Artist and emcee Royce Barnett is ready to close out this chaotic trip round the sun with an appropriately explosive event: an extra special two-day edition of THE FESTIVAL SHOW.

Better known as Crunk Chocolate of podcast Stuck in The Middle, Barnett launched THE FESTIVAL SHOW series in late 2019. At the time, the program’s goals included promoting local artists and creating the kind of microcosmic community one finds at a multi-day music festival.

Barnett maintained these goals as live music and venues suffered through the bulk of 2020. He began streaming each edition of THE FESTIVAL SHOW, which has become a lifeline of sorts for many live music fans and performers. The format has generally been the same: Five different performers of five different genres share a (virtual) stage while visual artists embellish the festival vibe.

But this Dec. 26 and 27, the series that has been with us throughout this fucked up year becomes THE FESTIVUS SHOW. It’s literally 10 times larger, streaming from 11 different locations around the Quad Cities: Abernathy’s, Cavort, Crafted QC, Cru Bottle Shop, the Drawing Room, Fat Sacks, Kilkenny’s Pub, Source Bookstore, Taste of Ethiopia, Theo ‘n Company and Unimpaired Dry Bar are each hosting a performance.

“A lot of young creative owners are bringing one-of-a-kind businesses here,” Barnett said. He hopes this special edition of the show will give people the opportunity to get to know some of those local business owners and support their shops.

THE FESTIVUS SHOW (that is indeed a reference to zeitgeist cornerstone Seinfeld) will stick with its festival aesthetic. Performers include local groups Giallows and Pollinators. Poet Aubs. will show us why he’s called the Sensei of Syllables. King Supr3m3 is back! FoamFoolery will be there with puppets. Puppets! DJ K Yung, Angela Meyer, Molly Duran, Alyx Rush, CJ Parker: Crunk is giving us a big show.

And tickets are free! You just need to register to get the link for the show on Vimeo.

Thoughts? Tips? A cute picture of a dog? Share them with LV » editor@littlevillagemag.com