Looking for live music in Des Moines this weekend? Check out this list of all the music happening in the Des Moines area this weekend, March 18-20!

Disclaimer: Events are subject to change. For the most up-to-date info, please reach out to the venues at the link below.

+ 80/35 Music Festival tickets are now live! July 8-9, 2022. Grab your tickets here!

+ ON SALE: 2022 edition of Gross Domestic Product, an all-Iowa music festival in downtown Des Moines, April 23. Grab your tickets here!

🎶 Live Music By Venue 🎶

Surety Hotel

LOCATION: 206 6th Ave. Des Moines, IA 50309

Surety Sessions: Live with Damon Dotson

  • Friday, March 18, 7-10 p.m. 

Check out Damon’s Facebook page here for his “Midwest Made” sound. 

Wooly’s 

LOCATION: 504 E Locust St, Des Moines, IA 50309

Big Time Grain Co.

  • Friday, March 18, Doors: 7:00 pm. Show 8:30 p.m. 

Kansas City’s premier country western and country rock band.

Poppy: Never Find My Place Tour

  • Saturday, March 19, Show 8:00 p.m. 

“Post-genre art and music visionary Poppy has quickly risen to center-stage as an unassuming paragon of high culture, high fashion and high art. Embodying “alternative” in the truest sense of the word, she bleeds the boundaries between pop, progressive, and electronic underpinned by unpredictable time signatures shifts and heavy edge on her third full-length and debut for Sumerian Records, I Disagree.”

All Wooly’s Shows

Noce Jazz

LOCATION: 1326 Walnut St, Des Moines, IA 50309

Grammy Nominated Vocalist Stacey Kent

  • Friday, March 18, 7:00 – 8:15 p.m. AND 9:00 – 10:15 p.m. 

“Noce is proud to partner with Civic Music Association to present internationally acclaimed vocalist Stacey Kent.”

The Brian Martin Big Band

  • Saturday, March 19, 7:00 – 9:15 p.m. 

“Brian Martin is an award-winning trombonist, educator, composer and arranger currently based in both the Boston and Des Moines areas. Don’t miss this elite ensemble of top Iowa & New England musicians absolutely stacked from top to bottom!”

All Noce Shows

Gas Lamp

LOCATION: Gas Lamp, 1501 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, IA

The Killigans, Aage Birch at Gas Lamp

  • Friday, March 18, 9 p.m. 

“The Killigans are a seven piece “folk-punk” band from Lincoln, NE. The Killigans “sound” combines the diverse musicals tastes of the bands members; fusing Punk Rock, Folk, Country and Western, Celtic, European folk, Americana, and other types of music into an upbeat, foot-stomping, beer-raising party. Lyrically, the songs range from classic storytelling to rebel songs to ballads to middle class anthems. The Killigans are a band who thrive on live performance and crowd interaction.”

The Savage Freds, Nothing Special at Gas Lamp

  • Saturday, March 19, 8:30 p.m. 
 
All Upcoming Gas Lamp Events

The Hall

LOCATION: The Hall, 111 S 11th Street, Suite 200, West Des Moines, IA 50265

William Russell Wallace

  • Friday, March 18, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
“William Russell Wallace is a rock and roll story teller in the tradition of Tom Waits or Tom Petty.” – AmericanaUK “With a throwback Americana style that sounds as if The Jayhawks jammed with Patti Smith, Wallace hoots, toots, and struts with a contagious abandon.” – Glide Magazine

Jordan Beem 

  • Saturday, March 19, 7-9 p.m. 
Jordan Beem is an acoustic singer/songwriter out of Des Moines, IA. Learn more about Jordan on his Facebook page here. 
 
Upcoming Musicians at The Hall

xBk Live

LOCATION: xBk Live, 1159 24th St, Des Moines, IA 50311

Justin Jarrell

  • Friday, March 18, 7:00 p.m. 

“You can smell the dirt in the fields, hear the wind as it blows across the plains, and see the people that Chicago Farmer sings about. Each track captures a moment in time, whether for a person or a particular place. Imagine if a John Steinbeck short story had been written as a song, and this will give you a fairly good idea as to what Chicago Farmer accomplishes on his albums.” — HONEST TUNE

Brad and Kate w/ Ryne Doughty

  • Saturday, March 19, 7:00 p.m. 

“Brad & Kate is a pop-folk group lead by husband and wife duo, Kate Myers and Brad Myers. Charming and dynamic, the duo have grown an organic following around Iowa and the Midwest in a few short years. Their first full-length album, scheduled to release summer 2022, boasts a variety of sounds from their newly released pop single, “You Right Next to Me” to indie-folk-rock, “Better on My Own” to a reflective, “Dreams Change.”

Dan Tedesco – March Residency 

  • Sunday, March 20, 7 p.m. 

“I’ll be kicking off this residency on Sunday, March 13th solo, but will build the sets up each week – bringing different musicians on as we roll along. The arrangements will grow just as the band does – piece by piece. This sort of “workout” is something I’ve wanted to put together for a long time, and look forward to having you join me for the journey.” – Dan Tedesco

 
All xBK shows

Platform DSM

LOCATION: 400 Walnut Street, Des Moines, IA, 50309

Casa Bonita / ELKN

  • Saturday, March 19, 9:00 p.m. – 2 a.m. 

Need a club night? You’ve got it with this local DJ. Listen to his SoundCloud here. 

More Upcoming DJs

Ready to tackle this weekend? Check out all of our weekend guides here.