Touring in support of his 2018 recording Encore – an album the New York Times called a “lustrous revisiting of raucous Southern soul, rousingly delivered and pinpoint precise” – the chart-topping roots rocker Anderson East plays a September 18 concert at Maquoketa's Codfish Hollow Barn, displaying the musical gifts that led NPR to deem him “a perceptive record-maker and proven captivator of live crowds.”

An artist who, according to American Blues Scene magazine, “plays a head-spinning variety of styles … never failing to excite the listener,” the Florida-based JP Soars and his band The Red Hots play a September 19 concert presented by the Mississippi Valley Blues Society, their engagement at Kavanaugh's Hilltop Bar & Grill demonstrating why BluesSource.com wrote, “Soars can stroke, persuade, bend, and stretch notes from places other guitarists haven't even heard of.”

Augustana College will start its 2018-19 theatre season off with a bang – and a “Ribbit!” – via its September 15 and 16 presentation The Frog & the Princess, a family comedy featuring classic storytelling, untraditional romance, and hilarious one-liners, and adapted by Brandon Roberts from the Brothers Grimm fairytale.

An eagerly awaited Centennial Park celebration presented by the Celtic Cultures Alliance of the Quad Cities, this year's Celtic Festival & Highland Games of the Quad Cities will, on September 14 and 15, boast dozens of demonstrations, exhibits, family activities, cultural workshops, food and beverage vendors, and contests covering everything from dancing to intimidating feats of strength, with live music provided by more than a half-dozen national and local acts.