Midwest offers wide array of big-name music festivals
Opinion by Katie Ericson
With summer coming up, everyone’s thinking of water parks, ice cream and barbeques. But there is something else that’s a big part of summer — concerts. Each summer, tons of artists go on tour, and who does not want to stay up all night screaming their lungs out to the lyrics of their favorite band?
During summer, you don’t have to worry about putting off that midterm paper or calculus test to make the concert.
The biggest shows this summer are going to be Katy Perry’s Prismatic tour and Bruno Mars’ Moonshine Jungle Tour. Everybody saw the “Roar” music video, and you cannot help but love “Dark Horse.” Same with Bruno Mars. His halftime show during the Super Bowl killed it, and now he is going all across the country to croon out “Young Girls.”
If you are more indie than pop, check out Imagine Dragons’ tour “Night Visions and Momentour” with Fall Out Boy.
Dragons stunned everyone with Kendrick Lamar at the Grammys and everyone can sing along with “Radioactive.”
Fall Out Boy made a serious comeback with their new album and our very own Drake men’s basketball team used “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark” for their startup.
There are only two obstacles in the way of seeing these great concerts: ridiculously overpriced tickets, and actually getting to a show.
Half of the artists seem to spend the majority of their time overseas. Others only visit big name cities like New York or Las Vegas. A couple of hit shows come to Des Moines each year — Macklemore had a huge concert last fall.
This summer is no exception. Cher is going on tour and making a stop with Cyndi Lauper on June 9. Sure, her music is not really new, but her show is going to be an all-out extravaganza.
Karmin is also coming to Des Moines on May 2. The rapper/hip-hop group caught everyone’s attention with “Brokenhearted” and impressed with the snappy song “Acapella.”
Still, Des Moines does not get a ton of big stars.
Luckily, we are close to a place that does — Omaha. Weird as it is to have Nebraska get more concerts than Iowa, the city is hosting Katy Perry (Aug. 20) and Bruno Mars (June 23).
They are also going to have the smooth-voiced John Legend wooing with his hit “All of Me” on May 6, and May Day Parade is stopping on May 7 with the “Monsters in the Closet” tour.
Obviously, if you are going to go to jaw-dropping concerts like Mars, Perry or Cher’s that are made for Vegas or New York stages, you are going to pay more.
Most of their tickets are going for between $80 and $100. But Des Moines and Omaha have great smaller venues that pull in singers for decent prices. Both Karmin and May Day Parade are selling tickets for just $20.
If there is a concert that is still just a little too pricey for you, check out Ticketmaster and Stubhub.
These sites let real people sell their tickets, and while some may go up in price, others are significantly reduced.
Stubhub also lets you set a price alert for your favorite concerts. Enter the amount you want to pay, and Stubhub will email you when the tickets reach that price.
Summer is a time for relaxing and having fun, and any one of these concerts are going to be amazing.
Sure, you might have to drive for an hour and pay $100 to see it, but these singers are worth it.
Go online and check out the new tours. Fall Out Boy and Imagine Dragons are not coming to Omaha or Des Moines, but are going to Milwaukee, Chicago and St. Louis.
Ericson is a junior English major and can be reached at katie.ericson@drake.edu