On Monday, Racing Mount Pleasant played at the xBk venue in Des Moines. The opener for this concert was Isobel.
Racing Mount Pleasant is an indie rock band from Michigan. Their musical style is commonly referred to as indie folk.
The band originally performed under the name Kingfisher, but in 2025, it rebranded as Racing Mount Pleasant, so the concert featured music from both albums.
The seven-piece band is led by frontman Sam DuBose, who does lead vocals and guitar. Callum Roberts plays trumpet, Connor Hoyt plays the alto saxophone, Samuel Botero plays tenor saxophone, Kaysen Chown plays strings, Tyler Thenstedt plays bass and backup vocals, and Casey Cheatham plays drums as well as vocals.
The way these seven play is electric and dynamic, bringing the entire venue to life.
Everyone was together, singing and bobbing along to the music. Whether it was just the sound of the horns and drums, or the incredible vocals as well, xBk was rocking. Every song ended with thunderous applause and cheering.
Before Racing Mount Pleasant took the stage, Isobel opened for them. Isobel is led by the main singer, Isobel, but they also have a backup guitarist and another backup singer.
The songs they performed were mostly unreleased, as Isobel teased an album coming later this year. They did perform singles that were released: “Rachel,” “Undercover,” and “Limn.” I listened to these before the concert, and they were just even more moving and fun in person.
Then, Racing Mount Pleasant took the stage. They started with playing two unreleased songs before moving into their more popular songs. The unreleased songs were incredible, and they had me very excited to hear what comes next for the band.
They then went through seven more songs from their other albums. What was unique about it was that they extended the songs with more instrumentation, which was cool, and it made all the songs flow together, even better than on the album at points. They would play two or three songs straight before a break, and it made it much more immersive.
The highlight of the night was when they played “Your New Place” and “Racing Mount Pleasant”. These are definitely their best–known songs, but the crowd was singing along with the band, and in a smaller venue like xBk, it was an incredible experience.
Just as everyone thought that the concert had ended, Racing Mount Pleasant had walked off the stage. Someone in the back of the crowd yelled for an encore, and it wasn’t long before the entire venue erupted in chants for one last song. After about a minute, one by one, the band members ran back onto the stage to play the final song of the night, “Do You Think I’m Pretty.”
Unfortunately, after that, the night was over, and there was no second encore.
As people slowly made their way out of the venue, you could overhear everyone talking about how much they enjoyed the show.
You can find Racing Mount Pleasant wherever you get your music, and on this website Racing Mount Pleasant. You can also find Isobel on these, as well as on their own website: Isobel’s web.
It is hard to rate live music performances, but this was easily one of my favorite performances I have been to yet. From the crowd to the performance itself, it was an incredible experience.
9/10
