to headline summer concert

Pablo Cruise to open for ‘90s group

by bill shea bshea@messengernews.net

A newer band playing in a traditional setting will highlight this year’s Shellabration concert set for July 15.

Collective Soul, a rock powerhouse from the 1990s, will be headlining a concert event that has been dominated by acts from the 1970s and 1980s.

And they will be playing at the Oleson Park Bandshell, where the Shellabration concerts began more than 25 years ago as a way to raise money to pay for restoring the historic structure.

For the last decade, the concerts have been held at Harlan and Hazel Rogers Sports Complex.

“We sometimes get asked, ‘Will you ever do another show at the bandshell and will you ever bring a ‘90s headliner?” said Ted Bodensteiner, vice president of Shellabration Inc., the volunteer group which organizes the concerts. “This year’s event serves to answer both questions.”

Pablo Cruise, a soft rock band popular in the late 1970s that Bodensteiner said plays “summer chill music” will also perform that night.

“It’s long been a goal of mine to bring Pablo Cruise to Fort Dodge,” said Jim Reed, the president of Shellabration Inc. “I actually flew to Las Vegas to preview the artist at Boulder Station Casino when they first got back together in 2005.”

He said the lineup of Collective Soul and Pablo Cruise gives this year’s Shellabration show “the best of both worlds.”

Reed added that another band has been selected to perform as the night’s opening act. He said that band will be announced when the details are finalized.

Because the concert is scheduled for the week of the girls state softball tournament, it will be at the bandshell instead of the sports complex. The last Shellabration concert at the bandshell was on June 22, 2013, when Styx performed before about 5,600 people.

Tickets for the concert are available on ticketweb.com and some local stores.