Saving Abel in Iowa City

It is not every day here in Eastern Iowa that a concert lands on a Friday.

Iowa happens to be a flyover state in many cases for bands, or a drive-thru as they make their way to Nebraska, Minnesota, or Wisconsin.

However, this past Friday, a band that is still played on many stations across the country Saving Abel made a stop in Iowa City to a venue I had never been to before, the First Avenue Club! 

My earlier days in radio, Saving Abel was a pretty big mainstay thanks to their massive hit they had at the time by the name of ‘Addicted.’ You know it…”I’m so addicted to, all the things you do!” You are probably singing the rest of it right now. So, when I saw that Saving Abel was making their way to Iowa, I had to go check out the show.

What was cool is that the band did stop by the radio station before they made their way to the venue. We brought guitarist Jason and singer Jared into the station and chatted about Saving Abel was making their return. Jared had previously been out of the band for years, and only recently made his way back into the band.

The time had come to make my 40-minute trek from the station to the First Avenue Club (which I found out has been around for decades)! The talent buyer, funny enough named ‘Ned’ (…no relation), is just starting to jump back into the rock world.

The Venue: Iowa City’s First Avenue Club

First Avenue Club is pretty well known for focusing more on country acts, but they are starting to delve into the world of rock, and the first up is Saving Abel.

Before I talk about the show, I’ve got to say, First Avenue Club is just awesome. It’s located under a cosmetology school that you need to walk downstairs to get too! On a normal day, it has a bar, pool tables, and even doubles as a venue for parties and weddings, but they have the passion of a music venue.

The place has been there for years and clearly has all the love of a great venue that could easily become more rock and roll as they work towards more the rock acts, which I am excited for. 

The Opener: Running Blind

The opening band , Running Blind, was a married couple and their singer friend playing acoustic covers of some of the most popular rock songs. I NEVER thought I would hear Tool’s ‘Sober’ on acoustic, but that group made it happen. What was great about them is that the rock audience was singing along right with them, and as someone who was in a band years ago? That is all I ever wanted to do! 

The Main Event: Saving Abel

Finally, we reached Saving Abel, and it was as if I was looking into 2007 again, man. Seeing them up there again brought me back to my old radio days and even college when I saw them open for Avenged Sevenfold and Buckcherry with fellow opening act, get this… Shinedown!

How times have changed for those guys, right? Saving Abel played some of the familiars, and even did a 90’s Medley that they declared the ‘best music generation’ and as a 90’s kid, I’m inclined to agree!

Hearing them play Bush’s Machinehead and Harvey Danger ‘Flagpole Sitta’ was awesome.

They did play a BRAND NEW song that will be featured on an upcoming album which is coming soon, and if they continue down that path with that sound, you’ll be hearing more Saving Abel soon I bet. The final song of course was ‘Addicted’ to which the whole crowd sang along like we were late teenagers again.