Rocking the bandshell

Group with Manson ties will open Shellabration

A band from California led by two brothers from Manson will be the opening act for the July 15 Shellabration concert at the Oleson Park Bandshell.

The band is Twenty 2 Salute; brothers Mike and Mark Schoon are its Manson connection.

"We haven't performed in Iowa with Twenty 2 Salute since 2021, so it's going to be great to get back on stage in front of our home crowd, especially on such a big stage and event," Mike Schoon said in a written statement. "The energy will be high and we have a lot to show this year."

Twenty 2 Salute is scheduled to go on stage at 6 p.m. July 15.

They will be followed at 7:30 p.m. by Pablo Cruise, with headliner Collective Soul taking the stage at 9:30 p.m.

Ted Bodensteiner, the vice president of Shellabration Inc., said the organization tries to get bands with local connections as the opening act for every concert.

"When it comes to opening acts, Shellabration prides itself in giving bands with local ties the once in a lifetime opportunity to play on a big stage with a big audience," he said.

Although it's now based in Los Angeles, Twenty 2 Salute has those local connections.

"We originally moved to Iowa with our family in 2002 from the state of Georgia," Mike Schoon said. "Our mom, dad, sister, nephews, nieces, aunts, uncles and cousins still live in Manson."

The two brothers got their musical start playing in a southern rock band with their father in Georgia.

"I played in a high school cover band called The League in Manson my senior year with some other classmates," Mike Schoon said. "Our band played bars, prom and town festival type shows at a pretty young age. No one was over 17 years old in that band and we did some incredibly fun things for being that age. We really got our feet wet with that band."

The two brothers began playing music together in 2007.The two moved to California specifically to get closer to the music industry scene there.

Twenty 2 Salute consists of Mike Schoon on lead vocals, guitar and keyboard; Mark Schoon on guitar and backing vocals; Tyler Hacker on bass; and Raul Padilla on drums and percussion.

Bodensteiner began talking to Mike Schoon in the spring of 2022 about the possibility of bringing Twenty 2 Salute to this year's Shellabration concert.

"Based on their original music, watching their professionally produced videos online, coupled with their local ties, we knew we wanted to work with them," Bodensteiner said.

In addition to Twenty 2 Salute the brothers also perform acoustic shows as The Schoon Brothers.

If You Go

Tickets for the July 15 Shellabration concert cost $45 and are available at ticketweb.com or at these local businesses:

Hy-Vee, 115 S. 29th St.

Availa Bank, 130 N. 29th St.

GreenState Credit Union, 1207 Central Ave.

Northwest Bank, 10 N. 29th St.

Peoples Credit Union, 1717 Fifth Ave. S.

Tickets will also be available at the gate for $45.

The gates at Oleson Park will open at 5 p.m.