Alternating Currents

I was fortunate to hear about the Alternating Currents festival on the radio (shout out to B100 for effective marketing). I had lived in Davenport two years before we moved to Moline and have never heard of it before. Alternating Currents was a four-day music, comedy, and arts festival that started Thursday, August 18th, and ended on Sunday. I just happened to be out every night so I got a good feel for the vibes. 

I’ll start by saying that I was very excited about this festival. I love downtown Davenport, I love the atmosphere and the bars, and I couldn’t wait to see what a music festival looked like in the city. To better access the schedule, I did have to download their app. It was pretty handy to have because it had what was happening at each bar/location, the time they started and ended, and a description of the artists or comedians that were performing. You could also add to your schedule what you wanted to see and it would create an agenda of events. 

So without further ado, we will start with Thursday. I began Thursday night having dinner with a friend at Me & Billy. This is one of my favorite places to get cocktails. They have rotating seasonal drinks with unique flavors, but I started with a Moscow mule since they were $2 off. My mule was paired with a Caesar salad, which I would rate a 7 out of 10 for flavor/dressing/amount of parmesan they included (I like a ton of parm and this salad came with an adequate amount). After dinner and our mules, we moved over to Daquiri Factory or Daq Fac. 

Daquiri heaven

Daq Fac is a decently new bar in downtown Davenport (about a year old) and this was my first time being inside. It’s a cute place and the menu has a variety of unique slushy drinks. The first one I tried was the Russian Quaalude which had Frangelico, vodka, and ice cream. You can add a shot of Kahlua, too, which I did. It tasted like a Rumchata milkshake. In other words, delicious! 

There weren’t many musicians playing at bars on Thursday but we did enjoy the music from the DJ at the bar. We ended the night there. 

Then comes Friday. Friday night saw more activity than the night before. This time, we started at Daq Fac and we ordered a drink called Xtasy. It had 190 Everclear (oof), blue curacao, and juices. Again, delicious! And these drinks certainly pack a punch! 

My picture quality honestly goes downhill from here.

Friday night, Daq Fac had live music by a band called Post Sex Nachos. They were pretty good, I enjoyed their music and excitedly followed them on Spotify. After the band finished playing, we decided to walk over to the silent disco happening on the skywalk. Unfortunately, it was raining and my maps led us instead to a parking garage below the bridge. We made the most of it and took cute pictures by a brick wall. From our vantage point, there weren’t many people on the skywalk so we vetoed trying to figure out how to get up there and instead went to another bar.

We could've been our own comedy show trying to capture these pictures. 

We visited a few more places that night, none hosting any events or musicians. We did find ourselves back at Me & Billy (I’m a creature of habit) and drinking a fishbowl. If you’ve never visited and ordered a fishbowl, I’d recommend ending the night with one. It is, as the name describes, quite literally a large fishbowl filled with a cocktail that you can share with friends. And by cocktail I mean a juice with your choice of alcohol–we chose a screwdriver and we struggled to finish that sucker! 

Our bartender Nick (not pictured) was cheering us on because we were struggling. 

When we finally finished our night at 1:30 a.m., we were distressed to discover that there were no Uber or Lyft rides available. Before Covid, my fiancé and I took Uber rides all the time, but unfortunately, I don’t think the service ever rebounded in the area. Luckily, we got a hold of someone to come pick us up but it was a stressful hour of waiting. Also, shout out to the woman working the night shift at the Current hotel who let us in to use the restrooms when the bars would not (even though it was before 2 a.m. and there were still people inside). You’re a lifesaver! 

Let’s move forward to Saturday night. A completely different story as far as the festival goes. We again started at Daq Fac (probably my new favorite bar) and I had a Russian Quaalude again. The live music was similar to the night before and was another decent band. After the bar, we attempted the sky bridge, and this time we were successful in finding the entrance. 

The green station was our favorite.

The silent disco was neat! It was my first time going to one. I did wish they had dimmed the lights on the sky bridge because they were bright and overwhelming. There was a decent crowd there although it was more of a chill atmosphere than a club/disco one. When we arrived, they had us trade our IDs for a pair of headphones, then explained how to switch channels and control volume. There were three battling DJs with the colors red, green, and blue. The red station was house music, the green was classic rock tunes with some 2000s pop, and the blue was more electronic music/club music. It was fun to listen to music and walk the sky bridge which offers amazing city views. 

They were certainly memorable with those hands!

From the bridge, we were able to see the parking lot where the band Squonk was performing. Part of their act was these inflatable hands that moved. They certainly stood out from other performers. Unfortunately, we only caught the tail end of their performance but I did like what I heard! After the music ended, we left the sky bridge and walked to Zeke’s Island Café where there was a comedy show. We caught two acts, Kyle Scanlan and Alex Price, and enjoyed them! We left a little early from the show and called it a night after that. 

Kyle Scanlan at Zeke's Island Café

Overall, the festival was impressive albeit more on Saturday night than Thursday or Friday. I enjoyed the shows we did see and the silent disco was more relaxing than disco-y. If Alternating Currents happens again next year, I would probably only go out on Saturday night since that’s when most of the activities are.  It was comparable to the annual block party (which we missed this year) and was a good time!