PHOTOS: Ian Munsick, George Birge At Bayfront Festival Park

It was a busy weekend of activities around the Twin Ports area, and one of the highlights for many was a country music show Saturday evening at Duluth's Bayfront Festival Park.

With the Sammy Kershaw show in Two Harbors for their Heritage Days Street Dance the night before and the Duluth Airshow's first day wrapping up earlier in the afternoon, Saturday evening it was time for music fans to enjoy three country music acts lakeside at Bayfront.

While it was still plenty warm and humid as festivities got underway at Bayfront, it was "perfect beer-drinking weather" as George Birge said pre-show in a backstage interview. That it was. That, and a perfect night for live music!

The first act of the evening's lineup was the Lydia Rose Band, from Park Rapids, Minnesota. Lydia warmed up the crowd with some fun country music covers and originals before it was time for George Birge to return to the Bayfront stage.

Birge made his Bayfront debut almost exactly 4 years prior, opening for Jake Owen for Bayfront Country Jam in July of 2022. Since then, Birge has gone on to score a few hits and make a name for himself.

Birge took the stage with his hit 'Mind On You' first on the setlist. He commented early on in his time on stage how Bayfront was "one of the coolest venues we've played all year". His performance sounded great, with George bouncing around the stage and interacting with the crowd.

His set included other popular songs of his like "It Won't Be Long", "Ride, Ride, Ride", and "Cowboy Songs" along with a little medley that included bits from songs "Beer in Mexico", "You Belong With Me", The Fireman", and "Live Like You Were Dying" along with a cover of crowd-pleasing cover of "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue".

George concluded his set telling fans from the stage "I love this place".

Earlier in the day on Saturday, Ian Munsick commented on social media that he hoped Duluth "likes fiddle in its country music". His fiddle player definitely brought the energy during his set, dancing around the stage the whole night with a big smile on his face.

Ian certainly wasn't shown up by his band, bringing a high level of energy showmanship to the stage through higher-tempo songs of his like "Stampede" and "I See Country". He also brought some emotion and relatability with his performances of songs like "More Than Me" and "Caroline", a song he wrote about his wife.

The performance of "Caroline" was part of a set of a few songs the band performed "bluegrass style", around a campfire prop. That set started with his song "Cowboy Killer", which while Munsick said some people argued wasn't country music, he said "playing it around a campfire next to the lake" in the bluegrass style made it all that much more country.

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A cover of Ozzy Osborne's "No More Tears" seemed to catch most in the crowd as a pleasant surprise, but his "Beef Medley" might have been the most surprising part of the performance.

During this piece of his set, Ian and his band performed bits of huge female pop songs, having the crowd vote by cheering for who won in each round of "beef", from that of Britney Spears vs. Christina Aguilera, Katy Perry vs. Taylor Swift, and Camila Cabello vs. Sabrina Carpenter. The band and crowd equally seemed to have fun with the bit.

In all, Munsick's performance brought more of the "western" part of "country & western music" to Duluth. And the crowd thoroughly enjoyed it.

Here are photos from Saturday night's show! Tap on any photo to see it larger, and then you can also page through them in full-screen mode if you'd like.