Saturday, July 7, noon – midnight
Len Brown's North Shore Inn, 700 North Shore Drive, Moline IL
Bluegrass, funk, roots, and plenty of rock will be on tap, and in the great outdoors, when the area rockers of The Dawn host the fourth-annual Dawn & On Music Festival, the eagerly awaited July 7 event outside Len Brown's North Shore Inn boasting food and beverage vendors, arts & crafts, and nine exhilarating concert sets by lauded local and national acts.
Saturday's festivities begin at noon with the local rockers of Jenny Lynn Stacy & the Dirty Roosters, followed by a 1 p.m. set with the BEEs trio of Bethann Heidgerken, Erin Moore, and Esmé Haferbier. The progressive-bluegrass and acoustic-roots musicians of Still Shine take the Dawn & On stage at 2 p.m., with the Chicago-based female bluegrass quartet Fox Crossing Stringband taking over at 3:15 p.m. Local rockers Condor & Jaybird perform their concert set at 4:30 p.m., while the indie soul musicians of the JC Brooks Band perform at 5:45 p.m., followed by a 7:15 concert with the popular touring performers of Family Groove Company. Hailing from Minnesota, the rock and jam quintet The Big Wu will thrill Dawn & On patrons at 8:45 p.m. And at 10:30 p.m., the festival's namesakes will close the evening at as The Dawn itself graces the North Shore Inn stage.
Composed of Sean Ryan on guitar, Jordan VanOpDorp on keyboards, Dan Olds on bass, Josh Womack on drums, “Edub” Wilson on percussion, and Derek Fortin joining the instrumentalists on vocals, the Western Illinois-based The Dawn has been performing cutting-edge improvisational rock throughout the Midwest for more than 10 years. The critical and commercial success of the group's 2014 release Waiting on the Storm helped catapult the musicians to major festival experiences including Camp Euforia, Summer Camp, and the inaugural Phases of the Moon, and in the wake of the Dawn & On Music Festival's debut in 2005, last summer's gathering drew more than 1,500 music fans to Moline.
The fourth-annual Dawn & On Music Festival on July 7 will be preceded by a July 6 pre-party at Rock Island's Bent River Brewing Company (512 24th Street) featuring performances by Miles Over Mountains at 9 p.m. and Dr. Dometone at 10:30 p.m., and followed by a Saturday-night after-party at the Rock Island Brewing Company (1815 Second Avenue, Rock Island) boasting a 12:30 a.m. concert set by The Tripp Brothers. Tickets to the Bent River pre-party are $5 at the door, with admission to RIBCO's after-party free with a festival wristband.
Tickets to the Dawn & On Music Festival itself are $10 at the gate, with ages 12 & under free with a paid adult until 8 p.m. (only ages 21 and older will be admitted after 8 p.m.), and more information is available by visiting TheDawnBand.com.
