Rock Island-based black-metal band Everlasting Light has been a favorite Quad Cities project of mine since the release of Heavy Sanctuary back in 2019. A project that revels in the extra layer of obfuscating scuzz that comes from a more informal approach to recording, they still always manage to hit a sweet spot between the high fidelity detail of a “proper” studio take and the more room-tone-soaked final product of a DIY demo tape.

Delivering a live performance of iconic country and folk favorites, Los Angeles musician Rick Schuler brings his John Denver tribute A Rocky Mountain High Experience to Davenport's Adler Theatre on April 16, presenting a salute to the Grammy-winning legend that will boast such unforgettable songs as “Sunshine on My Shoulders,” “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” “You Fill Up My Senses,” and “Thank God I’m a Country Boy.”

Hosting a virtual performance in celebration of the artist's 22nd studio album Revolutionary Love, Iowa City's Englert Theatre brings folk- and alternative-rock icon Ani DiFranco into fans' homes with the April 18 concert event 'Revolutionary Love' Live, which will find DiFranco, Terence Higgins, and Ivan Neville reminiscing about touring and performing energetic live versions from the January release along with classics from the Little Folksinger canon.

Chart-topping Scottish musicians whom Broadway Baby praised for producing “music that upholds heritage while still sounding unmistakably current,” the Celtic rockers of Skerryvore are showcased in the latest virtual performance in the Quad City Arts Center's annual PASS (Performing Arts Signature Series) program, delivering an eclectic fusion of rock, pop, and folk music with an emphatic thundering of drums and bagpipes.

Described by NPR as an artist who “explores pop songwriting with playful magnetism” and by SavingCountryMusic.com as someone “fearless in both what he's willing to say and how he's willing to say it,” alt-country and Americana performer Parker Millsap plays a virtual concert on April 9, the Englert Theatre presentation showcasing a musician whose compositions, according to Pop Matters, “ring with authenticity through his expressive twang.”

A tribute to the diversity of American music inspired by the Figge Art Museum’s current exhibition For America: 200 Years of Painting from the National Academy of Design, the Quad City Symphony Orchestra's final Masterworks concert of the 2020-21 season – For America, being performed live at the Adler Theatre on April 10 – is a symphonic tapestry weaving together many different musical traditions, and boasting the musical talents of the Sphinx Quartet: violinists Jannina Norpoth and Ruben Rengel, viola player Paul Laraia, and cellist Thomas Mesa.

On April 2 and 3, the long-awaited return of live music at the Rock Island Brewing Company will be celebrated with concert sets by venue favorites The Schwag, who, in the band's 30th year as professional Grateful Dead tribute artists, will perform from a repertoire that includes such classics as “Uncle John's Band,” “Truckin,” “Alabama Getaway,” and the chart-topping “Touch of Grey.”

Described by The New Yorker as “legendary,” and hailed as “gospel titans” by Rolling Stone, the internationally touring musicians known as The Blind Boys of Alabama will deliver a special, virtual Easter-weekend concert on April 2, the Englert Theatre presentation giving viewers an at-home audience with a group that, according to the New York Times, performs “a livelier breed of gospel music” they made “zestier still by adding jazz and blues idioms and turning up the volume, creating a sound like the rock 'n' roll that grew out of it.”

Massive radio hits of the 1980s will enjoy a thrilling pair of live performances on March 26 and 27 when Davenport's Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center hosts two nights with Arch Allies, the touring sensations who deliver stage celebrations boasting the music of Bon Jovi, Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Def Leppard, and Queen.

Praised by NPR for their music that “all sounds impeccable without losing its sense of lightness and joy,” the string quartet Invoke serves as the latest virtual performance in the Quad City Arts Center's annual PASS (Performing Arts Signature Series) program, with the group's March 25 concert event sure to demonstrate why the Austin Chronicle calls the group “purveyors of chamber music that busts through genres in the quartet's spicy performances.”

Pages