Mr. Softheart / Anthony Worden / The Halloween Episode
Schedule
Sat, 06 Sep, 2025 at 08:00 pm
UTC-05:00Location
1159 24th Street Des Moines IA 50311 | Des Moines, IA
xBk presentsMr. Softheart - Reflections on Primitive Action Tour
w/ Anthony Worden & The Illiterati and The Halloween Episode
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6
Doors: 7pm | Show: 8pm
All Ages
Day of Show Ticket: $15 + fees
*Limited seating available on a first come, first served basis. If you require ADA accommodations please reach out to [email protected]*
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•• MR. SOFTHEART ••
Mr. Softheart (Des Moines, Iowa) is self-described ‘21st Century Vision Music.’ A heady and atmospheric blend of post-punk, 80s synth pop and dance music, the 4-piece builds a sleazy, off-kilter world around lead singer Nick Fisher’s poetics of misdirection. John Fisher’s shape-shifting synth work joins together with Charlie Patterson’s intricate guitars and Halen Becker’s mesmerizing backing vocals to create a genre-defying experience that Little Village Magazine described as “Iowa’s greatest cinematic export.”
The band’s debut record ‘Magdalene in Crisis’ was released in December of 2023, and their EP ‘Songs for Subdued Space’ was released in July of 2024. Mr. Softheart supported the EP with an east coast tour culminating in two performances at the historic Val Air Ballroom opening for Phantogram and Underoath, respectively.
•• ANTHONY WORDEN & THE ILLITERATI ••
Sometimes to go forward, you first have to go back—and the only way to pass through the present undaunted is to unencumber oneself of the past.
For Anthony Worden, the process of moving past an onslaught of sudden grief crystalized in an Iowa City basement, and—over the course of half a year of writing and rehearsing with his band, the Illiterati—took on the form of his fifth studio album, Plain Angels. Sourced from a period that Worden describes as something of a “social reset,” characterized by the end of a long-term relationship (a development that upended his recent move to Kansas and spurred him to re-relocate to his native city), paired with a series of health scares in his immediate family and the death of an extended family member, the songwriter found himself contending with “big feelings” like “the realization that your loved ones aren’t going to be around forever.” Amidst a blisteringly cold Iowa winter—during which Worden’s day job as an electrician apprentice had him “thrown into installing solar panels in subzero weather on the farms, hog barns, and small towns of the middle part of the state”—he also found himself asking even bigger questions: “With everything that happened, I found myself almost resetting my worth, asking myself—what am I doing here?”
With emotional baggage in toe, Worden holed up in the unfinished cellar studio of band bassist Lucas Adolphson, spending “a lot of time with a glass of whisky” to divine art from feeling. The end result is a collection of ten tracks that’s as meditative as it is triumphant, presented as a loose narrative of personal resilience. Whether it’s charting the hope that comes with starting over somewhere new (“On My Way 2U”), becoming more aware of your fading youth in a college town (“Down But Not Yet Out”), the myriad feelings you feel on a funeral day (“Death of the Wife”) or encountering an ex after some-but-not-all wounds have healed (“Strangers”), the anecdotes that form Angels together create a picture of bittersweet acceptance, uplifted by Worden’s candid lyricism, the Illiterati’s refreshing approach to contemporary rock—which feels as indebted to 70s new wave as it does in early 2000s power pop thanks to the performances by Adolphson, keyboardist/producer Avery Moss, and drummer Aaron Knight—as well as mastering by Huntley Miller, who previously collaborated with indie heavyweights Bon Iver, Low, and Wednesday.
Taken all at once, Angels presents a portrait of taking change in stride, a reminder that the only way out is through, and the importance of turning to others in times of trouble. “I’m definitely in a way different, better place than when I started writing these songs,” Worden says. “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned, you don’t really get over these things—there’s no way to really get over the death of a loved one or even the end of a relationship—you just learn how to live with it. And when I look back on this process, I think what really helped me with that was being other people—the band in particular.”
-Connor McInerney
•• THE HALLOWEEN EPISODE ••
The Halloween Episode is a dusty emo band from Des Moines. With an atmospheric alt rock sound punctuated by trumpet and slide guitar, their debut album is set to release later this year.
For fans of: The National, Yo La Tengo, American Football, The War On Drugs
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ADD ON OPTIONS
(does not include tickets for the show)
A limited amount of reserved tables are offered for this event if you'd like to ensure that you have seats. Reserved tables can comfortably accommodate up to a party of four individuals. Please note that the Reserved Table Add-On does not include a general admission ticket; each person must have their own general admission ticket for entry. For example, a party of three people would want to purchase THREE general admission tickets and ONE table. For all remaining tables, seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Option #1: Floor High-Top Side Table : $50 (+ Fees)
Option #2: Premium Balcony High Top Table: $50 (+ Fees)
