. The slot in the Friday lineup was labeled simply “Bon” with the note “(30),” and a massive, expectant crowd gathered on the covered outfield at Carson Park to see what would transpire. Atmospheric music wafted over the audience until 15 minutes after the published set time, at which point Wisconsin writer and musician Michael Perry made a droll announcement making clear that, contrary to rumor, he is not the uncle of Justin Vernon. Perry then acknowledged the slot was initially Morby’s, congratulated Morby on his growing family, and then Justin Vernon walked out on stage, solo, with an acoustic guitar.
What followed demonstrated Vernon is clearly a good friend to Morby and a good friend to his audience. He’s also a good curator; seeing a slot needed to be filled, Vernon filled it. And he began by respectfully starting his set with a cover of Morby’s song “Die Young.” Then it became a Bon Iver solo set, with “Beach Baby,” “Flume” and “Speyside.” Seeing Vernon alone onstage playing “Flume” while bathed in the light of the setting sun conjured memories of Rock the Garden 2008, when Bon Iver, as an emerging artist, was that festival’s opening act.
Vernon next played an unreleased song written in tribute to the late John Prine, its guitar playing and lyrical theme echoing Prine’s own stylings. After a performance of “re:Stacks,” Vernon closed the set with a performance of his For Emma -era unreleased song, “Hayward, WI,” its lyrical imagery stirring powerful emotional reactions among many in the audience.
Aaron & Fred
This lineup slot had originally belonged to Lil Yachty, but the Atlanta artist had to decline after being booked at a festival in Germany the same week. Filling in were festival co-curator Aaron Dessner and English DJ and producer Fred Gibson, aka Fred Again. The two begin their set with a reinterpretation of the 2024 Fred Again track, “Ten.”
Speaking to the audience, Gibson acknowledged he took the stage while still wiping tears following Bon Iver moving solo set. He also said it was his first time playing Eaux Claires, and that he and Dessner would also be playing several of their songs for the first time. “This is something we made specifically for here,” Gibson said, adding to the special nature of the set and the setting.
Aaron & Fred brought the rave to Eaux Claires with pulsating, percussive beats that got the large crowd bopping and raising their hands in unison. Fred Again’s heavy beats were augmented by Dessner’s guitar textures, and adding further breadth to the mix, Aaron & Fred welcomed the New York sax-and-cello duo KatzPascale — Sammi Katzmann and Jenna Pascale, respectively — to the stage for further instrumentation. On a performance of “Come On,” which Gibson announced had never been played live, Pascale put down her cello to contribute additional vocals.
Gibson gave a shout-out to UW-Eau Claire’s Scofield Auditorium, clearly a pre-fest rehearsal space for the group, adding, “Thank you to Justin, thank you to the beautiful city of Eau Claire.”
Added Dessner, “This feels like home.”
Bon Dylan
From its announcement, “Bon Dylan” was described as “not a typo,” and it was surmised very early on that this would likely be a Bob Dylan cover band with Vernon at its nucleus, an inkling that was confirmed in April. And as much as Eaux Claires is known for surprises, Bob Dylan himself was in the middle of back-to-back nights at Wolf Trap in Virginia, so a surprise Robert Zimmerman appearance could be ruled out.
But that was totally OK. What followed was an impassioned set of 16 Dylan covers by a stunning collection of musicians: Vernon on vocals and guitar, JT Bates and S. Carey each on a drum kit, Ben Lester on lap steel, Phil Cook and John Pieter on keys, Jeremy Ylvisaker on guitar, Mike Lewis on bass, and four additional vocalists: JP Brooks, Camaja Byrd, Katira Lutterman and Courtland Pickens.
Standouts from the stellar set include a fresh take on “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” and a propulsive “Tangled Up in Blue” that featured Phil Cook on harmonica. S. Carey provided lead vocals on two cuts from Nashville Skyline: “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You” and “Lay, Lady, Lay.” Monica Martin from the Baraboo, Wisconsin, band PHOX, joined Vernon for an acoustic duet on “Spanish Boots of Spanish Leather,” and when the full band returned to stage, vocalist JP Brooks had a solo during “Shot of Love.”
Bon Dylan’s powerful take on “All Along the Watchtower,” highlighted by Bates’ tambourine work and Ylvisaker’s guitar licks, felt like a set closer, but the set concluded with a thought-provoking rendition of a thought-provoking song, “With God on Our Side.” After a full-band exit, Bon Dylan quickly returned to stage to perform “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” as the encore.
The performance invites comparisons to other noteworthy cover bands; namely the Black Sabbath Cover Band Rehearsal seen earlier in the day, but also to Michael Shannon, Jason Narducy and Friends Play R.E.M. The commonality is that all consist of awesome musicians playing music that they love. Given the popularity of BSCBR and Shannon, Narducy et al, not to mention the powerful response from the Eaux Claires crowd, we probably haven’t seen the last of Bon Dylan.
As the lights came up, music fans were serenaded out the gates by an instrumental version of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” But Eaux Claires is a double header; day one was a homerun, and music fans will look ahead expectantly at what’s on deck for Saturday.
