On May 12, guests of Davenport's Figge Art Museum are invited to a special live dance performance in the Quad City Bank & Trust Grand Lobby, as the first movement of Interwoven Worlds: A Dance Journey Between Three Iowa Cities explores how art, movement, and place connect across communities, turning visual artwork into live performance while honoring each original artist’s work.

Touring in support of his 2026 album New Day, a long-awaited release that The Rockpit said "may just be the best we have heard from John so far," legendary hard-rock singer/guitarist John Corabi and several gifted musician friends perform a May 16 concert event at Moline venue Rascals Live, Corabi revered as the frontman of The Scream during 1989 and of Mötley Crüe (during Vince Neil's hiatus) between 1992 and 1996.

Touring in support of the June 26 release of their album Elephant in the Room, the Boston-based alternative rockers of Fai Laci headline a May 20 engagement at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the outfit praised by RIFF magazine for delivering "bold, in your face, balls-to-the-wall, good old-fashioned rock."

With the National Touring production of Wicked having played to sold-out crowds at the Prairie Alliance Theater in Peoria, Galesburg's Orpheum Theatre has its own hugely enjoyable, similarly themed performance in store with the May 16 national tour of A Wicked Evening with Louise Dearman, a showcase for the British talent who made history as the first (and, to date, only) actress to play both of that musical's lead roles, Glinda and Elphaba, full time under contract.

Appearing as the final guests in Quad City Arts' 2025-26 Visiting Artist series, a residency that finds the talents leading educational workshops from May 11 through 15, the dancers' area tenure concludes with a Friday-night performance by Ballet Folklórica del Rio Grande, who will demonstrate their astounding athletic prowess and and grace in a full-length program at East Moline's United Township High School.

Headlining a joyously untraditional night of comedy at the Raccoon Motel, touring standup sensation Dave Losso takes over the downtown-Davenport stage on May 14, the funnyman's Stand Up! Records album A Careless Whisper of a Man having reached number two on the iTunes comedy chart and number four on Amazon's chart.

With the second part of presenter Richard Baldner's program, guests of Davenport's German American Heritage Center will be treated to An Introduction to Germany's Imperial Rhine on May 17, a fascinating exploration of Western Europe's second-longest river interpreted and illustrated within the context of historic imperial Germany, and delivered as part of the venue's popular "Kaffee und Kuchen" series.

Presented as part of the library's long-running Community Connections series, a May 21 screening of The Last to Fall from Hero Street will find local Emmy Award-winning filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films sharing their moving documentary at the Bettendorf Public Library, this fifth work in the Rundles' acclaimed Hero Street series followed by a question-and-answer session with the area talents.

Hailed by the New York Times as "rich, vivid, satisfying theatre," Terrence McNally's Tony Award-winning Master Class makes its long-awaited area debut at Moline's Black Box Theatre May 15 through 24, this opera-themed comedy a show that, according to The Hollywood Reporter, "will be talked about for years to come whenever people point to theatre experiences that genuinely deserve to be labeled by the overused word ‘great.’”