Until the 2013 fair begins!
Ticket Prices:
Track (Standing Room Only): $35
Amphitheater: $30
Hillside Bleachers: $25
An old entertainment adage suggests that celebrities remain locked forever at the emotional age they were when they first became famous.
Josh Thompson already appears to be the exception to the rule. Following the release of his debut album, 2010’s Way Out Here, Thompson kicked into a whirlwind pace that would challenge the hardiest of souls. He began selling out clubs as a headliner, demonstrating an early connection with Middle America. And he mixed those high-energy gigs between dates as an opening act for Brad Paisley, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Dierks Bentley, Eric Church and Hank Williams Jr.
The pace – and his first sampling of stardom, including nominations for an American Country Award and a CMT Award recognizing the best new live act– could have been enough for Josh Thompson to get carried with being Josh Thompson.
As an opening act on Paisley’s H2O World Tour in 2010, Thompson found thousands of people coming out to the venues in the afternoon for his side-stage performances. Those fans had clearly bonded with the music. They were singing the songs – the hits and the album cuts – word for word, seeing themselves in the images and the tone of his music.
“Life definitely isn’t easy for a lot of people,” Thompson surmises. “I think if there’s one thing people can cling to it’s their beliefs and their way of life, and I think people need that simplicity in country music especially: this is what we are, we aren’t going to apologize for it, we work for what we have and don’t try to take it.”
Thompson’s music embraced the contradictions that everyday Americans live with – the opening line of “Way Out Here” unapologetically links violent guns and non-violent Jesus – but paradox is an undeniable fact of life.
“The thing that drew me to country music – guys like Merle Haggard, in particular – was how vulnerable he was, how vulnerable he sounded and how vulnerable his lyrics were and how it matched the music,” Thompson says. “You believed what he sang because he sang it with conviction. He sounded like he lived it, because he did."
“People need to hear who you are and hear you admit your faults and see you vulnerable – that to me is what I think makes an artist great, or at least the kind of artist I was drawn to.”
“They know how I was raised, they know that I’m into working hard and drinking beer, they know that I’m a Christian and they know I sometimes tend toward the dark side,” Thompson agrees. “These songs are my picket sign – they’re all I got.”
Ticket Prices:
Track (Standing Room Only): $35
Amphitheater: $30
Hillside Bleachers: $25
Click on the above ticket to get the eTix iOS app.
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Gate admission will be $10 this year and can be purchased at the gates. Gate admission is not included in the cost of an event ticket. Children 10 years of age and under get free gate admission.
Gets you in the Gate for the 5 days of the fair. Cost is $29 if purchased in April or May and $32 thereafter. Available by coming in or calling the Fair Office
Also available at many banks in Monticello, Anamosa, Cascade and Wyoming.
Call the Fair Office at 319-465-3275 for Information and Availability of Handicapped seating.
The Sunday night TobyMac with Jamie Grace and Capital Kings concert WILL HAVE "seating on the track", with a section, row, & seat number on each ticket. Click on the chart above to see views of the stage from many different seating sections.
The Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night concerts WILL NOT have reserved seating on the track and will be "standing room only" general admission on the track. Click on the chart above to see views of the stage from many different seating sections.
Click on the above ticket to get the eTix iOS app.
