If you ask anyone in Moline they would gladly you give you directions to the city's pride and joy, The Mark of the Quad Cities. Located in Moline Il, just across the river from Davenport, Iowa, it proudly boasts home to The Mallards, the local hockey team, basketball, and any music show travelling through the area.

It seats a cozy 11,500, which isn't very big in the scheme of music venues but that doesn't take away the grandeur of the environment. The exterior wall around the building is made up of almost entirely glass, letting in plenty of sunlight and giving a beautiful view of the river. Large, red carpeted staircases brought us up to the second floor where our seats were located. At first I was worried that our seats, being close to the back, wouldn't be very good and we'd hardly see a thing, but I quickly found out that the place is so small that no matter where you seat, it's a decent spot.

The acoustics weren't much better then other venues. It's an arena mainly built for sports, but we could hear everything fine, without strange echoes.

Any kind of refreshments you're able to buy in the arena are extremely expensive, just like other arenas, so I highly recomend not wasting your cash. We brought a cooler and left it in the car for after the show, which was really refreshing, because even though the building is air conditioned, it gets very warm in there with all those people.

I found the Mark's website at www.themark.org and the box office phone number is 309-764-2000 for further information.