2011 SPRING CONCERT PREVIEW

Ford trucks, apple pies, bald eagles!

The winter chill for shows around here is over. Highlights for me in the next few months include Iron & Wine, John Vanderslice with Damien Jurado, the sixth annual Gross Domestic Product local music festival, the Mission Creek Festival in Iowa City (I'll definitely be making it out there for at least Das Racist), Queens of the Stone Age, Taylor Swift, the Poison Control Center, Christopher the Conquered, Wolves in the Attic, Mark Mallman with Portland Seattle indie dudes BOAT, Rural Albert Advantage (in Ames), Woodsman, Giant Cloud, I Was Totally Destroying It with locals Cashes Rivers and Parlours, Birds & Batteries, and a lot more (Love Songs for Lonely Monsters, the Seed of Something, Rhonda Is a Dead Bitch, and on and on). What am I missing?

March

Local bands Crystal City, the New Bodies, and Canyons open for Michael Dean Damron. Vaudeville Mews. March 18. $21+ $5

Rural Alberta Advantage. M Shop (Ames). March 22.  $6 students $10 public + $2 day-of-show increase

Birds & Batteries with locals Dustin Smith, Dresden Style. Vaudeville Mews. March 24. 21+ $5

Kenny Chesney. Wells Fargo Arena. March 24. All Ages $22-$79.50

The Poison Control Center with Brass Bed. Drake University. March 25. All Ages

A lineup of local and Nebraska bands: Saint Christopher with Look Out Loretta, Pharmacy Spirits, Rhonda Is a Dead Bitch, Kong vs Kong. Vaudeville Mews. March 26. 21+ $5

Dead Ghosts. Vaudeville Mews. March 28. 21+ $5

Mission Creek Festival: Guided by Voices, Jeff Tweedy, John Waters, Das Racist (March 31!), Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon & Thurston Moore, The Poison Control Center, Skull Defekts with Daniel Higgs, more. March 28-April 4 (Iowa City)

Locals La Strange with 4onthefloor, the Color Pharmacy, the Sudden Lovelys. Vaudeville Mews. March 29. All Ages $5

April

Dubuqe's Jen Gloeckner with fellow locals Black Ambient Manifesto, Kerosene Circuit. Vaudeville Mews. April 1. All Ages $5

Gross Domestic Product (local music festival featuring the Poison Control Center, Gaiden Gadema/Young Tripp/ Chris DSKUS10/Bru'tal collaborative freestyle performance, Parlours, Pink Kodiak, La Strange, Index Case, the River Monks, Brooks Strause, the Seed of Something, Seedlings, Land of Blood and Sunshine, the New Bodies, Rebel Creek). Hotel Fort Des Moines. April 2. All Ages $10/$15/$25 membership donation

The Bottle Rockets with James McMurtry. Peoples Court. April 2. 21+ $15-$25

The English Beat. 504 Club. April 2. 21+ $20/$25

Queens of the Stone Age with the Dough Rollers. Val Air Ballroom. April 4. All Ages $20/$25

Mark Mallman with BOAT, Cameron McGill & What Army, Creeping Weeds. Vaudeville Mews. April 6. 21+ $8

Wolves in the Attic with fellow locals Volcano Boys, Love Songs for Lonely Monsters, If Ever Was a Fire. Vaudeville Mews. April 8. 21+ $5

HEALTH with Small Black at Grinnell. April 9. All Ages & Free

My Chemical Romance. Val Air Ballroom. April 10. All Ages $30

Woodsman with Tjutjuna, locals Love Songs for Lonely Monsters, Skin of Earth. Vaudeville Mews. April 13. 21+ $7

I Was Totally Destroying It with locals Cashes Rivers, Parlours. Vaudeville Mews. April 14 21+ $7

VEISHEA 2011 (Ames):  Big Boi with Cloud Cult, Love and Theft, Andy Grammer (Friday); Gloriana, the Ready Set, Neon Trees, the Downtown Fiction. Iowa State's Molecular Biology Parking Lot. April 15-April 16. All Ages & see website for ticket policy

VEISHEA 2011 (Ames): Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino. Iowa State's Stephens Auditorium. April 16. All Ages & Free

House of Pain with Big B, Dirtball. Val Air Ballroom. April 16. All Ages $22.50/$25

Bare Wires with locals Wolves in the Attic, Land of Blood and Sunshine. Vaudeville Mews. April 19 21+ $5

Christopher the Conquered with fellow locals Mumford's, Derek Lambert & the Prairie Fires, Pennyhawk. Vaudeville Mews. April 22. 21+ $5

Giant Cloud with locals the Seed of Something, the Chatty Cathys, Pocket Aristotle. Vaudeville Mews. April 23. All Ages $5

John Vanderslice with Damien Jurado. Vaudeville Mews April 30. 21+ $15

May

Bob Schneider. Vaudeville Mews. May 6. 21+ $15/$18

Bon Jovi. Wells Fargo Arena. May 12. All Ages $19.50-$129.50

Patrick Tape Fleming of locals the Poison Control Center with LadySoul, Peace Love and Stuff, North of Grand, Lipstick Homicide. House of Bricks. May 14. All Ages price TBA

Locals the Chatty Cathys and Pocket Aristotle. House of Bricks. May 20. All Ages price TBA

Ira Glass. Hoyt Sherman Place. May 21. $45-$125.

Taylor Swift. Wells Fargo Arena. May 29. All Ages $27-$71.50

June

Iron & Wine with the Head and the Heart. Peoples Court. June 9. All Ages $25