The outdoor summer concert series that has entertained thousands of Siouxlanders this summer is coming to a close Friday night with a performance of Celtic rock by The Young Dubliners.

The Young Dubs have been at it since 1988 when two Dublin natives bumped into each other in Los Angeles and decided to start a band. Eight studio albums later and the five-piece band that blends the hard rock style of the Sunset Strip with distinctly Irish elements like the tin whistle and mandolin are closing Sioux City’s Fridays on the Promenade.

FOTP featuring the Young Dubliners starts at 6 p.m. The two-hour concert costs $2 and patrons are encouraged to bring lawn chairs as seating around the Roth Fountain, Fourth and Virginia streets, is limited.

FRIDAY

Don’t look now but this year’s Fridays on the Promenade concert series is already on its seventh offering. Up this evening from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Roth Fountain, corner of Fourth & Virginia streets, is Liquid Thin, a four-piece band that is hard to define. With jazz coming from the sax, blues and rock coming from the guitar and everything else streaming from the drummer and keyboardist, fusion may be the best classification. Playing all original songs, this is one band that is serious about music and seriously deserves your support. $2.

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How did an Irish/Filipino man become a successful country artist? Heck, I don’t know, but it has to have something to do with Neal McCoy’s voice. The singer brings 20 years experience, 11 albums and 20 charted singles to his 8 p.m. concert at WinnaVegas in Sloan, Iowa. $30.

SATURDAY

Rhonda of Rhonda’s Speakeasy, 212 Cunningham Drive, wants you to party in her parking lot come Saturday. For why, you ask? Because out there is where popular national blues touring artist Randall Zwarte is going to be. Opening the 7 p.m. show will be Sioux City’s own Kelly Quinn Band. $10 at the gate.

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We all know ArtSplash, the annual art show and sale along the riverfront, is all about art. Did you know it is also all about entertainment? Over eight hours of live performances go down on two stages this year. For example, Sioux City favorite Rockestra takes the main stage at 5 p.m. This 40-piece rock orchestra is fresh off of gigs at the Iowa State Fair. $5 at the gate.

FRIDAY

I know five people who have seen the jazz/blues/rock hybrid band Liquid Thin in concert. These five people subsequently called me and said, “You gotta check these guys out!” While I have yet to, I may tonight when the four-piece takes the stage at 8:30 p.m. at the Skyline Bar & Casino, 103 N Hwy 105. It will be a nice preview to what the band will do when it performs at Fridays on the Promenade next week. FREE.

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Another recommendation? Let’s see… Local fav’s Top Down get down starting at 9 p.m. at Rhonda’s Speakeasy, 212 Cunningham Drive. ‘Nuff said. FREE.

SATURDAY

The Sioux City Growth Organization is comprised of young professionals who want to make this river city a better place by getting involved with everything from event organizing to local government. Some of the things the group does, like Sculpt Siouxland, need funding. Enter fundraiser GOFest 2009. Starting at 7:30 p.m. at Jolly Rogers (the bar next to Bev’s On The River), this fest features two band, Electric Junction and the ever-popular Kory and the Fireflies. $10.

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Evicted hails from Nebraska but has been schooled at the University of Hard Rock. Think a Metallic-influenced garage band with a female lead singer. Want to know more? Then ask this band in person when they take the outdoor stage at the Ickey Nickel, 4700 41st St., at 8 p.m. Not sure if there will be a cover charge or not, but this concert concludes the bar’s “Nickel Meltdown,” a day filled with volleyball, baggo, horseshoe and beer pong tournaments. Did I mention the mud wrestling with the Sioux City Roller Dames?

Gary Allan, a multi-platinum country singer, will perform at the Tyson Events Center on Nov. 6, according to the artist’s web site.

As part of the 25-city “Get Off on the Pain” Tour, Allan will perform in Sioux City in support of the release of his ninth studio album. That record’s first single, “Today,” is currently climbing up charts and earning air play around the nation.

Allan’s impressive career includes 10 singles that have reached the Top Ten on Billboard’s Hot Country charts, including the three number ones “Man to Man,” “Tough Little Boys” and “Nothing On but the Radio.”

According to a press release on Allan’s web site, Jack Ingram and the Eli Young Band will open the Sioux City show.

Tyson Events Center officials could not be reached to confirm this booking. Expect tickets to go on sale in early September.

In the mood for some live tunes this weekend? Here are my picks on where to go and what to hear:

FRIDAY

Warning. Only three Fridays on the Promenade concerts remain this year. Held outside in the pedestrian space surrounding the Roth Fountain, Fourth and Virginia streets, bluegrass will be the music du jour Friday. Pert’ Near Sandstone, a high-octane, gritty, hard-driving string band from the Twin Cities takes the stage from 6 to 8 p.m. Bring a chair. $2 at the gate.

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Is that the blues rock band Indigenous you hear? No, it’s just Indigenous minus lead singer/guitar virtuoso Mato Nanji. Mostly because they rock, The Kris Lager Band became the Indigenous rhythm section a few years back. Occasionally they take a break and get back to their roots as a four-piece from Lincoln, Neb. Texas Blues will be on tap when this group takes The Chesterfield, 1225 Fourth St., stage at 9:30 p.m. Unknown cover at the door.

SATURDAY

The cash-strapped can rejoice. Bills Bar, 2110 Court St., is hosting three bands for FREE starting at 9 p.m. Hearing these bands is worth paying some sort of cover. Locals MAN eats BEAR (alt-rock) and Three Dog Knife (a past Battle of the Bands winner) open for Jake Bellows, a folk rock singer/songwriter hailing from Omaha. Bellows is best known as the frontman of Saddle Creek recording artist Neva Dinova and as an occasional member of Conor Oberst’s band Bright Eyes. Again, it’s free.

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A few years back this band was inducted into the Iowa Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame. Now Bonesteel is getting back together for a 9:30 p.m. show at The Chesterfield, 1225 Court St. Although Bonesteel officially called it quits in the 1982, a few sell-out reunion shows prompted the group to return to the studio in the 1990s. One track from those sessions, “Big Sioux River” raced up the indie charts and missed Billboard’s by a few points. Mat d. opens. Unknown cover at the door.

Just a friendly reminder that Iowa Public Television coverage of the 19th annual Saturday in the Park festival will be broadcast at 8 p.m. tonight.

Presented in high-def, “Saturday in the Park 2009″ features live performances from Counting Crows, Mike Doughty, Shemekia Copeland, Lenka and more, condensed down to a 60-minute program.

Tune in to your IPTV station to check it out. You never know, one of the crowd pans just might capture you sneaking a beer out of the beer garden.

If you like what you see, make sure to thank program underwriters The Waitt Family Foundation, the City of Sioux City and the Clarion Hotel. This is the third year IPTV has filmed the festival that annually attracts over 25,000 people to Grandview Park.

In the mood for some live tunes this weekend? Here are my picks on where to go and what to hear:

FRIDAY

Forget about shows this Friday. Rest up. Saturday is where it is at.

SATURDAY

Blues guitarist Scott Holt spend 10 years cutting his teeth as a member of Buddy Guy’s band. He followed the solo road after that. Six albums later — including studio work with Little Feat and Tab Benoit — Holt brings his band to The Chesterfield, 1225 Fourth St., for a 9 p.m. show. $10 at the door.

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No, you have not somehow been transported back to 1996. Yes, that was the last time Sioux City-based Celtic folk rock group Jain Jeffer graced a stage, but this a reunion show that’s going down at the Sioux City Live Music Club (Eagles Club), 416 Jackson St. Guitarists Ray McAvoy and Jerry Kessler, vocalist Ruth O’Really and violin virtuoso Buckly Mills — in town from Nashville where he is a studio musician – take the stage at 9 p.m. $5 at the door.

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Each weekend Rhonda Capron, the namesake of Rhonda’s Speakeasy, 212 Cunningham Drive, books a regional band for customers who want to listen to live music and not pay a cover charge to do so. Noble. This Saturday at 5 p.m. she’s charging, but there is more bang for the musical buck going down. The annual Rhonda’s Rockfest features Board of Directors, Top Down, Toxic Brew, Going Nowhere and Small Change. $15 or $10 and two cans of food.

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If you have a sober driver you may want to considering heading up Highway 75 to Le Mars, Iowa, for the Summer of Underground music festival. Created as a way to highlight some of the lesser-known, more alternative bands that call Siouxland home, eight groups have been booked for the outdoor space around the Olson Event Center. And Remote, 66 Crush, Bullets for Babys, Lazer Rocket Arm, Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell, Killing Floor, 315 and Styles That Satisfy start at 2 p.m. $6

Yes, music fans, it’s Iowa State Fair time.

No, that doesn’t mean this writer is pumped to eat a variety of items stabbed with a stick. It means this writer is considering making the drive to our state capitol to catch a few of the musical acts booked on stages both free and costly.

The mix of grandstand and free stage entertainment is quite eclectic this year. Consider this, on one of the five free stages, one night Sioux City’s Orchestra performs. Days later hip-hop artist Coolio looks to take Hawkeyes on a fantastic voyage. The fair, it seems, really has something for everyone.

And pork chops on sticks.

Here’s who is booked to perform in Des Moines:

Aug. 13

Grandstand: Steven Curtis Champman and Jeremy Camp, 8 p.m., $27. Christian.

Free: The Nadas, Firefall, Trailer Choir.

Aug. 14

Aug. 16

Aug. 18

Aug. 19

Grandstand: Tractor pull.

Free: Hairball, Vocal Trash, Papa Doo Run Run, Jason Brown

Aug. 20

FRIDAY

Only four of the 2009 Fridays on the Promenade concerts remain. Up this week at the outdoor space surrounding the Roth Fountain, corner of Fourth & Virginia streets, is G.B. Leighton, an indie rock band hailing from the Twin Cities. Nothing flashy with these guys, just straight-forward rock music. What’s impressive about the band fronted by Brian Leighton is that the group has released 10 albums, selling over 70,000 copies. The six-piece group has achieved this without the backing of a record label. Bring a lawn chair to the 6 p.m. concert. $2 at the gate. Rain location is The Chesterfield, 1225 Fourth St.

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Taking off my unbiased journalist hat, I’m going to offer my opinion that Mat d. is one of the most talented musicians currently calling Sioux City home. As a guitarist he’s solid, but it’s the lyrics he pens that makes him a talent of note. For this 8 p.m. gig at Meet Virginia, 306 Virginia St., Mat d. leaves the backing band at home and strips down for an intimate set. FREE.

SATURDAY

If rain stays away, the riverfront should be a great spot to waste away Saturday. Rock cover band Wavelength would like to assist you in that effort. This band takes to the outdoor stage in Sioux City’s often overlooked scenic Missouri River beer garden at Jolly Rogers, 1110 Larsen Park Rd. (next to Bev’s), at 9 p.m. FREE.

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Finally, fans of the blues may want to visit Rhonda’s Speakeasy, 212 Cunningham Drive, Saturday night for a set by Mo’ Doogus that begins at 9 p.m. Mo’ Doogus formed less than a year ago and hails from Norfolk. Using the talents of a female lead singer, Mo’ Doogus covers everyone from Muddy Waters to Deep Purple. FREE.

In this Monday, Aug. 3, 2009 photo, Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler speaks to fans before at the start of the Legends Ride, in Deadwood, S.D. Tyler of Aerosmith suffered head, neck and shoulder injuries in a tumble from the stage at a South Dakota concert and joked about the fall as he was put into the helicopter to be taken to a hospital, a concert spokesman said Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009. (AP Photo/Steve McEnroe)

From the Associated Press
STURGIS, S.D. (AP) – Aerosmith postponed at least one weekend concert after frontman Steven Tyler fell off the stage at a South Dakota show and suffered what a concert spokesman said were head, neck and shoulder injuries.

Tyler, 61, fell several feet while dancing around as the sound crew replaced a fuse that blew during the song “Love in an Elevator,” Mike Sanborn, spokesman for the Buffalo Chip Campground, said Thursday.

Buffalo Chip hosted the Wednesday concert during which an amateur video showed Tyler spinning around before falling.

A concertgoer said Tyler’s head was bleeding and he was holding his shoulder after the fall, but it remained unclear Thursday how seriously he was hurt. The frontman was airlifted to Rapid City Regional Hospital, Sanborn said. A hospital spokeswoman would not confirm whether Tyler was there, and a representative for Aerosmith’s publicity firm said only that the company was gathering information.

The band’s Friday concert in Winnipeg, Manitoba, was postponed. On June 28, Tyler hurt his leg at a concert in Uncasville, Conn., and the band postponed seven shows in July. Tyler also battled pneumonia before the tour began in June, while guitarist Joe Perry fought a knee infection.

Tyler, whose performances often include swaying and grinding on microphone stands adorned with scarves, was dancing on a catwalk Wednesday night that was connected to the main stage.

“He does a lot of dancing on the stage and he does a lot of stuff with his mike stand. He put his stand down and twirled around and stepped backwards off the stage,” Sanborn said.

Many in the crowd thought it was part of the act, said Jessica Kokesh, a University of South Dakota journalism student who covered the concert for the Rapid City Journal.

“We thought maybe he stage-dived into the crowd, but he didn’t get back up,” Kokesh said.

Tyler landed on a couple of fans, Sanborn said, and security rushed to help him. The crowd cheered when Tyler was helped up.

“There was like a big sigh, a collective ‘Whoa’ from everybody,” said Chuck Baker, 53, of Denver, who was about 20 rows from the stage when Tyler fell.

The rocker was taken backstage, where a physician attended to him. Later, Perry told the audience the show would not go on.

Jake Cohen was in the VIP area backstage and didn’t see the fall, but said he saw Tyler afterward.

“When they took him out, he was bleeding from his head and holding his shoulder,” said Cohen, a salesman for Tyler’s Dirico Motorcycles line.

Tyler, known for hits such as “Walk This Way” and “Dream On,” promoted his motorcycle line at Sturgis last year and was back to do the same and play at Buffalo Chip.

He was known for heavy drug and alcohol abuse in the 1970s and early 1980s. Every member of the blues-rock five-piece went to rehab in the mid-1980s, and the group staged an improbable comeback with the MTV generation. They were also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.