Backporch-Revival-logoTickets go on sale today to the general public for the first ever concert to be held in Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City in August of next year.

Former Hawkeye All-American and NFL tight end Dallas Clark led the push for the concert billed as “The Back Porch Revival.”

“We have Blake Shelton as our headliner along with many other great artists, a couple still to be announced,” Clark says. “It’s gonna be an epic night, but the best part about this whole revival is that all the proceeds from this concert go and help support the Native Fund — which is an organization that me and a few friends started up.”

The idea for the Native Fund started back in 2008 with the tornado that devastated Parkersburg and then the flooding in eastern Iowa. Clark, a Livermore, Iowa native, was playing for the Indianapolis Colts at the time and watching from afar.

“Kind of felt helpless and wanted to do something and didn’t really know what to do. I came up with kind of this epiphany that God put on my heart of Iowans helping Iowans and kind of an Iowa version of the Red Cross,” Clark explains. Clark’s NFL schedule didn’t allow him to make much progress with the idea until a few years later when his football playing days ended.

“Moved the family back to Iowa and retired and it kinds of was still weighing on my heart a little bit and made a few phone calls this spring. And I mean it’s been non-stop since this spring when we kind of ran it across the University of Iowa and Mr. Barta (Iowa AD) gave us the green light with the stadium and the university’s approval,” Clark explains. Now he is hoping people will see what they can do by purchasing a concert ticket. “Be a part of history and help the state of Iowa all in one,” Clark says.

Iowa football season ticket holders got a chance to buy tickets to the event prior to opening up of sales for the general public. Clark hopes those who don’t see the Hawkeyes as their favorite team will get involved too. “Non-Hawkeye fans I think if you can look into ‘hey I am buying a ticket because I want to help the Native Fund and I want to help Iowans helping Iowans,’ then please buy a ticket and come and swallow your pride of red or purple or blue and be a part of the big event” Clark says. “Because it is, it’s an Iowa celebration, it’s an Iowa event.”

Clark says when it comes time to helping, Iowans everyone is the same no matter what school they support or where they live. “It’s going to be where is the need let’s go. We’re not going to worry about the details, you just go and you help your neighbor when they need help. That’s the Iowa way and that’s what I put my hat on,” Clark says. Clark hopes the Native Fund builds on the idea of the Iowa way of helping each other. “It’s just something that we need to constantly remind ourselves of why this state is great, what it means to be an Iowan and why it is so important,” Clark says. “And I don’t think it hurts to be reminded of that and to have situations where we can prove that. An I think that’s how we build the love and the foundation that we have in our great communities throughout the state.”

Tickets for the August 27th concert go on sale at 10 A.M. today on www.thebackporchrevival.com. Other country artists set to perform include: David Ray, Morgan Frazier and Tucker Beathard (who is the brother of Hawkeye quarterback C.J. Beathard).

There will be around 56,000 tickets sold with prices starting at $39. Actor Ashton Kutcher and golfer Zach Johnson, both native Iowans, are on the board of directors of the non-profit that Clark created for The Native Fund.