One of the most significant forces in gospel, pop, and Christian rock returns to the Adler Theatre on December 18 when three-time Grammy Award winner Michael W. Smith brings his "Christmas Live in Concert" tour to Davenport, sharing the talents that have made the artist an international sensation and recipient of an incredible 45 Dove Awards.

Delivering two hours of classic rock alongside a selection of skits and one liners from live-show bootlegs between 1978 and 1984, the touring tribute musicians of Jump: America's Van Halen Experience headline a December 16 concert event at East Moline venue The Rust Belt, the bands lineup composed of a group of youngsters all born in the mid- to late 90s and early 2000s.

Boasting musical director Manuel Lopez III on drums, Ronald Wilson on bass, and Corey Kendrick on piano, the Polyrhythms Third Sunday Jazz Series wraps up its 2023 schedule with a December 17 performance at Davenport's Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Quad Cities, with the Polyrhythms Trio + 2 delivering festive holiday cheer with the three band members playing alongside special guests Manny Lopez and James Culver.

An annually beloved holiday-music tradition returns to the area as the professional vocal ensemble the Nova Singers presents its latest pair of A Nova Christmas concerts, with exciting and moving arrangements of favorite carols, traditional melodies, glorious ballads, and fascinating songs from around the world performed December 15 at Davenport's St. Paul Lutheran Church and December 16 at Galesburg's First Lutheran Church.

Following the program's success in more than 100 cities worldwide, including in Moline this October and November, the live, multi-sensory musical experience known as the Candlelight Concerts series enjoys its third Quad Cities engagement at Moline's Spotlight Theatre, with the eagerly awaited December 15 event Candlelight: Holiday Special Featuring The Nutcracker & More treating guests to traditional seasonal tunes and works by some of history's most noted composers, among them Claude Debussy, Antonjo Vivaldi, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

For World Wrestling Entertainment fans wanting to celebrate the holidays watching some the organization's fiercest talents in action, Moline's Vibrant Arena at the MARK will host the eagerly anticipated WWE Live Holiday Tour Supershow, its December 16 arrival boasting a sure-tio-be-thrilling Triple Main Event featuring WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth "Freakin'" Rollins versus Drew McIntyre versus Shinsuke Nakamura.

A 2022 Grammy Award nominee for the recorded version of his Netflix special The Great Average American, an hour of comedy that Paste magazine called “full of sharp observations and hilarious insights into regular life,” standup sensation Nate Bargatze returns to Davenport's Adler Theatre on December 16 with his national "The Be Funny Tour," the comedian also noted for his Comedy Central Presents and Prime Video specials and multiple appearances on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

On December 16, famed YouTuber Edwin Rodriguez - better known by his stage moniker Ed Bassmaster - will bring his national tour to Davenport for two standup performances in the Rhythm City Casino Resort Rhythm Room, the comedian's YouTube channel boasting more than 2.7 million subscribers and running comedy videos where, as various characters, Bassmaster puts people into awkward situations or downright pranks them.

With their show's creation supported in part by an Arts Dollars grant from Quad City Arts, the talents of West Liberty, Iowa's Eulenspiegel Puppet Theatre bring their family-friendly gifts to Davenport's German American Heritage Center on December 16, the delightful presentation The Bremen Town Musicians accompanied by live music and held in conjunction with a finger-puppet-making workshop following the performance.

Boasting sumptuous period designs, spellbinding stage effects, one of the world's most iconic scores, and some of the United Kingdom's fiercest dance talents, the 2016 performance of the Royal Ballet's The Nutcracker will be available for online viewing December 16 and 17 through the Rock Island and Silvis Public Libraries, the presentation of this holiday staple by Britain's flagship ballet company made possible by the statewide collaboration Illinois Libraries Present.

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