Alright! So here's how our super rad Fourth weekend went down.
The 80/35 Music Festival. Two days of indie music fun (and we even brought Lo to some of it.) It had been awhile since we had been to an outdoor music festival but we were so happy to see these kinds of bands being brought to downtown Des Moines. Perfect summer weather, a diverse lineup of rock, indie, hip hop and punk bands. It was the best 4th we've had in awhile.
We saw...
Ingrid Michaelson (...who wanted to change up 'The Way I Am', and so she sang all of 'Ice Ice Baby' and 'The Fresh Prince of Bell Air' - yo homes, smell ya later! - before asking us all to clap-clap - clap for her hit song. And she's so totally adorable live.)
Cracker (Okay, they're older now but they impressed the hell out of us. I was a big fan in the 90s.)
Poison Control Center (Fun, as you can see.)
Dirty Little Rabbits (Weird and theatrical and awesome, with Stella Katsoudas of Sister Soleil and Shawn Crahan of Slipknot - loved them. )
Pieta Brown (Loved, loved her.)
A gyro from The Gyro Man. A treat straight from my college days. So tasty and brings back memories.
We finally stepped inside this huge new sculpture in Western Gateway Park downtown.
And took Lo to her first official show. (She saw some pretty amazing bands for being a one-year-old.)
The Roots (Sorry for the not-great photo.) What an amazing act to see live. Lotus rocked out on our blanket 'till almost 11:00 pm.
And wow. The Flaming Lips. If all you know of the Flaming Lips is 'She Don't Use Jelly,' you are sadly missing out on a lot. And this show... Confetti. Painted naked dreadlock girls. People dressed in Telletubby costumes with flashlights. Huge balloons. Trippy graphics. The music. And a message... about the war, about politics, about our soldiers. Nothing was left out and this show will stay with me for a long time.