The Temptations return to the Des Moines area for the first time since 2018

Otis Williams' Motown institution plays Vibrant Music Hall in Waukee on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2027.

The last time The Temptations played the Des Moines area, it was June 2018 at Hoyt Sherman Place. More than eight years later, the group is booked for a January night in Waukee.

The Temptations play Vibrant Music Hall on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2027, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available through Vibrant Music Hall. The date was announced Oct. 9, and it is the group's first show in the market since June 16, 2018.

The Temptations are one of the defining acts of the Motown era, and the group that tours today is still led by the man who was there at the start. Otis Williams is the last surviving original member of The Temptations, and he owns the rights to the group's name, according to his Wikipedia entry. That continuity is what separates this lineup from a tribute act: the group on stage in Waukee carries an unbroken line back to the original.

Williams has spent the last several years talking openly about that history. He discussed touring during segregation in an interview with CBS News, and uDiscover Music covered his return to the old Motown building in Detroit, where he wondered aloud whether "the ghosts are still here" (uDiscover Music). Kerry Eggers' profile of him, headlined around the line "Who would have imagined?", looks back on more than six decades with the group (Kerry Eggers).

The story has reached new audiences on stage, too. The Broadway musical Ain't Too Proud, built on the group's history, has toured nationally, with Playbill reporting on its leading-role casting for the road production (Playbill). CityBeat spoke with Williams about that Broadway success and the group's ongoing legacy (CityBeat).

Otis Williams is the last surviving original member of The Temptations.

The room is a change from the last visit. In 2018 the group played Hoyt Sherman Place downtown. This time it is Vibrant Music Hall in Waukee, which holds about 3,300. That is a big general-admission-style room for a soul revue, and a 7:30 p.m. start on a Thursday makes it a manageable weeknight.

January in central Iowa is not anyone's idea of touring season, which makes a date like this easy to miss when it goes on sale in the fall. If the group's songs were the soundtrack in your parents' kitchen or your own first car, this is the one to put on the calendar now. Travel Iowa has the show on its statewide events calendar as well.

It has been eight and a half years. On Jan. 7, The Temptations are back.

Sources: Vibrant Music Hall (thevibrantmusichall.com); The Temptations at Vibrant Music Hall — JamBase (jambase.com); Otis Williams — Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org); Otis Williams, founder of The Temptations, discusses touring during segregation — CBS News (cbsnews.com); 'I Wonder If The Ghosts Are Still Here': Temptations' Otis Williams Returns To Motown — uDiscover Music (udiscovermusic.com); After more than six decades, Williams still kickin' it with The Temptations — Kerry Eggers (kerryeggers.com); Michael Andreaus and E. Clayton Cornelious take on leading roles in Ain't Too Proud national tour — Playbill (mobile.playbill.com); Last living member of the original Temptations Otis Williams reflects on Broadway success — CityBeat (citybeat.com); The Temptations — Travel Iowa (traveliowa.com)