I was pleasantly surprised with the music
scene all throughout RAGBRAI, and not from the typical sources.
The first few days were not too impressive:
Saturday, Day 0:
The musical act was Better Than Ezra. I likely would have attended this concert if it weren't for the only 3 hours sleep I had gotten each of the previous two nights. Not to worry though, they had the volume loud enough for everyone in our charter group's camp to hear it and be kept awake by it. Although I recognized a couple of their songs, their performance didn't sound good at all. Glad I skipped it.
Sunday and Monday:
I didn't hear anything out of the ordinary fare during the rides. I didn't care for the mainstage acts either night. The Monday one was washed out by rain and hail anyway.
Things got much better from Tuesday forward:
Tuesday:
No memorable bands from along the route.
The evening concert right on a bridge over the Des Moines River was a decent lineup of bands that have recently gotten back together. The headliner was Everclear, which I have never cared for, so I left before their act. I knew a few of the songs by Filter and Live, so I did see those acts. They were OK, but not spectacular rock bands. Nothing to complain about, other than the sound engineer must have been deaf since they had the volume loud enough to shake my chest.
Wednesday:
I'm not sure whether Wednesday or Thursday was the best day for music. Both days were spectacular!
Wednesday morning I rolled into the town of Runnells, not too far outside of the Des Moines metro area. Greeting us at the entrance was the SE Polk H.S. pep band. This was the best pep band I have ever heard. They had not just a great set list but also great arrangements. I stayed and listened to them for an hour. They barely had any down time, yet still sounded great. Only one song was repeated during that entire hour. They also had a great balance of instruments as well. Most high schools are overloaded with trumpets and clarinets and it just distorts the sound too much. This one actually represented the lower registers well.
I had another great musical experience later on when I rolled into Monroe. There was an exceptional blues rock band playing in the city square band shell. I wish I had caught their name. The only thing I know about them is that they are based out of Des Moines. I'll have to see if I can find them somewhere in the metro area sometime. I only caught half of the first set. I stuck around through the set break and then listened to the entire second set. Unfortunately, their time was up after that.
I didn't try to stick around for the main stage act that night; I walked by them, but wasn't interested in their sound. [Besides, I was in some pain and didn't want my muscles to tighten up, another teaser for another post]
That was about two and a half hours of great music that day.
Thursday:
I was not in a hurry at all in Pella on Thursday. I ate pancakes and sausages at a Central College student group's stand. I was in a calorie deficit still from the ride to Pella and from Wednesday, so I then stopped at the downtown square and went to the delicious Jaarsma Bakery for a couple Dutch letters. I found a nice place in the square to enjoy my second breakfast when I saw some musicians preparing for a jazz concert in the band shell. I stayed for quite a long time there as well. After that, I went and did some more touristy things around the Dutch windmill and "canal" area tourist traps and stumbled across a novel breakfast concept. Take a waffle cone, fill it three quarters of the way with scrambled eggs, then place small sausage balls, shredded cheese, and a little bit of maple syrup on top. On the sides, place two strips of chocolate covered bacon. Although it was interesting, I won't try that one again since it was too dry.
In the evening, in Oskaloosa, I was treated to another excellent concert. I barely had any down time on Thursday since the day was so packed with events. I had just gotten back to camp a few minutes before [got back from what you ask? - yep, another teaser]. A man driving a 15-passenger van came by our camp and inquired about people who wanted a ride to a local church that was serving a nice dinner. You had three choices for main entree, which is rare, and one of them was herb crusted, baked chicken. In addition, there was a baked potato, cut fruit, standard mixed salad, and pie. People from our camp filled that van very quickly. On RAGBRAI, dinners like that get people excited.
In the dining area, there was an advertisement for a concert that was going to start at about the time that we would be finished eating. A few of us were interested in attending it. The concert didn't quite start on time since there was a pastor who gave a predictable sermon first. It was about his first experiences with bicycles and how his biking progression has brought obstacles in his life and how he overcame them. Once that was over with, the concert began. I doubt this concert was advertised heavily, but it certainly was worthy of it.
The performers were a mid-twenties couple with a keyboard playing woman and guitar playing man. They go by the name of You Plus Me [I think. I am checking on this and will edit if need be]. They play what I would call adult contemporary. Most of their stuff was original, but they did perform an amazing cover of "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons. I had only heard that song as a hard baseline, heavy beat dance song before. The man's voice was decent, but the woman's was spectacular! In his introduction, the pastor mentioned they had gotten married within the past couple of months. You could tell that they were very much in love from some of the looks that they gave each other.
They were sheepishly introduced as being national recording artists since they had recently gone to Nashville to record some of their work. They currently reside right in Oskaloosa. I have no doubt that they have the potential to make it bigger if things fall their way.
Unfortunately, I was only able to stick around for about 5 songs since our group had to catch the shuttle back to the campground. I would have stuck around for the whole thing and bought their CD if I had the time. I'll have to try to find it online somewhere.
Friday:
In Part II, I mentioned there was a reason I didn't get into town until 5:15 that day. The reason was that I had spent 5 hours on the lawn of a nice acreage in the middle of the country, about 15 miles away from the end town of Fairfield. I stayed there from about 11:30 until 4:30 that day. There hadn't really been notable activities on Friday up until that time. What initially attracted me to this place was the long slip-and-slide. What kept me there was a good classic rock cover band called Hell For Stout.
I had fallen behind in my sleep throughout the week. I was really tired, so after the ride, and the 5 hours at one place, and the play in Fairfield, I didn't have the energy to stick around downtown for the main act, an 80's cover band. We were camped close enough to downtown to be able to hear it though. They had funny interpretations of everything. I just didn't have the energy. I fell asleep while listening to them, concluding a great day of RAGBRAI.
Saturday:
Nothing musically notable.
Summary:
It was a good week for music. I'd say that the best acts were the blues rock band and the adult contemporary group.
The first few days were not too impressive:
Saturday, Day 0:
The musical act was Better Than Ezra. I likely would have attended this concert if it weren't for the only 3 hours sleep I had gotten each of the previous two nights. Not to worry though, they had the volume loud enough for everyone in our charter group's camp to hear it and be kept awake by it. Although I recognized a couple of their songs, their performance didn't sound good at all. Glad I skipped it.
Sunday and Monday:
I didn't hear anything out of the ordinary fare during the rides. I didn't care for the mainstage acts either night. The Monday one was washed out by rain and hail anyway.
Things got much better from Tuesday forward:
Tuesday:
No memorable bands from along the route.
The evening concert right on a bridge over the Des Moines River was a decent lineup of bands that have recently gotten back together. The headliner was Everclear, which I have never cared for, so I left before their act. I knew a few of the songs by Filter and Live, so I did see those acts. They were OK, but not spectacular rock bands. Nothing to complain about, other than the sound engineer must have been deaf since they had the volume loud enough to shake my chest.
Wednesday:
I'm not sure whether Wednesday or Thursday was the best day for music. Both days were spectacular!
Wednesday morning I rolled into the town of Runnells, not too far outside of the Des Moines metro area. Greeting us at the entrance was the SE Polk H.S. pep band. This was the best pep band I have ever heard. They had not just a great set list but also great arrangements. I stayed and listened to them for an hour. They barely had any down time, yet still sounded great. Only one song was repeated during that entire hour. They also had a great balance of instruments as well. Most high schools are overloaded with trumpets and clarinets and it just distorts the sound too much. This one actually represented the lower registers well.
I had another great musical experience later on when I rolled into Monroe. There was an exceptional blues rock band playing in the city square band shell. I wish I had caught their name. The only thing I know about them is that they are based out of Des Moines. I'll have to see if I can find them somewhere in the metro area sometime. I only caught half of the first set. I stuck around through the set break and then listened to the entire second set. Unfortunately, their time was up after that.
I didn't try to stick around for the main stage act that night; I walked by them, but wasn't interested in their sound. [Besides, I was in some pain and didn't want my muscles to tighten up, another teaser for another post]
That was about two and a half hours of great music that day.
Thursday:
I was not in a hurry at all in Pella on Thursday. I ate pancakes and sausages at a Central College student group's stand. I was in a calorie deficit still from the ride to Pella and from Wednesday, so I then stopped at the downtown square and went to the delicious Jaarsma Bakery for a couple Dutch letters. I found a nice place in the square to enjoy my second breakfast when I saw some musicians preparing for a jazz concert in the band shell. I stayed for quite a long time there as well. After that, I went and did some more touristy things around the Dutch windmill and "canal" area tourist traps and stumbled across a novel breakfast concept. Take a waffle cone, fill it three quarters of the way with scrambled eggs, then place small sausage balls, shredded cheese, and a little bit of maple syrup on top. On the sides, place two strips of chocolate covered bacon. Although it was interesting, I won't try that one again since it was too dry.
In the evening, in Oskaloosa, I was treated to another excellent concert. I barely had any down time on Thursday since the day was so packed with events. I had just gotten back to camp a few minutes before [got back from what you ask? - yep, another teaser]. A man driving a 15-passenger van came by our camp and inquired about people who wanted a ride to a local church that was serving a nice dinner. You had three choices for main entree, which is rare, and one of them was herb crusted, baked chicken. In addition, there was a baked potato, cut fruit, standard mixed salad, and pie. People from our camp filled that van very quickly. On RAGBRAI, dinners like that get people excited.
In the dining area, there was an advertisement for a concert that was going to start at about the time that we would be finished eating. A few of us were interested in attending it. The concert didn't quite start on time since there was a pastor who gave a predictable sermon first. It was about his first experiences with bicycles and how his biking progression has brought obstacles in his life and how he overcame them. Once that was over with, the concert began. I doubt this concert was advertised heavily, but it certainly was worthy of it.
The performers were a mid-twenties couple with a keyboard playing woman and guitar playing man. They go by the name of You Plus Me [I think. I am checking on this and will edit if need be]. They play what I would call adult contemporary. Most of their stuff was original, but they did perform an amazing cover of "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons. I had only heard that song as a hard baseline, heavy beat dance song before. The man's voice was decent, but the woman's was spectacular! In his introduction, the pastor mentioned they had gotten married within the past couple of months. You could tell that they were very much in love from some of the looks that they gave each other.
They were sheepishly introduced as being national recording artists since they had recently gone to Nashville to record some of their work. They currently reside right in Oskaloosa. I have no doubt that they have the potential to make it bigger if things fall their way.
Unfortunately, I was only able to stick around for about 5 songs since our group had to catch the shuttle back to the campground. I would have stuck around for the whole thing and bought their CD if I had the time. I'll have to try to find it online somewhere.
Friday:
In Part II, I mentioned there was a reason I didn't get into town until 5:15 that day. The reason was that I had spent 5 hours on the lawn of a nice acreage in the middle of the country, about 15 miles away from the end town of Fairfield. I stayed there from about 11:30 until 4:30 that day. There hadn't really been notable activities on Friday up until that time. What initially attracted me to this place was the long slip-and-slide. What kept me there was a good classic rock cover band called Hell For Stout.
I had fallen behind in my sleep throughout the week. I was really tired, so after the ride, and the 5 hours at one place, and the play in Fairfield, I didn't have the energy to stick around downtown for the main act, an 80's cover band. We were camped close enough to downtown to be able to hear it though. They had funny interpretations of everything. I just didn't have the energy. I fell asleep while listening to them, concluding a great day of RAGBRAI.
Saturday:
Nothing musically notable.
Summary:
It was a good week for music. I'd say that the best acts were the blues rock band and the adult contemporary group.
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