As the radio station festival becomes more and more popular, central Iowa stations have a long way to go to compete with places like New York. K-Rock has Rage Against the Machine, Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit at its festival, but things here are slowly improving.

When 107.5 was taken over with new ownership and different personnel, many declared the downfall of the station, especially after last year’s Dotfest (minus Sophia John) failed to bring in good bands.

With The Urge (playing its second year in a row) and Marcy Playground (the hit “Sex and Candy” had already burnt out) playing a year ago, this year’s Dotfest didn’t have much to live up to.

The local stage kicked off the day with the high energy funky rhymes of Mr. Plow, as they tune up to record their debut album later this month. The stage also included screamers Revolution Theory, The Del Stars and Splendid Roadfish.

The main stage was brought to life with the hip-hop rocksters Shootyz Groove from New York city, who tried their best to bring a dead crowd to life.

Up next was Wisconsin-born Citizen King, who have one of the best records of the summer. Playing with high energy despite lack of crowd support, Citizen King proved they are not just a studio-talented band and that their live show can rock.

The highlight of the show was when they stopped in the middle of the song “Better Days” to stop a fight or two that had broken out, and didn’t continue with the song, but moved to the next one. Ha.

It’s amazing that people in Iowa can find a way to mosh and crowd-surf to the softest of music and even when there is no music playing at all.

Following them was Imperial Teen, belting out sounds almost as annoying as 107 DJ Jaime. At times, watching girls get stripped down as they crowd-surfed was more entertaining. But as soon as they played their one hit, “Yoo Hoo,” the crowd actually acknowledged that there was a band on stage.

If that wasn’t bad enough, everyone’s favorite band from VEISHEA, Dovetail Joint, took the stage. Lucky for the crowd, it was about lunch time. Believe it or not, paying $7 for a corndog and a small cup of watered-down pop is more appealing than watching Dovetail Joint.

To finally bring life back into the packed airfields, The Atomic Fireballs took the stage and put on a fun, high-energy show once again. They also had to stop to try and tame the audience down a little bit.

Following the Fireballs was the highlight of the day, 2 Skinnee J’s. Coming out with tight red spacesuits and gold bowl-looking helmets the J’s were constantly moving and pumping juice through the crowd. With an alternative hip-hop sound and occasional choreographed dances from the two lead rappers, this New York based sextet showed that their album, “Supermercado,” doesn’t do them justice and that they deserve to make it to the big time.

Though they have proved they are no longer a one-hit wonder, co-headliners Smash Mouth still have trouble proving that Steve Harwell doesn’t suck at singing. Playing a set that sounded very similar to a night of listening to 107.5, Smash Mouth weren’t great, and they weren’t horrible.

The final group to end the night was classic rappers Run D.M.C. You can’t go wrong seeing legends live, but they don’t play like legends. Still filled with energy and crowd-moving talent, Run D.M.C. mixed old school classic songs and a few new ones in support of their latest release, “Down With the King.”

Though the reason they were the headliners is still a bit foggy, having the chance to see some of the pioneers of rap — and a group that will forever be remembered — is definitely an experience to be talked about.

You could say that Dotfest 3 was a success, depending on what you are comparing it to. Hopefully central Iowa can continue to thrive in the music scene and one day have some of the biggest and hottest bands in the world playing right before our eyes.