First Avenue Club

Upcoming Events at First Avenue Club

• Saving Abel Live at the First Avenue Club in Iowa City

  <p>Rock 108 welcomes back Saving Abel with special guest Running Blind on Friday, December 9th. General Admission (Standing Room Only) tickets are $18 (plus $2 service fee). Table for 4 with 4 tickets $110. Doors 7PM and Show is 8PM. All ages show. Customers under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.</p><p>Tickets: https://first-avenue-club.square.site/product/saving-abel/322?cs=true&amp;cst=custom</p><ul><li>Saving Abel is a Southern rock band with catchy hooks and heavy riffs founded by Jared Weeks and Jason Null. Their first single “Addicted” breaking on to the scene, climbing its way quickly into a cross over hit from mainstream rock to Billboard Hot 100 and Top 40. With millions of sales under their belt, it’s easy to see how their self titled debut album charted on Billboard’s Top 50 and became RIAA certified muliti-platinum. Their debut album delivered two more #1 singles with 18 days and Drowning (Face Down), across multiple charts and solidified this bands name in rock.</li></ul> 2022-11-08 23:59:00 -0600

  12/09

  7:00 p.m.

  First Avenue Club

  Iowa City
  20

• Casey Donahew Live Acoustic Show at the First Avenue Club in Iowa City

  <p>Casey Donahew’s Bar and Beer Joint Acoustic Tour marks a return to venues he started playing years ago, including the First Avenue Club in Iowa City. This will be a one of a kind stripped down show that you wont want to miss. Casey is bringing along support to open this show. We will announce support at a later date. Table of 4 with tickets and BBQ dinner: $175. Pit tickets: $25 (plus $4 service fee). General Admission Tickets: $20 (plus $3 service fee). Dinner is served from 6:30-7. General doors at 7 and show is at 8.</p><p>Tickets: &nbsp;https://first-avenue-club.square.site/product/casey-donahew-beer-joint-tour/326?cs=true&amp;cst=custom</p><p>Over the last 18 years, Casey Donahew has risen from a favorite on the local Texas music scene, to racking up 21 #1 singles, to a nationally hot touring act who consistently sells out venues all across the country.</p><p><br></p><p>Donahew has released eight independent albums to critical and commercial acclaim. Donahew’s STANDOFF, quickly topped the iTunes Country Chart at #1, upon its release, and his follow-up album ALL NIGHT PARTY, out on August 19, 2016, immediately rocketed to #3 on the Billboard Top Country Albums Chart, #13 on the Top Album Sales Chart and Top Current Album Sales Chart and #40 on the Billboard 200 Chart. The project also took the #2 spot on the Internet Albums Chart and landed at #3 on the Independent Albums Chart. His 15th anniversary record titled 15 YEARS, THE WILD RIDE, a collection of Donahew’s most popular songs, and the ones that droves of fans sing night after night at his live concerts, was inspired by and became a gift for those fans who remain loyal in Donahew’s standing-room-only audiences.</p><p><br></p><p>His current album ONE LIGHT TOWN, garnered Donahew his latest #1 single, “Let’s Make A Love Song, which was the #1 most played independent song on country radio for 2019 and had BILLBOARD spouting upon its release “…’Let’s Make A Love Song’ has radio written all over it”.</p><p><br></p><p>Casey, a Burleson, Texas native, has painstakingly (with the help of his wife Melinda) carved out an impressive niche for himself on the country music scene. &nbsp;over the past decade, attracting a solid base of loyal fans who flock to his legendary live shows. Building his career from the ground up one show at a time, he’s managed to perform on countless stages night after night in front of thousands, topped the Texas music charts several times, released four albums independently to critical acclaim, and forged a path all his own through the music scene without the aid or muscle of a major record label or power-suit management company. The country star has risen to new heights he never could have imagined when he first plugged in onstage at the Thirsty Armadillo bar in Fort Worth’s Stockyards in the Fall of 2002, and began constructing his own field of musical dreams.</p><p>Wade Bowen is a Texas Country/Red Dirt artist from Waco, Texas. Bowen was a member of the band West 84 with friend Matt Miller until 2001 when the group became known as Wade Bowen and West 84. Bowen released his fourth studio album, The Given, in 2010. It was his first on a major label, Sony imprint BNA Records, though he returned to releasing music independently after BNA closed. He released a self-titled studio album in 2014, followed by a duets album in 2015 with singer Randy Rogers of the Randy Rogers Band, titled Hold My Beer Vol. 1. Bowen's next album was Then Sings My Soul: Songs for My Mother, a solo gospel influenced studio release. He has released 3 more albums: Watch This, with Randy Rogers, Solid Ground, released in 2018, and a follow up to Hold My Beer Vol. 1, Hold My Beer Vol. 2 with Randy Rogers. During the Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020, Wade started a web series of live shows called Wade's World, where he hosted other prominent Texas musicians to play and tell stories about their songs every Friday night. Guests included Bruce Robison, Cody Canada, Jack Ingram, and others.</p><p><br></p> 2022-11-08 23:59:00 -0600

  1/20

  7:00 p.m.

  First Avenue Club

  Iowa City
  23

• Cody Canada & The Departed Live at the First Avenue Club in Iowa City

  <p>Cody Canada &amp; The Departed in concert on Friday, Feb 17, 2023. General Admission tickets $17 (plus $3 Service Charge). Table for 4 with BBQ dinners and tickets: $140. All Ages Show. Doors for tables/dinner 6:30. GA Doors 7PM. Show 8PM.&nbsp;</p><p>Tickets: https://first-avenue-club.square.site/product/cody-canada-and-the-departed/321?cs=true&amp;cst=custom</p><p>Cody Canada &amp; The Departed in concert on Friday, Feb 17, 2023. General Admission tickets $17 (plus $3 Service Charge). Table for 4 with BBQ dinners and tickets: $140. All Ages Show. Doors for tables/dinner 6:30. GA Doors 7PM. Show 8PM.</p><p>Cody Canada &amp; The Departed is a three-piece Americana roots-rock band based in New Braunfels, Texas. The band is comprised of frontman Cody Canada, bassist Jeremy Plato, and drummer Eric Hansen.<br>Canada and Plato–bandmates since the inception and through the dissolution of former rock band Cross Canadian Ragweed–join forces with drummer Hansen to round out The Departed. The result is poignant, thoughtfully crafted songs delivered with bold guitars, boomy bass lines and plenty of muscle. The new iteration of The Departed offers concert-goers a well-rounded sonic experience: the Red Dirt ghosts from Canada’s upbringing; the re-emergence of favored Cross Canadian Ragweed tunes; plus a revival of classic country gold from Plato-led vocals.</p><p>The Departed is maintaining their foothold as a frontrunner in the Texas music scene while progressively gaining traction across the U.S. Their most recent release, “HippieLovePunk (2015,” received positive critical acclaim as a “Top 5 Best-Selling Album of 2015” (Lone Star Music), and produced the singles “InBetweener” and “All Nighter,” the latter reaching No. 1 on the Texas Regional Radio Report.</p><p>The Departed has released two additional albums since their formation: This Is Indian Land (2011) and Adventus (2012). Canada released two additional double-disc live acoustic records, “Some Old, Some New, Maybe A Cover Or Two,” (2013) and, “Chip and Ray, Together Again for the First Time,” (2015), both recorded at Third Coast Music in Port Aransas Texas. ‘Chip and Ray’ was recorded with longtime friend and producer, Mike McClure (The Great Divide).</p> 2022-11-08 23:59:00 -0600

  2/17

  7:00 p.m.

  First Avenue Club

  Iowa City
  20

• The Bellamy Brothers Live at the First Avenue Club in Iowa City

  <p>The club welcomes back the Bellamy Brothers with special guests Boot Jack Duo on Friday, November 17th.</p><p>TABLE OPTIONS: Reserved Table for 4 with tickets $200<br>Table for 6 with tickets $300<br>Table for 8 with Tickets $400.<br>General Admission Ticket with Seat at a Table (seated with other patrons) $40.</p><p>Doors are 7:00. The show starts at 8:00. This is an 18 and over show.</p><p>Tickets: https://first-avenue-club.square.site/product/the-bellamy-brothers/22?cs=true&amp;cst=custom</p><p>THE BELLAMY BROTHERS: THE LOVE STILL FLOWS…</p><p>Howard and David continue to prove that the trail they’ve ridden to fame has been as unique as their music itself—music that is now celebrating over 40 years of success.</p><p>The road that started on the pop music charts in the ‘70’s, took a winding turn into country music in the ‘80’s, paving the way for duos to come, such as Brooks &amp; Dunn, Montgomery Gentry, Big &amp; Rich and previously—The Judds. But before the road forked into country, the musical odyssey of brothers Bellamy started creatively smoldering in their home state of Florida, before exploding nationally amidst the ’70’s pop music culture of L.A.</p><p>The brothers first official gig was in 1968, playing a free show with their father at the Rattlesnake Roundup in San Antonio, Florida. They honed their early skills playing Black clubs throughout the south, and singing backup for artists such as Percy Sledge, Eddie Floyd and Little Anthony &amp; The Imperials. Within a few months, the brothers moved north, immersing themselves and their rock/country sound in the Atlanta market, where the Allman Brothers were the emerging kings of the music world.</p><p>With the dawning of the Age of Aquarius on the horizon, and America embroiled in a smoke haze of drugs, civil unrest and an unpopular war, The Bellamy’s music picked-up the hard driving edge that bespoke the times. Songwriting had become David Bellamy’s drug of choice during the long road gigs he and Howard were regularly pulling bodies and equipment to and from. It was his songwriting that was posed to soon provide the duo a national breakout.</p><p>The break came in the form of the hit, “Spiders &amp; Snakes,” written by David and recorded by Jim Stafford. The song became a smash, eventually selling more than three million units worldwide. It became the catapult that rocketed the brothers onto the L.A. music scene. Young and impressionable, Howard and David fell into the musical circle of the greats of the day: Bob Dylan, James Taylor and Van Morrison, as well as West Coast based country rockers like Poco and the Byrds.</p><p>It was a creative shoe that fit.</p><p>Now known by their music and the company they were keeping, The Bellamys officially lifted off the launch pad in 1976 when their single, “Let Your Love Flow,” became an instant smash in both the U.S. and Europe. It stayed on the international charts long enough to build a huge international fan base for the hip young brothers that endures to this day. In Germany alone it perched at No. 1 for more than two months. The love was indeed flowing as The Bellamys jammed for audiences on their sold-out concerts and shared stages with the likes of Loggins &amp; Messina, the Doobie Brothers and the Beach Boys with their patented blend of rock/country music. True to their musical roots, their style and their songwriting was moving steadily more towards their raising.</p><p>By the late ‘70’s The Bellamys were emerging on the country charts with another bona fide smash. “If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body (Would You Hold It Against Me),” originally scrawled on a dinner napkin by David, rocketed them to the top of the country charts the way “Let Your Love Flow,” had done in the pop market just a few years earlier. It proved to be the first of a string of fourteen No. 1 singles in the U.S. alone.</p><p>Success followed success: “Dancing Cowboys,” “Sugar Daddy,” “You Ain’t Just Whistlin’ Dixie,” “Lovers Live Longer,” “Do You Love As Good As You Look,” “Redneck Girl,” “For All The Wrong Reasons,” “I Love Her Mind,” “I Need More Of You,” “Old Hippie,” “Too Much Is Not Enough,” “Kids Of The Baby Boom,” “Reggae Cowboy” and “Crazy From The Heart,”…all have lined the corridors of the Bellamy’s musical history and their walls with platinum and gold.</p><p>Along the way, Howard and David created a patent on the newly cool “duo” category in country music. In the era of the 2000’s, The Bellamy Brothers hold the record in both the Academy of Country Music (ACM) and the Country Music Association Awards (CMA) for the most duo nominations. Numerous GRAMMY nods have also been directed toward the brothers. Internationally, the story has been the same—though the titles may be different. The Bellamys have released more than two-dozen hit songs outside the U.S. that were never released here. With a sharp eye on the songwriting skills that have been the bedrock of their success, Howard and David concur that their career is unique in their international finesse for matching their songs to the market.</p><p>“For the international releases, you have to have a strong melody,” notes David. “The lyric is very important, but internationally the melody is something fans can lock into, even if they can’t understand the lyrics.” Howard and David continue to perform and film TV specials in Europe and around the world.</p><p>These days when the subject turns to touring, The Bellamys are showing a new generation of country music how it’s done. Country superstar Blake Shelton has helped introduce a new era of fans to the hits of The Bellamy Brothers during his annual Friends And Heroes Tour, where they continue to captivate arena audiences around the country. “We’re old road dogs,” grins Howard when asked about the motivation behind the brothers 200 plus concert dates each year. Adds David: “Our live draw is bigger than it was in the ‘80’s. I think the same people that grew up with us and with our music in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s obviously have raised a whole new generation of Bellamy fans who started toddling to our music. Now they’re turning up at our concerts as college kids, who are really turned on and tuned in to us and our music….it’s a great feeling.”</p><p>On the infrequent off days from the road, Howard and David head the bus back to their 150-acre family ranch in Darby, Florida just north of Tampa. A working ranch, the spread consists of Purebred Brahman Cattle and quarter horses. The Bellamys are opening up their lives to television audiences with their hit reality show “Honky Tonk Ranch.” Each episode of “Honky Tonk Ranch” enthralls viewers with the unpredictable misadventures of the Bellamys attempting to balance their globe-trotting touring schedule while also running their sprawling family ranch in south Florida. The show was originally broadcast on “The Cowboy Channel” (a subsidy of RFD-TV) and streamed around the world. Season two of “Honky Tonk Ranch” airs now on Thursday evenings at 8:30 p.m. ET on the Circle Network and will also be available for worldwide streaming in the very near future.</p><p>The Bellamy Brothers celebrated their 40th anniversary with the release of a two-CD collection, <em>40 years</em>, an ambitious project containing 20 of their biggest hits and 20 brand-new songs. In 2019, the Bellamys released <em>Over the Moon&nbsp;</em>as well as their first book <em>Let Your Love Flow – the Life and&nbsp;</em><em>Times of The Bellamy Brothers</em>. The book is about two Florida cowboys who journeyed from country poverty to worldwide musical stardom because they had the talent and because it never occurred to them, they couldn’t make it.</p><p>Their most recent project, <em>Bucket List,</em> debuted in July of 2020 with “Rednecks (Lookin’ for Paychecks),” a timely take on the current situation, leading the EP. <em>Bucket List</em> also includes “No Country Music For Old Men,” a collaboration with longtime friend John Anderson inspired by the loss of Kenny Rogers, and more light-hearted songs like “Lay Low, Stay High,” which ties into Howard and David’s recent partnership with the Florida-based medical marijuana company, Trulieve, on their flower product line Old Hippie Stash.</p> 2022-11-08 23:59:00 -0600

  11/17

  7:00 p.m.

  First Avenue Club

  Iowa City
  35