Nor was the headliner.

News of a no-show by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy came via Everclear frontman Art Alexakis before his band entered into an extended encore — after, of course, the estimated 5,000 in attendance put up with over eight hours of rain, clouds and boring bands.

“They missed their plane and were being dickheads,” said one festival coordinator — backstage.

The crowd, however, received no explanation or compensation for a $22 advanced ticket that listed Voodoo Daddy as the top act.

Everclear did do its best to entertain fans, despite a poor vocal performance by Alexakis, which may have been the result of a sound system that tended to exaggerate bass, distort vocals and underplay guitars.

Current singles “Father of Mine” and “Everything To Everyone,” along with an energetic opening rendition of “So Much For The Afterglow,” added much-needed familiarity and some catchy pop rock to the festival.

Near the end of Everclear’s rain-tainted set, Alexakis asked bass player Craig Montoya if there were any place he would rather be.

“Somewhere in Western California,” Montoya responded honestly. “I’m thinking Santa Monica.”

The band then broke out into the “Sparkle And Fade” hit as Alexakis executed his best tune of the night.

Before Everclear, a ska band played 10 versions of the same ska song, a reggae band played 10 versions of the same reggae song, and so on.

MU330 tried spicing up its routine with a chain saw but instead looked like a corny scene from the Jim “The Hacksaw” Dugan WWF days.

Bambu, an Iowa City reggae band, wearied with an hour-and-a- half set that included a bad cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Hey Joe.”

Confessing Sila suffered in the vocal department but did pull a fast-one on the hyped crowd. (Note to bands: Setting up a camera on stage to “record a video” leads to big crowds.)

The Buzz, a blues/funk collective from Chicago, provided a bit of diversity within its set and definitely featured one of the better vocalists of the day.

But in the spirit of Cyclone football, it was Ames’ own The Nadas that dominated the daytime acts with diversity, solid singing and a model mixture of old and new material.

The folk-rock quartet strived off sporadic support from keyboardist Paul Wright, percussionist Chad Johnson, singer Stephanie Flora and trombonist Andy Butterworth, who made special appearances during the band’s hour set.

High points included the catchy new “Coming Home” and singers Mike Butterworth and Jason Walsmith excelling on “Walking Home Alone.”

An amazing jam rendition of “For You Love” closed out the set from the hometown heroes.

Fools Journey, a former Ames grunge band, kicked off the event with a Seven Mary Threeish sound that echoed well within the confines of the Johnson County Fairgrounds.

Like the Hawkeye football team, you have to give the Hawkeye Music Festival credit for trying.

Better luck next year.