Rising Music Superstars Performed Surprise Duet At Iowa Fest

A hot day and a late-night downpour couldn't stop one Iowa music festival from putting on one of the best shows of the summer.

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After moving to Iowa several years ago, I kept hearing about the amazing music scene here in the Hawkeye State. Obviously, there are stellar county fair shows and even better concerts at the Iowa State Fair, but it's the music festival space that I was really excited to explore.

People continued to recommend that I check out a festival not too far from Des Moines called Hinterland. Since 2015, the music festival has been bringing in indie folk/pop/country artists to St. Charles for a weekend full of food, fun, and music.

This year's three-day festival kicked off on Friday, August 4th and wrapped up Sunday, August 6th. The headliners for the fest were Bon Iver, Zach Bryan, and Maggie Rogers.

I was lucky to go to the Saturday show which proved to be possibly the most exciting day of Hinterland 2023.

The lineup for August 5th was completely stacked.

Full Saturday Lineup:

Pony Bradshaw

Riley Downing

Wilderado

Joy Oladokun

The Teskey Brothers

Angel Olsen

Noah Kahan

Zach Bryan

While all of the performers were amazing, the two final acts of the night were highly anticipated.

Noah Kahan, a folk-pop singer and the penultimate performer of the night has taken the music industry by storm over 2022-2023. His hit album Stick Season gained enormous popularity after he began sharing clips of songs from the record on Tik Tok.

Songs like 'Northern Attitude,' and the title track 'Stick Season' have blown up due to his organic connection with his fans. His latest release 'Dial Drunk' off of the deluxe album garnered him a whole lot of praise from critics, fans, and the Billboard Hot 100 Chart.

Not only did Post Malone reach out to collaborate on a version of the song, but a fan even created her own verse from a different POV.

Kahan actually brought the fan up onstage to perform it with him at the Iowa festival. You can check out a clip from the performance down below!

Then it was time for the headliner of Saturday's show; Zach Bryan.

This country star has blown up over the past year and a half. His album American Heartbreak and his song 'Something in the Orange' have put him on the music map.

Bryan has exploded onto the scene, and it looks like that he can only go up from here.

In 2022, he ranked second on Billboard's all-genre Year-End Top New Artists chart.

The Oklahoma native opened the show with 'Open The Gate' and moved on to some fan favorites like 'Something in the Orange,' 'Dawns,' and 'Oklahoma Smokeshow.'

At the very end of Bryan's set, the rising country superstar welcomed back Noah Kahan to the stage. This unlikely duo performed a song together that blew the entire crowd away.

Kahan joined the Oklahoma native for the latter's hit song 'Revival' to conclude his set. The crowd roared when the two singers took to the stage together. It looked somewhat like a haphazard plan, when the folk singer jumped to the microphone with his drink as Zach Bryan was jamming out.

You can check out a clip from the performance down below.

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