The Maintenance Shop — Local services in Ames

Had the opportunity to take my daughter and her friend (both of whom are into small indie bands) to see Sad Park, Tropa Magica, and Together Pangea. While admittedly not my first choice of bands and probably not the most freshman-student appropriate bands for their first concert, it was fantastic. My daughter had the time of her life. Had a mosh pit open right next to her, got her picture taken with Sad Park's lead singer, got the classic hard-rock ringing in ears.. all in a fairly intimate and incredibly cool college venue. I was so grateful that the bar had ear plugs or I'd still be deaf.

She'll definitely be keeping her eyes open for another chance to see one of her faves at the maintenance shop and I'll...

Decent little venue in the basement at the Iowa state memorial union building. They have a stage with wraparound seating/standing areas. Small concession stand with soft drinks and bottled beers. Sound is decent and the people who work there always seem nice. FYI parking and navigating the union building is not entirely obvious so allow a few extra minutes to...

Going through boxes of old collectibles I came across this keepsake t-shirt from my days on campus back in about 1985. Great times with great sounds in one of the coolest venues I ever experienced on two continents. From the recent reviews it seems the place has kept its...