Mixtapes in Moline, Illinois is making music happen for the Quad Cities. When not hosting bands from Illinois and beyond, Mixtapes boasts a variety of music and arts related business outlets such as an in-house tattoo parlor (Meno’s) and record store. As the bands and fans were waiting for the show to start an unpaid artist consultant (sarcasm) decided to stop by the small crowd in front of Mixtapes to share a few volumes from his wealth of entertainment knowledge. You can see some of the video of that encounter, now infamously dubbed “the drunk guy video”, on our hurdcore.com Midwest youtube page.

Opening a show can require heavy lifting at times, thankfully the lead singer for Nevada based Legions brought his muscles, rocking a pre-governator Arnie pose and setting Mixtapes on fire with their brand of metalcore. Iowa’s Kidnap The Sun introduced the crowd to the wall of death, as their synth pop-core brought dancers and ladies to the center of the room. The members of When Bears Attack knelt together near the drums as the voice of God rang out quoting those ex nihlo words of creation recorded in Genesis chapter 1, “Let there be light!” Aside from their creative blend of synth and hardcore, aptly classed as keycore, these young men accented their non-stop energy with a double strobe lighted gang plank that provided a platform to place them closer to and over the crowd.

On this fine Friday night in East Moline, Mixtapes boasted a remarkable blend of alternative -cores spawned from the hardcore family tree, with Eagle Scout taking indie to the max and inciting a stream of sing-a-longs. Perhaps a new vogue in stage theatrics is in the making as the drummer from Renae took to spitting on the bass player. Upon inquiry this was a recent ploy from the band that is taken in stride between the two who have no animosity towards each other, yet at one point the expectorate was so loaded that the bass player was encumbered by a loogie dangling from his playing hand. “This is our time. This is the end,” came the synth infused screamo/thrash opening incantation from locals Sleeper Awake Society. “Montana is basically Canada,” came the words of wisdom from bassist for Midnight Drive who started his night with a tattoo showcasing his home state across his upper chest.

Mixtapes has a good thing going with their ties in the Moline community and their several tiered approach to crafting a viable concert destination with record sales, music merch, live music venue and Meno’s Ink. The venue provides a close knit music experience and a regular diet of the Midwest’s finest local artists. Get your tats while you get personal with the bands, just be sure to arrive early because you never know who you may meet while you wait!

Mixtape’s Concert Venue and Record Store
including Meno’s Ink and Tattoo Parlor:
832 15th Avenue, East Moline, Illinois.

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