The Yacht Club has hosted countless regional and national acts since its opening in 2002, and many local bands call it home.
The basement club, 13 S. Linn St., will celebrate nine years of live music on Saturday with an anniversary party. Beginning at 3 p.m., the evening will center on the venue’s age. It will cost $9 to see performances from nine bands, and 90-cent pints will be available until 9 p.m.
"The Yacht Club has been our favorite place in Iowa City for years," said Matt Skinner of local band Tallgrass. "An underground home made from great music, friends, bricks, and booze. We’re lucky to have it here."
Tallgrass is among the bands that will perform on Saturday. The Enz, Gone South, Dream Thieves, Limbs, Whistle Pigs, Aaron Kamm & the One Drops, OSG, and Big Wu will also perform.
"Nine bucks for nine bands over 10 hours averages out to less than 10 cents a song," Skinner said. "That is 1950s jukebox prices, plus it’s live."
In addition to the show, audience members will receive free CDs. The album is a collection of songs recorded live in the Yacht Club in 2011.
Yacht Club owner Scott Kading said the album has been an anniversary tradition for four years, but this year’s CD is better than ever.
"If you listen to the old CDs, it was just a two-channel recording," he said. "But this year, because of our new soundboard, it is a digital album. We were able to record every track individually and mix them, which gives the album a very professional sound."
The album features many recognizable acts, and most are from Iowa. Artists include Dead Larry, Eufórquestra, High and Lonesome, Pimps of Joytime, Gglitch’d, Tallgrass, Smokin’ Joe and Friends, Pert Near Sandstone, Natty Nation, Radio Moscow, Uniphonics, and Big Funk Guarentee.
Kading said he was "bummed" to find that recordings of live shows in Iowa City were hard to come by, so he started the tradition of the anniversary albums.
"The CD represents 2011 at the Yacht Club very well," he said.
The album not only sonically represents what happened at the Yacht Club in 2011, it does visually as well.
"Inside the album are photos from the fire that happened last year," Kading said. "We never forget how lucky we are to have made it through that and still be around."
In September 2011, the club suffered water damage from a fire that destroyed neighboring business Bruegger’s. But Yacht Club regulars, such as Jon Weight, the lead singer and guitarist of Jon Wayne and the Pain, were happy to learn that the club was reopened soon after the fire.
"[The Yacht Club] is a place in Iowa where we can go and know that we are going to play for people who dig what we do," he said. "Also, we know that we can walk in and Scott and Pete are going to take care of us. It’s really one of our most favorite places in Iowa to play. Not because it’s the biggest, or sounds the best, but because the good vibe there is just undeniable."
