A Quad Cities-based tribute act dedicated to free-spirited and energetic concert experiences from the Stop Making Sense era, the tour de force of musicians known as Heads in Motion play the final concert in Bettendorf venue The Tangled Wood's 2025 Summer Concert Series, this September 27 show with the 10-piece ensemble celebrating Oscar, Grammy, and Tony Award winner David Byrne and his iconic rock outfit Talking Heads.

With the lauded stage talent best known for Broadway and touring productions of Mary Poppins and for originating the role of Hannah in the Tony-winning musical Come from Away, a Midwestern native takes the stage in A Broadway Cabaret with Q. Smith, a September 26 event in the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center that will find the artist joined by visiting high schoolers to perform a showcase of thrilling solos and group numbers.

In their powerful tribute to American spirit and local legacy, the Knox-Galesburg Symphony will open their 2025-26 season with a powerful performance of Aaron Copland's Lincoln Portrait at Galesburg's Orpheum Theatre, the September 27 concert event presented under the direction of Richard Cangro, and featuring actor Steven Duchrow portraying Carl Sandburg as narrator – a nod to Sandburg’s Grammy-winning 1960 performance.

Fifty-one years after his passing, the music of the man who introduced the world to "Take the A-Train," "Caravan," "Sophisticated Lady," "Satin Doll," and other classics will be performed by the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts Big Band in An Evening of Duke Ellington: Sentimental Mood. a September 26 evening boasting vocalists Mary Denmead, Katelyn Halverson, and Steven Jepson, and presented by Josh Sazon and Wes Habley as part of the American Songbook series.

With the touring ensemble boasting the talents of keyboardist Vic White, lead guitarist Steve Sheroan, bassist Trenton "Poptart" Shuler, drummer Criss Cheatham, and lead vocalist Bryan Cole, Resurrection: A Journey Tribute lands at Galesburg's Orpheum Theatre on October 2, the rockers delivering a celebration of the band's legacy sure to feature such Billboard smashes as “Separate Ways,” “Wheel In the Sky," "Lights," and many more.

Composed of veteran Chicago musicians Melissa Brausch, Josh Chicoine, Mike Holtz, Dan Ingenthron, Mike Vanier, and Lindsay Weinberg, the touring artists of Second Hand News: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac land at Mt. Carroll's Timber Lake Playhouse on September 27, treating fans to such timeless hit singles as "Dreams," "Go Your Own Way," "Rhiannon," "Edge of Seventeen," "Landslide," and "Gypsy."

The familiar, beloved sounds of “Peggy Sue,” “Maybe Baby,” “Oh Boy,” and many other iconic '50s and '60s rock hits will successively fill Rock Island's Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse and Mt. Carroll's Timber Lake Playhouse on September 25 and 26, the venue's concert events with Todd Meredith & the Rave Ons showcasing the dynamic talents of the headliner who memorably portrayed the lead in in Circa '21's 2008 musical Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story.

Two classic piano concertos, two world premieres by female composers, and the Quad Cities debut of a new saxophone concerto are among highlights of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra's (QCSO's) 111th season, which will formally begin with its first Masterworks program on October 4 and 5.

Lauded by The Guardian as "mercilessly catchy and meticulously camp," the Chicago-based garage-rock/pop trio of Dehd headlines a September 17 concert event at Rock Island venue Rozz-Tox, their 2024 album Poetry inspiring Pitchfork to rave, "With more ambitious melodies, bolder harmonies, and compositional complexity, the Chicago trio’s new album hypercharges their already electric sound."

With award-winning, Billboard-charting, internationally touring artists performing on the banks of a mighty river, the Mississippi Valley Blues Fest returns to Davenport for its 38th incarnation on September 15 and 16, the LeClaire Park event – hosted by the Mississippi Valley Blues Society – featuring seven thrilling Main Stage concert sets, eight additionally incendiary sets on the neighboring Pedigo-Jones Stage, and music lovers ages 16 and under admitted free with a paid adult.

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