Blog Entries Tagged Shows

Here's a list of all 49 blog entries tagged Shows here at derek.broox.com. I've also got 3,129 other things related to Shows.

  • 80/35 at Waterworks Park posted

    This was my 10th 80/35 music fest, and the first year that it didn't take place in downtown Des Moines. The venue change received a ton of pushback from locals and leadership stepped down... but the Des Moines Music Coalition and volunteers did what they could to make the fest happen. I just wanted to share my experience… To start off, I only knew 3 artists on the lineup, but one of my favorite things about this festival is discovering someone new. 80/35 has always impressed me by curating interesting, fun low-to-mid level artists that I never would have experienced otherwise... read more

  • Riot Fest 2015 posted

    Kari pretty much ordered us a set of Riot Fest tickets as soon as she saw this year's line-up. There wasn't many current acts, but it was chock full of bands we would've gone to 10+ years ago if we had money... or knew that we liked going to shows. I'd barely seen any of these people play before, but was definitely into a ton of them at least one point in my life. After watching Lollapalooza get a bigger and bigger, molly fueled, EDM crowd over the last 10 years, the crowd at Riot Fest was a much welcomed change... read more

  • Lollapalooza 2015 posted

    This was one of the weaker lineups I've seen at Lollapalooza, but out of tradition, we of course still went. On top of a few great shows, we got to hang out with good family and friends, eat some good food, enjoy a few cocktails, and shop on Milwaukee Ave. Here's who we saw... Friday Kari's dad joined us so that he could see Paul McCartney, which was awesome. Father John Misty - I have no idea who this is, but we caught part of this set while waiting for Hot Chip... read more

  • Lollapalooza 2014 posted

    So when Kari was diagnosed with MS last fall, no joke, one of the first things she asked me (nearly in tears) from her hospital bed was, "what are we going to do about lollapalooza?" Not even lying, she wanted to know that if she wasn't able to walk anymore, I'd be able to get her to the front like the guy we saw at Kendrick Lamar last year. It sounds totally cheesy, but live music is just something we do and it's been a huge part of our relationship. Well, fast forward 10 crazy months and aside from needing an arm through some rough terrain, Lollapalooza was absolutely no thang for Kari. No handicapped pass was needed, we had a blast, saw some amazing shows, walked ~60,000 steps, and hung out with some good friends. As far as music goes, 2014 was loaded with hip hop and great, danceable music... read more

  • Lollapalooza 2013 posted

    Didn't have the best lineup ever, but it was definitely better than 2012… Add in not having a crazy job to pull me back to the office, a free place to stay, the beautiful weather, and the amount of butts hanging out of daisy duke mom jorts, this turned out to be one of the best lollapalooza experiences so far. Here's how it went... Friday Crystal Castles - This was my 3rd time seeing them. Their producer, Ethan is amazing and Alice is batshit crazy on stage… smoking, drinking jameson out of the bottle, and just putting on a great show. They sounded awesome... read more

  • Lollapalooza 2012 posted - 1 comment

    I'll start off by saying that the weirdest part about lollapalooza this year was the line-up. I wasn't really stoked about ANY of the headliners and kinda "meh" about most of the other shows. This has never really happened to me on any other year. However, I'm living in Chicago right now and couldn't pass up the ease of going to the festival. Here's how things went... read more

  • Lollapalooza 2011 posted - 3 comments

    The 20 year anniversary of Lollapalooza, my 5th year at the festival, the 30th anniversary of my life, and the turning point of a pretty major change in my (and Kari's) life. We had some huge milestones going on this year... all of which sort of overshadowed each other, and moved too fast for me to fully appreciate them like I should have. Either way, Lollapalooza was a giant, super expensive blast again this year. There's the standard eating of great foods, dealing with crowds, late night dinners and even later night partying, so I won't get into all that… but here's a breakdown of the shows we saw this year... read more

  • Lollapalooza 2010 posted

    Soooo, Lollapalooza is starting to make some really nice changes. First of all, the space. They expanded the fest grounds across Columbus (adding 4 city blocks of space) and moved some of the small stages over there. It definitely, definitely opened things up and made the entire weekend much more comfortable. Everyone was gushing over the new grounds... read more

  • Lollapalooza 2009 posted - 3 comments

    Let me start off on a negative note by saying that Lollapalooza 2009 was the worst Lollapalooza I've been to. I mean, it wasn't awful or anything, I just think we got spoiled in 2006 and 2007. The artists this year weren't as good, we missed a lot of acts due to traveling, we didn't go to any afterparties, we didn't get to see many friends, and the weather was rough. ...Aside from all that though - It was still pretty awesome and I'm really glad we went. We got to hang out with Jon and Liz quite a bit, had Sushi Wabi, heard a ton of good music, and of course, got to visit our favorite city - Chicago... read more

  • My 2009 80/35 Music Fest Thoughts posted

    I meant to blog about this year's 80/35 festival a lot sooner but never got around to it. For those that don't know - Des Moines started a music festival last year called 80/35. It showcases both big names and local groups in an effort to listen to awesome music, party, and promote music culture in the Des Moines area. Last year I was super impressed with the festival - We had the Flaming Lips, The Roots, and an amazing effort put on by the organizers. I don't want to discount the organizers this year, because it is obvious that they worked crazy hard again... read more

  • Do I Sue Metallica? Or Do I Sue Harper? posted - 48 comments

    I sorta feel like I could sue someone's pants off Napster style, but obviously I'm not going to try; because I like Harper and I like Metallica. So let me explain. I bought the new Metallica CD today - Death Magnetic. And once I got it, I immediately opened the CD up and started flipping through the coffin booklet... which sort of resembles a hairy vagina on the cover, but that's beside the point... read more

  • 515 Alive 2008 posted - 4 comments

    This event is ridiculous - and not necessarily in a good way. I remember the first year I went - in 03 I was pretty excited about such an "urban" music festival. But at that point, I was a bedroom DJ myself, fresh out of college, and had never been to a real music event like lollapalooza - or even 80/35. I know, bad comparison, but still. I'm comparing success to - not success... read more

  • 80/35 Music Fest posted - 2 comments

    First of all, if you didn't buy tickets for the 80/35 Music festival, then you missed out on a great fest. And thanks for supporting the local live music scene, assholes. Des Moines' live music scene hasn't been successful because of you. So now that that's out of the way. 80/35 was excellent for its first year... read more

  • Trans Siberian Orchestra at Wells Fargo Arena posted - 1 comment

    I haven't blogged in a minute, but last night as I was sitting at Trans Siberian Orchestra, I decided to whip up a quick blog on my phone. So first, here's an update... Nothing too big has happened. I've been hanging out, working, going out, and scraping ice/snow off everything. If you haven't already seen, here are some pics from last weekend's randomness... read more

  • Lollapalooza 2007 posted - 1 comment

    My last 2 birthdays have been the most insanely awesome/draining weekends ever. My birthday, in Chicago, on Lollapalooza weekend. The best thing about this year was that I saw every band that I had written down to see, except for silverchair. I even saw some shows on conflicting schedules, yessss. However, my feet always kill me during the entire weekend... read more

  • Hip Hop, Yakuza, and Broomball Death. posted - 1 comment

    So last week seemed super not productive. I really can't think of anything good that I got done aside from entertainment and such so I'm currently checking my Twitter just to figure out wtf I've done lately, hahaha. OK... Last Wednesday, I picked up Minnis and met Nick for a hip hop show at Vaudeville. It was a good time as always... read more

  • Old and Boring @ Twenty Five posted - 4 comments

    What an insane birthday. Seriously. And now that my life is 1/3 over, my insurance should go down now, ha. W00t. Ok... read more

  • Shelves and 515 Alive posted - 1 comment

    My shelves are (mostly) done (again)!!! Haha. So yeah... Thursday, Rico and I finished spraying the shelves in my office - well, Rico did anyway. I just built the big ol tent and let the pro finish the work... read more

  • Fathers Day 06 posted - 2 comments

    Oh man. I have successfully eaten 18 pounds of food again. I am about to pop. I hope that I fit into my tux for Zach's wedding, haha. I think I gained 10 pounds since I gave him my measurements... read more

  • SP, KH, OMG posted

    Oh man, the past couple weeks have been insane. Work has been pretty stressful - a lot of weird things are happening, but they're panning out to be not so bad. Regardless though, it's prompted me to start updating my portfolio. Here's what I've got so far... yeah there's still a lot to do... read more

  • Kevi, NIN, Going Out, and Garage Doors posted - 11 comments

    The last week was pretty nice with a couple sort of crazy things. To start out, Kevi and Stacy split up on Monday which was like, "WHOA." Everyone's still sort of in shock it. So Kevi came over to hang out for a bit/get out of the house. Then I went out to play pool with Nathan/Chuck. Tuesday, Kari and I went out to 43 for "V-Day." It ruled - I ate a deer... read more

  • Hip Hop, Punk, Arnold, and a Party posted - 7 comments

    This week was a pretty good one. Monday I went to the Brother Ali/Swollen Members/Gaiden show at Vaudeville Mews. It was awesome. Swollen Members are really hype and Brother Ali is really good. Wednesday, Kari and I went to a Cornell alumni thing at Mondo's in Des Moines... read more

  • Don Vito's Back to School Tour, etc posted - 12 comments

    While I was on my honeymoon I got this email from Kevi that said, "Here's the plan... Friday, Nov. 4, we go to Cedar Rapids and hang out with the cast of Viva la Bam. Saturday, Nov. 5, we film Tonya's musical and then come home." I was confused, but when I got home he told me that he bought VIP tickets for Don Vito's Back to School Tour, where apparently Don Vito and guests from Viva la Bam tour around with rock bands... read more

  • My last weekend as a single dudemeister posted - 5 comments

    Friday, Kari's dad and I bottled beer, then Nick and Nicole visited while we cut my hair. Saturday, Kevi and I drove to the Quad Cities for Ben's Wicked Undergroupd Rap festival. It was a lot of fun. There were some good acts and also some not-so-good acts. Dan Tha Saltine was really good, as was Claas, and the Unidentified Suspects... read more

  • So many Shows! So little Opportunities! posted - 2 comments

    OMG. This sucks. So, my friend Ben is having this underground rap festival Saturday the 15th in the Quad Cities. I've gotta go to help support Ben and of course, underground rap. But, today I was checking some of my favorite bands' tour schedules... read more

  • Hip Hop shows n Limos posted

    So this weekend was nice, lots happened. Thursday I met some buddies at Rock Bottom, then went out to DMMC's True to the Art show. It was really good, probably the best Hip Hop show I've been to in Des Moines. Everyone had really good sets and there were 175+ people there - big for hip hop in Des Moines. Aeon Grey and Really Real had a great set... read more

  • Taste of Des Moines and The Bridge posted - 3 comments

    I sort of forgot to write about things going on. It's been so crazy hot that not much has happened. 2 weekends ago Zach and I tried to go soaping downtown, we hadn't gone in forever so we decided to give it a shot again. After about 10 minutes we were dying, so we just decided to walk around the city. We found some wicked sculptures... read more

  • Boom Boom Huck Birthday posted - 8 comments

    Ok, so as everyone has probably heard 100 times, my birthday is being stolen by my sister's wedding, which is sweet. However, Kari is doing a pretty freakin awesome job of making up for it. Last night she took me to Tony Hawk's Boom Boom Huck Jam. First of all Wells Fargo Arena just opened Tuesday, so this was the first event to come there... plus Kari got us 3rd row seats, basically right in the half pipe... read more

  • Tech N9ne, Rich's Birthday posted - 4 comments

    This weekend was pretty unproductive, but definitely had some good times. Friday I drove out to Rich's for his birthday, and to see Tech N9ne of course. It was nice to see everyone, mitch, rankin, ben (somehow there are never pics of ben), and tons of other peeps that I don't really know that well. So first was Tech N9ne at Quad City Live. We got in free because apparently we knew someone that did some work for the owners... read more

  • I like my coffee black, just like my metal posted - 3 comments

    Man, I love good shows. And I know the show is good when I have to take my shirt off for the drive home due to it being covered in sweat (or faygo). So yeah, last night Kevi and I went to see Mindless Self Indulgence at Val Air. It's my second time seeing them live - and they are so good live. One thing that sucked was that there was a gate keeping the crowd from pushing all the way up to the stage... read more

  • Shows, Shed, Mother's Day, Josh posted - 5 comments

    Ok so... Insanity lately. More to come. On top of being totally swamped at work, I've been crazy busy at night. Last week lots happened, Monday - The Show is the Rainbow at Vaudeville, then hanging out at the Lift... read more

  • Rapping and Skating A Dong posted - 2 comments

    Friday, Rich, and a kid from my H.S., Shawn Rankin, drove up for the Eightball and MJG concert. I wasn't going to go, because I've only heard a few of their songs... but by the time they got to my house I decided to go. Before the show, we all ate at Okoboji, where we saved some little kid from having a steak knife driven through his head. The show was at Val Air and was pretty awesome... read more

  • MC Chris posted - 9 comments

    Yesterday after work, Nick and I met Kevi to drive to Knickerbockers in Lincoln, NE. The trip was to see everyone's favorite "nerdcore/hip hop" artist, MC Chris. The show was supposed to start at 9, but that never happens, so we hung out at the bar, which is a pretty cool place. MC Chris' opener was a dude who went by "The Show is the Rainbow." He did his sound test/setup after we got there, which included setting up a PC, projector, and a sheet - haha. Anyway, this dude was crazy... read more

  • Mt Vernon, Theta Formal, and Aeon Grey posted - 6 comments

    Last Friday started out so so lame, but then after driving to Ames and Mt Vernon, things got much more fun. First of all we brought Elizabeth a birthday cake with a little chub in it. Then we all celebrated her birthday. It was fun, I drank ecto cooler out of a boot and met Elizabeth's "brother" John, who was awesome. Later we ran around town, saw friends, goofed off, hung out with a spanish professor, etc... read more

  • Ryan Dunn's Rock Tour posted - 5 comments

    In my last article I talked about wanting to go to Ryan Dunn's Rock Tour with Kevi. You know, the show that was supposed to have The Alter Boys and Disengage playing, and be hosted by the cast of Viva la Bam (mainly Dunn, Phil, April, Raab, Rake, and di'Camillo). These MTV heads were actually coming to Des Moines, IA. Weird. So yesterday I shaved my goatee, threw on my "not bam" shirt and some glasses and went to Kevi's house... read more

  • Buca, Servers, Ryan Dunn's Show posted - 7 comments

    Some things are going on. Kari's parents stopped out Friday night before their flight to Phoenix in the morning. We had a good time, went to Buca di Beppo, ate in the kitchen, had too many limoncellos. Her family loves food like no other. It's insane Saturday I got a lot done, sometimes it rules to actually stay home on weekends... read more

  • Thai Rap in the Sky With Tight Pants posted - 2 comments

    This weekend was pretty good. Friday, Nick and I went to Jazzy Willy's to watch Luke rap. The first dude that went on, Gai Den Gadema, was real real good. Then we saw Renaissance, a group from Iowa City. They brought these 2 white guys with them, one was their DJ and the other was some random guy... read more

  • House Warming Party, ICP, and the Ring posted - 13 comments

    So this weekend was awesome. Rich, Ben, Kevi, Lindsey, and Steph all came up to stay with us. We had a house warming party Friday night, which was really fun. We had about 30 people show up and almost everyone brought beer, wine, or alcohol... so my refrigerator is insane... read more

  • Horror Films, Tech N9ne, etc posted - 3 comments

    So this weekend was pretty productive. I really had a lot of fun. First, Zach and Kevi met me at the cAb after work, then we ate at Rock Bottom. Rocktoberfest is out again and it is oh so good. After Rock Bottom we started filming our new movie, which we're entering in the Good Morning America: Scary Movie Contest... read more

  • Chicago - Heelys and Metallica posted - 5 comments

    So this weekend I was scheduled to do a Heelys demo in Chicago. Kari was already going to Barrington (a suburb) to visit friends and see a Jimmy Buffet concert (dork, haha). So I rode along with her and cassie and got dropped off at a train station and played with my camera while I waited. Harper and I then went to Crobar at 2am with Jordan and Monica. It was nice to see Claudia and Red Hair Matt again too... read more

  • 515 Alive posted

    So Des Moines puts on this annual festival called 515 Alive. I decided to give it a shot this year and it was surprisingly really cool. First we (Nick, Nicole, Kari, Kevi, and I) checked out the bmx / skateboarding setup... which was pretty lame. They only had 1 spine and 1 fun box... read more

  • Cornerstone 2004 - finished posted - 3 comments

    rule. ok, so Cornerstone is done, and I am happy. I got to see a couple more shows since my post yesterday. And now that I have all my pictures consolidated. I changed the pictures of Zach and I... read more

  • Cornerstone Thus Far posted - 2 comments

    So I'm halfway through Cornerstone. So much fun. My only complaint is that there aren't as many people here this year. It's only Zach, Amy, and I at our camp site. I wish Aaron, Jordan, Gregg, Kevi, and Kyle Pitman would have come... read more

  • Kill Hannah AND H.I.M. posted - 9 comments

    Kill Hannah and HIM are touring together, which rules so much. I want to go to one the shows soooo bad. Kari and I can get plane tickets pretty easily, so we were even considering flying to NY, LA, or even Philadelphia to see them together. But every stop on the tour is on a bad date. I'm either doing demos, working, or going to weddings... read more

  • Tesla Concert posted - 7 comments

    Kevin got some tickets to go to the Tesla show in Des Moines tonight. However, the person he was going with sold out, so I decided that I'd go to the concert with him. ...Holy 80s. Everyone there was seriously stuck in the 80s (MAYBE early 90s). Kevin and I were within the youngest 3% there... read more

  • The Green Room posted - 4 comments

    Last night after work, I drove to Mount Vernon (2 hour drive) to meet Kari and Steph. Then we drove to the Green Room in Iowa City to see Heiruspecs and my friend Luke (aka know1, aka aeon gray) perform. Anyway, Luke was performing with Angle and DJ Wickedawesome (a friend of theirs). Man, it was the best soft focus show I've seen. I've only seen like 3 before then... read more

  • Valentine's Day, Soft Focus, Heiruspecs, etc posted - 8 comments

    So this weekend marked the day that every girl in the world looks forward to, my Grandma's Birthday... also known as Valentine's day. Kari and I spent the day in town, I bought a $300 toolbox, ha. Kari also bought me a diagonal striped shirt from express for men, haha, I am metro now. Later, we went to Hy-Vee and picked out a bunch of stuff to make dinner at my APT... read more

  • Mindless Self Indulgence posted

    I went to the MSI concert tonight with Cullen, Kevin, and Jenny (a girl from Cornell). It was awesome. The show started off with a weird bluegrass/metal band from Brooklyn, NY called unkle ****er(but the violinist is hot). Then Tub Ring came on, a punk/metal band from Chicago, who was really really good... I wish I woulda bought one of their CDs... read more

  • Detroit / Halloween / Harper posted

    This weekend I went to Detroit with Kevin, Ben Stockwell, Richie, and his friend Adam. ...Man, that city is ghetto, but also fun. Thursday around 4 I drove to Mt Vernon to meet Kevin, then we drove to Richie's house to pick them up, then up to Detroit. After a lot of driving, we arrived at our hotel on 14 mile around 5 AM. We slept for 5 hours and then woke up to go sight seeing... read more