Friday, July 8, 2016

Other Sources: Free live music shows

"I want to see Iowa bands, but I don't know any.  And I'm afraid if I go to a show, they'll all suck! Then I'll have wasted my money!"

I have two things to say to you!

One - Don't be such a wimp! Most shows featuring local bands are only five dollars!

And two - There are a lot of places to check out local bands live for FREE!!

As I am writing this in my hometown of Des Moines, our arts festival - which featured 3 stages of music filled mostly by Iowa artists - was two weekends ago. Our town's annual Jazz in July - featuring local and national acts - is just beginning. And this weekend is 80/35 - featuring four stages with local and regional artists.

And you know what else is in common about these three besides the fact that they feature Iowa artists and bands? They're FREE! (Yes, 80/35 is not free, but those two stages are!)

I did a cursory look around Iowa on the internet to see what free festivals featuring local artists I could find. I put the ones I found below, but I'm sure I could find plenty more if I wanted to make the time.

It seems many towns and wineries have a free music series, where they have a local band play once a week for FREE. Also, many towns have local bands play at their town's festivals, again for FREE!

And to help you, below is a list of all the free music festivals and music series in Iowa that I found in my not very deep search! I'm sure you could find more and one near you if you don't see anything nearby on this list! So get out there and discover a band you're dying to see again!


The festival and series with free music that feature Iowa artists and bands (that I could find):

Ames
Roosevelt Summer Sundays Concerts
http://www.summersundays.org/

Ames
Maximum Ames Music Festival - certain events
http://maximumames.com/
http://maximumames.com/events/

Anamosa
Thursday Night Music in Wapsiana Park
Cedar Falls
Cedar Basin Jazz Festival
http://www.cedarbasinjazz.org/

Cedar Falls
Live to 9
http://liveto9.com/

Cedar Falls
Sturgis Falls Celebration
http://www.sturgisfalls.org/
http://www.sturgisfalls.org/Entertainment

Cedar Rapids
AsianFest

Cedar Rapids
Cedar Rapids BBQ Roundup

Cedar Rapids
Five Seasons Chamber Music Festival

Cedar Rapids
Make Music Cedar Rapids

Cedar Rapids
St Ludmila's Kolach Festival

Cedar Rapids
Three One Nine Music & Arts Festival
http://www.319fest.com/

Clear Lake
Lakeside DixieFest
http://showcase.netins.net/web/dixiefest/

Davenport
Celtic Festival and Highland Games
http://www.celtichighlandgames.org/
http://www.celtichighlandgames.org/pages/Performers

Davenport
Friday Live at 5
http://rivermusicexperience.org/Venues/Courtyard

Davenport
River Roots Live's Junior Jam Stage
http://www.riverrootslive.com/

Davenport
Street Fest
http://www.downtowndavenport.com/play/festivals/street-fest

Des Moines
80/35 Music Festival's Kum & Go Stage, Nationwide Stage, Generation Z Stage, and IPR Stage
http://2016.80-35.com/
http://2016.80-35.com/lineup.phtml

Des Moines
Des Moines Arts Festival
http://desmoinesartsfestival.org/
http://desmoinesartsfestival.org/livemusic/

Des Moines
Ingersoll Live
Downtown Friday Nights

Fort Dodge
Soldier Creek Winery's Sunday Vineyard Vibrations
http://dubuquearboretum.net/special-events/music-in-the-gardens/

Grinnell
Music in the Park
Iowa Arts Festival
Iowa City Jazz Festival
Iowa Soul Festival

Iowa City
Iowa Women's Music Festival
http://iwmf.weebly.com/

Iowa City
Mission Creek Festival - certain shows are free
http://www.missionfreak.com/

Iowa City
MusicIC

North Liberty
North Liberty Blues & BBQ

Solon
Beef Days

Swisher
Cedar Ridge Winery and Distillery's Bourbon & Blues Festival

West Branch
Hoover's Hometown Days

West Branch
Music on the Village Green

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