D.M. Metro Concert Band Nears 70

Two free concerts will bookend the 4th of July weekend at the State Capitol. Tonight, it’s the Des Moines Symphony’s Yankee Doodle Pops. Sunday evening, the Des Moines Metro Concert Band will take the stage. The Metro Band is concluding its 69th season and Iowa Public Radio’s Rick Fredericksen prepared this Iowa Archives special, with technical assistance from John Pemble . A couple hours after rehearsal at Drake University, the Des Moines Metro Concert Band relocates to the Iowa Capitol; the song birds and all the musicians are in tune for another Sunday evening performance. “We start with our opening theme that was actually written for us, Music Under the Stars, and we opened the concert that way 69 years ago and that’s what we’re going to do tonight.” Dan Stevenson plays clarinet, and is the band’s Executive Director. “We we’ve have taken a very strong Iowa tradition, that is of the town band, and we’ve kind of done it up in a big town Des Moines way right on the steps of the state