Images by photographer Chris Jones from Tuesday's Trace Adkins concert at the Mississippi Valley Fair.  Click on any photo for a larger version.

Jason Parris, the booking agent for the Rock Island Brewing Company, knows there is something special about the local bar. "The room feels and looks like a New York club," said Parris. "You can see the history in the room with all of the black-and-white photos of people who have played here. You can definitely see that it's been around for 30 years."

On July 31 and August 1, RIBCO (at 1815 Second Avenue) will commemorate its 30th anniversary. Bands including Driver of the Year, Cheese Pizza, Jim the Mule, and Keep Off the Grass will perform at the two-night celebration, along with reunion performances by Tripmaster Monkey and Einstein's Sister.

When Those Darlins play RIBCO on Monday in a Daytrotter.com show, be prepared for things to get a little crazy. And if they don't, expect some good-natured hectoring from the Tennessee-based band.

Nikki Darlin -- they go by that fake family name, even though the three singing and songwriting leaders aren't sisters -- described the scene at a recent Nashville show celebrating the release of the group's self-titled debut:

"Jessi [Those Darlins' guitarist] and I had built a giant chicken piñata that was destroyed during 'The Whole Damn Thing' song. And my friend ... had made me a dress that night, and he ripped it off of me in the middle of the set. So I was playing the rest of the show in my underwear. And then everyone started taking their clothes off and got up on stage. Everyone's spitting beer all over everyone else. People were making out, and it was just fucking awesome."

The piñata, by the way, was filled with feathers.

Describing Mantis, Umphrey's McGee bassist Ryan Stasik doesn't mince words about the band's ambitions: "This record was like our opus, ... withstanding of time and complex and progressive and still a little heavy with aspects of pop."

It is not a "summer fun" album, he said, and despite the Chicago-based outfit's reputation as a jam band, Mantis is daring, tight, and expertly played.

That's different, however, from saying it's concise or disciplined. "Complex and progressive and still a little heavy with aspects of pop" describes not only the album but pretty much every song.

When the group plays the Capitol Theatre on Thursday, it will be debuting the Mantis material in the Quad Cities - a departure from its typical road-testing of material. Fans of Umphrey's are used to knowing the songs by the time they've been committed to a studio album, but Mantis is different. The group worked on the recording for two years and didn't play the songs in front of an audience until it was released in January.