Country superstars Rascal Flatts will roll back into Moline's i wireless Center Friday night at 7:30 p.m., the second date on the winter leg of their"Changed Tour," which starts tonight in Green Bay, Wis.
The band was the fourth-top-selling event of the year at the i wi in both 2011 and 2010. Another big country trio on this tour, The Band Perry, played the Moline arena in February 2012, opening for Brad Paisley, and headlined the Mississippi Valley Fair in Davenport on Aug. 1.
Rascal Flatts has sold more than 21 million albums and 25 million digital downloads. The trio has seen 13 singles hit the top of the charts, spending more than eight months collectively at No. 1. The band has won more than 40 major awards, including seven Academy of Country Music trophies and six Country Music Association awards for Vocal Group of the Year. The trio has added to its resume a Grand Ole Opry membership and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
TheMinneapolis Star wrote of a concert: "Country music's best-selling trio of all time brought lots of harmonies, a little humor and imaginative video. They came across as committed, fun-loving, crowd-pleasing entertainers." And the Orange County Register said Rascal Flatts' performance of "What Hurts the Most" in their encore at a September show "definitely helped put the show over the top as the best country performance of the fading summer season."
A sibling trio, The Band Perry has earned ACM New Artist of the Year honors and the CMT Music Award Breakthrough Video of the Year. The band's platinum, self-titled debut album features two gold-certified hits – the love ballad "All Your Life" and cheatin' anthem "You Lie" – as well as the trio's breakout, quadruple-platinum No. 1 smash, "If I Die Young."
Priced at $27.75, $52.75 and $62.75, tickets for Friday's show (with opener Kristen Kelly) are available at the arena box office, (800) 745-3000 and livenation.com.
Today is Tuesday, May 21, the 141st day of 2013. There are 224 days left in the year. 1863 -- 150 years ago: On Monday the 11th inst. on Center Ridge in Mercer County,some citizens got out their cannon to celebrate the taking of Richmond. The gun wasoverloaded and burst. No one was injured, but one 30-pound piece went though thesecond story of a house. 1888 -- 125 years ago: The old folks concert at the Harper Theater last night to benefit St.Luke's Cottage Hospital, attracted a large audience. 1913 -- 100 years ago: Unless depredation by vandals in Rock Island parks is halted,special policemen will be assigned to night duty to protect the flowers and other property. 1938 -- 75 years ago: Station WHBF has received a special citation from Washington forits participation in Air Mail Week, which was observed this week throughout the nation. 1963 -- 50 years ago: A 10-year high in employment in the Quad-City area was reachedat the end of the last quarter, according to an industrial employment barometer releasedtoday. 1988 -- 25 years ago: Pee Wee teams will be able to play baseball and softball as usualon Diamond Three at Dorrance Park this summer, but after that, the ball field is doomed.County crews have put the diamond back in shape after heavy trucks marred the playingfield earlier this spring. Illinois Department of Transportation crews drove onto it to makeborings for the relocation of the junction of Illinois 84 and the Port Byron-Hillsdale road.