The Iowa City Jazz Festival kicks off at 5 p.m. on Friday as the city’s annual Summer of the Arts continues. Like all Summer of Arts festivals, the jazz fest is free and open to the public. The three-day music event in downtown Iowa City will feature local and international jazz artists and performances covering […]
Iowa City live music
Posted inCommunity/News
Gather under the gold dome Friday for euphonious euphoniums, hot cider and holiday cheer
A favorite bass-clef-based Iowa City tradition returns on Friday, as Holiday Tubas oompahs in the festive season on the steps of the Old Capitol. Robert Yeats, a University of Iowa music professor in the ’70s and founder of Holiday Tubas, called it “a lark” that became a tradition: brass musicians gathered to perform year after […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album review: KL!NG — ‘5 SONG SWEETIE PIE!’ EP
During the last gasps of August, KL!NG’s first EP came into the world, grew legs, and personified itself into a fun house. Think buckets of neon green paint, a ball pit, a wall-to-wall mirrored metallic bathroom and a projector dedicated to running continuous episodes of Twin Peaks.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Photo Gallery: Mission Creek Festival 2023
Mission Creek, the beloved three-day Iowa City festival focused on music and literature, returned on April 6-8 for its 18th year. Over 20 national and local music acts performed at various venues downtown across three days. The weekend saw performances by Cat Power, Black Belt Eagle Scout, Snail Mail, Kevin Morby, Greg Wheeler & The […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Q&A: Snail Mail talks break-ups, Paramore, gay ’80s fiction and the ‘sad girl’ stereotype ahead of Mission Creek
Lindsey Jordan’s music is sometimes soft and innocent, sometimes loud and gut-wrenching, but always heartfelt. In the six years since the release of her first EP, the singer-songwriter and guitarist has cultivated an intimate sound, reminiscent of bygone days. Jordan — performing under the name Snail Mail — started playing guitar at 5 years old. […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Photo Gallery: Elizabeth Moen and Annalibera at Gabe’s
One of Iowa City’s favorite homegrown musicians, Elizabeth Moen, performed to a full house upstairs at Gabe’s on Saturday, Nov. 26. Moen and her former Iowa City band, consisting of Dan Padley, Blake Shaw and David Hurlin, reunited for the evening on stage to celebrate the release of Moen’s new album Wherever You Aren’t. Moen […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Five questions with 3x Grammy-nominated Americana singer and writer Allison Russell
New today! Nov. 2: Allison Russell’s music video for “You’re Not Alone,” (Ft. Brandi Carlile) One of the most powerful, impressive voices in the Americana world is making a stop in Iowa City on tour for her debut record. Montreal-born Nashville resident Allison Russell is performing at the Englert on Sunday, Nov. 6, sharing songs […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
Video & Photo Gallery: Longfellow neighbors gather for the 2022 Front Porch Music Festival
One of Iowa City’s tightest-knit neighborhoods came together for an afternoon of local tunes on Sunday, Sept. 25. Performers of all abilities were invited to participate in the seventh annual Front Porch Music Festival — so long as they have a connection to the Longfellow community — making residents’ front porches and yards their stages. […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Lilacs and grieving form the central focus of MusicIC’s 2022 events
Ed Folsom first heard Walt Whitman’s “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” in 1963 on the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Folsom, now the Roy J. Carver Professor of English at the University of Iowa and editor of the Walt Whitman Quarterly Review, was in 11th grade at the time. He recounted […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Photo Gallery: Mission Creek Festival 2022
After two years of COVID-19 disruptions, Iowa City’s Mission Creek Festival returned to an in-person format this year. Thirty-five separate bands and musicians performed across three days, and 12 authors, as well as many other writers and poets, held readings, Q&As and conversations. The weekend saw packed performances by Beach Bunny, Soccer Mommy and Arooj […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Performers announced for the Iowa Arts Festival’s 40th year
The Summer of the Arts’ Iowa Arts Festival is back for its 40th year and will take place the first weekend in June in downtown Iowa City. Yesterday, festival organizers announced that they’re hosting roughly 90 visual artists and bringing in many national and local acts to perform on the free festival’s main stage. SOA’s national […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Brazilian metal superstars Sepultura are ready to blast our faces off at Wildwood
It’s finally here. This is NOT (we really, really hope this is NOT) a drill. First scheduled for that ill-fated month, March of 2020, and of course postponed, then rescheduled for March of 2021 and yet again postponed, Brazilian metal superstars Sepultura are finally coming through to blast our faces off at Wildwood on Tuesday […]
