Live Music

“In such a small walkable area, The Iowa City Downtown District is home to several live music/performance venues. These venues capture a mix of raucous pleasures, intimate treasures, poignant community experiences and even those shake it out moments along with ‘fill your cup’ experiences. This playlist, curated by The Nighttime Mayor (Joe Reilly), highlights the performing acts that come to The Iowa City Downtown District’s venues. Every month a new playlist is made, showcasing the acts performing at the time. Enjoy!”

Joe Reilly, Downtown Iowa City’s Nighttime Mayor has been working in partnership with downtown venues and Little Village Magazine to meet, welcome and interview artists bringing unique and captivating performances to downtown. Part of this work has included a new video series called, “It Happened Downtown” that will showcase sitdown interviews with the artists as they prepare to perform in Iowa City. The series aims to show off the incredible talent and entertainment that downtown Iowa City’s nightlife hosts.

The first video of this series features  Sharon Udoh of the band Counterfeit Madison, a  participant in the 2019 Witching Hour Festival in Downtown Iowa City. The second video features The Gift of Gab, Lateef the Truthspeaker and the Blackalicious crew as they warmed up Gabe’s Iowa City with their ‘Nia’ 20th Anniversary celebration tour. Watch the full videos here…