June 30, 2019
One of the best festivals out there is one you might not have heard of, Des Moines’ own 80/35, coming Friday & Saturday, July 12th & 13th:
FRIDAY, JULY 12th
| Hy-Vee Main Stage Elle King, 9:30 PM – 10:45 PM Songstress Elle King (QRO photos at a festival) encompasses country, soul, rock, and blues. She headlines the first day of 80/35 behind last year’s sophomore full-length, Shake the Spirit. She’s also, randomly, actor Rob Schneider’s daughter… |
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| Metric, 7:00 PM – 8:15 PM Is it wrong to resent a band for finally getting breakthrough success? That question is always at the heart of any discussion regarding Toronto based band Metric (QRO live review), as the quartet (QRO live review) has done pretty well for themselves (QRO live review). 2009’s Fantasies (QRO review) earned them a couple of Juno awards, as well as short listing for the prestigious Polaris Prize, two Canadian awards the band certainly no stranger to (QRO photos at a Canadian festival), and 2012’s Synthetica (QRO review) took them even higher, racking up Junos. While they may be one of the more mainstream acts in indie today (QRO live review), they are undeniably a charismatic take on the pop/punk genre (QRO photos at a festival), and their growing fan base (QRO live review) reflects this over and over again (QRO photos) – including playing Radio City Music Hall (QRO live review at Radio City) and more (QRO live review). Always a safe bet to tear up any stage (QRO live review), Metric (QRO photos) comes to 80/35 (QRO photos at a festival) behind last year’s Art of Doubt (QRO review) and 2015’s Pagans In Vegas (QRO review). The band (QRO live review outdoors), fronted by singer/songstress extraordinaire – and your indie-rock crush – Emily Haines (QRO solo live review) is entirely capable of winning over the indie purist in all of us (QRO photos outdoors at a festival) with songs from Doubt singles “Dark Saturday” & Pagans’ “The Shade” to Synthetica’s own “Youth Without Youth” (QRO review) & team-up with Lou Reed “The Wanderlust” (QRO video with Reed), to Fantasies” “Sick Muse” (QRO video) & “Stadium Love” (QRO video), to older numbers like “Dead Disco” (QRO video), “Handshakes” (QRO video), “Help I’m Alive” (QRO video) & “Monster Hospital” (QRO video). |
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| Yungblud, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM Though he first got notice for dating pop star Halsey and releasing single “11 Minutes” with her and Blink-182’s Travis Barker, Doncaster’s Dominic Harrison has since made his own name as Yungblud. |
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Kum & Go Stage Lissie, 8:30 PM – 9:15 PM Things have been on the up swing for Rock Island, Illinois’ alt-country songstress Lissie (QRO spotlight on). Elisabeth Corrin Maurs (QRO interview) had an enjoyable debut full-length in 2010 with Catching a Tiger (QRO review), and has kept it going (QRO live review), most recently with last year’s Castles. |
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| Murder By Death, 6:00 PM – 6:45 PM Murder By Death (QRO photos) have kept it up well since emerging out of college town Bloomington, Indiana. They’ve got a loyal fan base who will be out in force, while the band mixes between older material and tracks from last year’s The Other Shore, 2015’s, Big Dark Love, 2012’s Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon, and 2010’s Good Morning, Magpie (QRO review). |
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Nationwide Stage Closed Format presents Disco Demolition, 9:30 PM – 11:30 PM Joh Hoyer & Soul Colossal, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM MarKaus, 6:45 PM – 7:30 PM – QRO photos at 80/35 ‘17 Squirrel Flower, 5:45 PM – 6:30 PM Hex Girls, 5:00 PM – 5:30 PM |
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Gen Z Showcase Stage Queen Kenzie, 8:15 PM – 9:15 PM Plumero, 6:15 PM – 7:00 PM Jolie Seitz, 4:30 PM – 5:00 PM |
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IPR Live Sessions Stage Left Is West, 5:00 PM – 5:30 PM |
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SATURDAY, JULY 13th
| Hy-Vee Main Stage Portugal. The Man, 9:15 PM – 11:15 PM 80/35 draws from very farther up north with Alaska’s Portugal. The Man (QRO photos at a festival). The rambling grunge outfit garnered new fans with 2007 sophomore release Church Mouth (QRO review), and its unhinged alt-rock (QRO live review), though slipped somewhat since then, even while finally playing Europe (QRO photos at a European festival) and becoming a festival favorite (QRO photos at a festival). Their major label debut In the Mountain In the Cloud (QRO review) was more psych-lite, but they still bring it live (QRO live review), and even went Down Under (QRO photos at a festival) after 2013’s release of follow-up Evil Friends (QRO review), hitting both the festival circuit (QRO photos at a 2013 festival) and live gigs (QRO 2013 live review). They come to 80/35 (QRO photos at a festival) touring 2017’s hit Woodstock (QRO review), which has vaunted them in popularity (QRO photos at a 2018 festival) thanks to big hit, “Feel It Still”. |
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| MisterWives, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM Catch the excitable, electric indie-pop of MisterWives (QRO photos) as they come to 80/35 (QRO photos at a festival) behind 2017’s sophomore record, Connect the Dots (QRO review). |
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| Liz Phair, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM The alt-songstress Liz Phair (QRO photos) came up in the early nineties alternative music boom with her classic Exile In Guyville – and she’s still (QRO photos at a festival) the alt-nineties girl you fell in love with. |
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| Also: Dessa, 3:15 PM – 4:15 PM – QRO photos XL (Sadat X & El Da Sensei) w/ DJ Kaos, 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM And the Kids, 12:00 PM – 12:30 PM |
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Kum & Go Stage Open Mike Eagle, 8:15 PM – 9:00 PM Michael W. Eagle, a.k.a. Open Mike Eagle (QRO photos at a festival), has stretched from rapping to stand-up, including his recent Comedy Central show, New Negroes. |
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| The Beths, 6:00 PM – 6:45 PM New Zealand has a great tradition of indie-pop, from The Chills and Straitjacket Fits to today’s Beths. |
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| Also: The Harmaleighs, 4:15 PM – 4:45 PM Dressy Bessy, 2:30 PM – 3:00 PM – QRO photos Sidewalk Chalk, 12:30 PM – 1:15 PM |
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Nationwide Stage DJ RAJ & Friends, 9:30 PM – 11:30 PM 80/35 welcomes back India-by-way-of-Iowa DJ RAJ, now with Friends. |
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| The Envy Corps, 7:45 PM – 8:45 PM Ames’ own Envy Corps (QRO photos at 80/35 ’14) return to 80/35 (QRO photos at 80/35 ’11). |
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| Also: Lav.Ish, 6:45 PM – 7:30 PM Druids, 5:45 PM – 6:30 PM Crystal City, 4:45 PM – 5:30 PM The Other Brothers, 3:45 PM – 4:30 PM Dickie, 2:45 PM – 3:30 PM Younger, 1:45 PM – 2:30 PM Left Is West, 12:45 PM – 1:30 PM Lady Revel, 12:00 PM – 12:30 PM |
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Gen Z Showcase Stage Coldsaint, 8:15 PM – 9:15 PM Eleanorgrace, 6:15 PM – 7:00 PM Greta & Adaline Akers, 4:15 PM – 5:00 PM Girls Rock! DSM, 2:30 PM – 3:15 PM DMMC Summer Camps: Hip-Hop, 1:00 PM – 1:30 PM DMMC Summer Camps: Rock, 11:30 AM – 12:00 PM |
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