80/35 asked us to try something new. Iowa music fans had a mixed response

The 2024 80/35 festival was a lot of things: an oasis of both local and original music and art, a chance to see old and new friends, and a much-needed reminder that there are beautiful things in the world. It was also really stupid-hot. There’s nothing anyone could have done about that, but it was impossible to avoid, and therefore worth mentioning.

There was another thing that’s impossible to not talk about: the crowd was noticeably smaller than in recent years. I don’t want to speculate as to why, but it’s definitely true that Water Works Park is not within easy walking distance of hotels or air-conditioned buildings. Although they put on a great show, Killer Mike and OK Go didn't appear to drive ticket sales in the same as past headliners like Weezer, Ke$ha or Charli XCX.

As in years past, there were four stages, with only the main stage requiring a paid ticket for admission. Each of the stages offers something a little different, depending on the festival experience you’re looking for.

The stages

The Alchemy Stage was located behind the main stage, on the right-hand side as you look out from the stage. Finding the Alchemy stage was a little confusing. Once you found it, though, it was a cozy hangout spot with a lot of shade thanks to the trees. I spoke to more than one person who mostly hung out at Alchemy for the weekend.

Most of the bands who played at Alchemy were from Iowa, and there weren’t a lot of big rock bands with complicated setups. I was already familiar with most of them, and everyone sounded great.

I especially want to shout out Munk Rivers from Des Moines, who are a fairly new band that put on a great performance that the crowd was definitely into. I’m looking forward to hearing more from them.

Also, I finally caught a performance by Lady Revel. Better late than never, right?

The People’s Stage had a lot to offer festival-goers who were willing to make the hike to get there. You had to follow a line of food trucks to find it, and it was quite a distance from the main festival grounds. But it was a spacious area with the second-largest stage of the festival, so they were able to accommodate a large variety of acts.

I have to confess, I didn’t spend much time at the People’s stage. Tripmaster Monkey opened the festival there on Friday night, but I caught them at Octopus in Cedar Falls on Thursday so I could be free to roam around during the fest. I did catch the opening of The Finesse’s performance, with lead singer Madison Ray leading a marching band.

The People’s stage was also where my greatest missed opportunity from this year’s 80/35 performed. You see, every year there’s one band that everyone is talking about by the end of the weekend. This year, it was the Cincinnati rock band Foxy Shazam. I’m not exaggerating when I say that 100% of my friends and colleagues were raving about their set afterward. I’ll let someone else fill you in on Foxy Shazam’s performance, and I’m also putting them near the top of my Concert Revenge List.

By far the most fascinating addition to 80/35 this year was the Silent Stage . It’s exactly what it sounds like: in order to hear the music coming from the musicians on stage, you had to check out a pair of headphones.

I thought this was going to be extremely weird, but I got used to it pretty quickly, and so did most of the other folks I spoke to. Like the Alchemy Stage, the Silent Stage was mostly Iowa musicians, many of whom I was catching for the first time.

And that brings us to… the Main Stage.

The Main Stage

The list of Main Stage acts included some longtime Iowa favorites and touring indie rock bands, along with some great “new to us” bands.

Hiatus Kaiyote and Dreamer Isioma fell into the latter group for me. Bully is a core band here at Studio One, and their rocking set was one to remember. And it’s always great to catch The Maytags and The Uniphonics, both of whom sounded great.

OK Go closed out Friday night. Of course, they’re famous for their music videos, but otherwise did not appear to be a “big get,” or at least not a very timely one. They did announce they’ve finished a full album, which will be their first since 2014.

OK Go’s performance was fun. I’d seen them perform with my family at the Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center in Cedar Falls about five years ago. For that performance, they sat on stage and played along to their videos, which were projected on a big screen behind them. They also took questions from the audience in between songs. It didn’t quite feel like a rock show, so I was looking forward to catching them in a more traditional concert setting.

Turns out, even in a traditional concert setting, OK Go still takes questions from the audience. It’s just a thing they do. This is how I found out that they use 66 pounds of biodegradable confetti during one of their shows. They also played a few (quite good) songs from the upcoming album, and lead singer Damien Kulash came into the crowd for a couple of the numbers. And of course, we got to hear all the crowd favorites from their now-classic music videos.

The festival ended Saturday night with a performance from Grammy Award-winning rapper Killer Mike. He’s best known as one half of the duo Run The Jewels, who were at 80/35 in 2015. Mike must not have strong memories from that year, because he apparently called up last year’s headliner, fellow Atlanta hip-hop icon Big Boi, for some advice. The OutKast legend warned Mike that “Iowa doesn’t play around.”

Well, that’s true, and neither does Mike, because this was a performance for the ages. Killer Mike’s headlining set was one of my favorites in 80/35 history. Musically, it combined hip-hop, R&B and soul, thanks partly to a powerful group of backup singers, and Mike’s ever-present sidekick, DJ Trackstar. The songs touched on some heavy subjects, ranging from Mike’s deceased mother to the pressure that men and fathers face. And he also gave the most earnest, well-meaning appreciation for weed dealers I’ve ever heard.

See you next time

There’s no reason to believe 80/35 won’t be back next year, and you can bet I’ll be there. This year was definitely different, but had plenty to offer, and the music and people were (still) amazing.

All that to say, I can’t fault anyone who’s gone in the past for not going this year. But for 80/35 to continue it’ll need everyone’s support. And as a vital part of our local music scene, the fest has proven it can program in a different location — and it's worthy of continued support in the future.