Homecoming Concerts

The Homecoming concert was a favorite event for a few decades before it decreased in popularity and eventually became a lost tradition.

In the 1960s, a homecoming concert was established as an alternative option to the annual Homecoming dance. The first concert was held in the Armory and was then moved to CY Stephens and Hilton Coliseum. 

Each year, the lineup of the Homecoming Concert included popular names. Throughout the years, ISU students who attended the concerts were lucky enough to see entertainers such as Ray Charles, Neil Diamond and Three Dog Night.

The Bomb reported that Homecoming 1976 “might have been the longest homecoming in Iowa State history” after not one but two encores brought the Eagles back on stage at their concert in Hilton.

The concert began to lose popularity, but still secured big acts such as Elton John, Whitney Houston and Aerosmith.

With the creation of a new event on campus in 1983, the Homecoming Concert had competition. The Battle of the Bands eventually replaced the concert.

The Battle of the Bands featured local bands competing for a chance to play at Grand Daddy’s bar in Ames. The competition only lasted a few years, but was reestablished again in 2005 and continues to be a crowd pleaser today. 

In 2007, the competition and concert were combined when the Battle of the Bands featured a headlining band.