Reviews and News From Dubuque, IA

Having Fun Pianos! at our Holiday Party was a fun change in entertainment. The song choices and professionalism of the performers kept our party hopping! Fun Pianos! was wonderful to work before, during, and after the event.

It was GREAT! Wonderful show.

Wonderful night! Talented & gifted pianists! Oodles of laughter! Brilliant music selection! Wonderful walk down memory lane. The evening was perfect for all ages, inspiring young piano players, laughing with your spouse, trying something new, and sharing with friends! Highly recommend Fun Pianos!

Hope to see you again!

“The Fun Pianos guys did such a great job at our Christmas party that we brought them back again this year!  Our group is mostly construction guys who are hard to engage…Fun Pianos was able to get our guys out of their chairs into a conga line, had them interacting and singing along.  The Fun Pianos players work hard to put on an entertaining show and are worth every penny!  I’m sure we’ll have them back a third time!”

Everything went great! Jason did an awesome job! We had tons of compliments from the attendees saying how much fun they had, I think I even heard someone say this was the best party the bank has done! Thank you!

Wow, it was soooo much fun.  Jason engaged the audience constantly throughout the night.  There were not many in the room at 7:30, so he waited about 15 minutes for them to filter in before he started the program.  I would definitely have asked him to stay longer and paid the extra cost, but we had sound checks scheduled for keynote speakers for the next day.   Our people would not leave, they wanted more.   Next time, and there will definitely be a next time, I will contract for more time upfront and not schedule anything on the back end!

Thank you for your excellent service and delivery of a super fun evening.

Wow!!!
Sam,

I want to thank you again for our now 5 year partnership with our fundraising program. I’m sitting here at 11:05pm on the second night of our double feature to draft this e-mail although you’ll notice I didn’t send it until Monday. I wanted to be sure to write you from both the immediate impression from the shows and then after I’d slept on it.

In all transparency, I asked Matt and Amanda if there was something I should message you in our usual post-performance conversation to tell you how stellar your performers were. Matt suggested that I just focus on what actually happened and give some feedback to you as their boss who wasn’t able to be in attendance. So, without further adieu:
 

1. Chemistry – I’ve had Matt for three shows and he never fails to impress. Without a doubt, his chemistry with Amanda (despite not performing together often, to my understanding) was top notch. Multiple people asked me how long they had performed together due to their ability to roll off each other, banter back and forth, play together, and trade off based upon what songs they new. I asked them following the second performance how often they played together and Matt replied that good professionals are able to create that chemistry kinda quick.
2. Stage Presence – I convinced my mother to come to Quincy for this show. It’s the fourth time in nine years that she’s come up to visit me. She brought two of her brothers-in-law with her. I asked her what she thought of the show and she went on and on about Matt and how she loved the way he interacted with the crowed and got everybody engaged (even when she got tagged to stand and dance like a rocket city Rockette). She was pretty pissed that I took a video of it, but she said that it was one of the many highlights of her night. I then asked my uncles. My uncle, Tom, was enamored with Amanda. So I asked my uncle Rob who is more logical minded and he was very impressed with how both Amanda and Matt were on the same level of skill and could play back and forth. He was impressed with how quick Amanda could sing lyrics legibly i.e. Macarena and whatever that song is by M&M (I like the ones with the peanuts). I spoke with a few people in my Kiwanis club who attended. They had never seen a Dueling Piano show before. They were amazed that we host an event of this caliber with talent this impressive. I then asked the Bar Tender (who was dressed like a bee for Halloween) who sees lots of shows, weddings, bands, etc. She was very thankful she traded a shift to work this event instead of a wedding. She also made a killing at the bar thanks to the performers promoting people to refill their cup. In turn, I did my best to keep Matt and Amanda well hydrated…
3. Show Format – This being the first year of having a double feature, I fully expected to hear the same set of music with some songs swapped in based upon the requests that Amanda and Matt solicited. I must say that the three of us (me, our CEO, and one of my employees) who attended both shows were entertained all six hours of the shows. The hits were replayed (Don’t Stop Believing, Bad Bad Leroy Brown, Great Balls of Fire, etc) but there were many more pop songs, classic rock songs, and many piano bar standby’s that I’d never heard before. I guess the way I’d summarize this bullet point is that I’m very pleased with the way Matt and Amanda were able to read the room to cater to the dancers, the toe tappers, the singers, the younger people, and the older folks.
4. Singing & Performing – Amanda singing quick, Matt rocking the classics, the trade off between male and female singers, Matt’s ability to rile up the crowd, Amanda’s ability to engage the audience. Zero complaints here.
5. Setup & Take Down – Pfft. I guess if I’m trying to give you feedback as a performance-review-style I’d have no complaints here. I do like that they set up between 1:00 and 1:30pm vs the last several shows were closer to 4:00pm. As the organizer/promoter it gave me more peace of mind and I didn’t sit there double and triple checking that I’d plugged in the right date and location.
6. Three Hour Show vs Two Hour Show – I like the longer show. That may become our new thing.

As we’ve discussed over the years that I’ve been your customer, I’d recommend you to the ends of the earth and I pretty well think that rainbows flow out of your company’s rear. This year raised the bar once again. One day, I’d still like to have you (the man, the myth, the legend) come perform. Matt tells me that you’re stellar and he bases his stage-presence off of you (while Amanda smiled and nodded). However, I’d take the Matt/Amanda combo back any day.

I did ask if you would share my feedback with them, they assured me that you usually do send them positive and negative feedback. There’s nothing in this e-mail that I didn’t tell them to their face or wouldn’t have told them to their face if I’d thought of it before we split ways.

I wasn't able to attend, but from everything I heard everyone loved it and we want to start planning the next one with you guys 😊

 Fun Pianos interacted with the crowd from the moment they took the stage till the moment they walked out the door!  Amazing entertainment, incredible, unmatched audience interaction, and super impressive musicians.  We are so glad we choose Fun Pianos and will be booking them again very soon!

Hey Sam,

It went great, everyone had a blast.

Thanks for a great show. We’ve heard many compliments.

Fun Pianos were the entertainers of the year!  Being in a small town, we weren't sure how our first-ever dueling piano show would go, and it was very important we choose the RIGHT team to bring in.  Fun Pianos interacted with the crowd from the moment they took the stage till the moment they walked out the door!  Amazing entertainment, incredible, unmatched audience interaction, and super impressive musicians.  We are so glad we choose Fun Pianos and will be booking them again very soon!

Went great, sorry we had ½ of our usual crowd because of Covid. 

It was great, as always!! Everyone loved it and had a fun time! They are always begging for them to play longer! Thanks for another great year!!

Wanted to drop a note of appreciation for the entertainment we had this weekend. All went well, and your staff was amazing!

All went really well! Everyone enjoyed it and had great comments! Thank you so much!!

The event went great! Everyone had an amazing time, and we ended up raising over $40,000!

The event went great! Everyone had an amazing time, and we ended up raising over $40,000!

I just wanted to make sure you and Sam know how AWESOME these two were at our event!!! They were spot on with their performance!! LOVED, LOVED, LOVED them! Everyone had a great time! What great people! They were perfect for this event!!

The show was AMAZING!!! Everyone had a great time!!! One person told me “It was the most fun I have ever had at May School.” Thanks for making the evening a TOTAL SUCCESS!!!

It was great!! Everyone really enjoyed it. We hope to book again!!

It was SO good! The guys raised a record amount of tips for us and we received amazing feedback on the show! Jason was outstanding – we were so happy to have him join us this year, and have already had requests for him to come back! My husband was thrilled that Matt knew the MSU fight song, so that definitely made our night too. J Thank you guys SO much for everything – we’ve got wrap up meetings scheduled for next week and hopefully will be able to pencil in a date for next year!

The show was great! We're so glad we went with you guys. We had a lot of great feedback from attendees, and had a successful event!

I'm sorry for the delayed response! We had a GREAT time at our event and the performers were incredible!!!! We had several people request that we get those two back again next year. They were awesome!!

Hi! A good time was had by all! And we made some money for the rec center too, so overall a win-win!

AWESOMELY WONDERFUL!!! There has been a lot of chatter from coworkers on how they enjoyed the show. Please let the performers know they did a great job and we appreciate them entertaining us. Thank you!!

It was fantastic! The performers are great to work with. Everything went very, very smoothly and we all had a great time! Many, many compliments!

Our party was amazing! We had a blast! Employee interaction was at an all time high. Employees were talking about the party several days later.

THANK YOU!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!! IT WAS A FANTASTIC SHOW! I’ve had lots of compliments on it from people who had never seen a dueling piano show and that they had a great time! Thank you again for all the hard work, effort and endless patience with me on the getting this show together for us! We will definitely keep you in mind for future events!

They did a fantastic job and it was a great night!!!!!! Thanks again for helping us make it a great evening for our foundation.

The shows went very well! We have been extremely happy with Fun Pianos!

It went great! The performers were awesome!!! They were both so nice, professional and hilarious! Everyone had a great time. Thanks!

Thank you everything was AWESOME!

Everything went AWESOME! We had them stick around for the additional hour :)

It was great! I have heard nothing but positive comments. I appreciate working with you guys, you made the process so easy and seamless. Take care!

I could not be happier with our Dueling Piano show! We worked with Fun Pianos to host a new fundraiser in Burlington Iowa to raise support for local Scouting and Career Explorers. Fun Pianos was great to work with in the planning process. Their online program planning system, tips and tricks sheet, and office staff (Amy) were all great resources to help put this event together. Katy and Tommy were the two performers who came out. They arrived early, kept the crowd entertained with a wide variety of classic rock to new pop songs, and engaged the crowd with dancing and some games too!  

Our show for the 1967 class reunion of Fort Dodge, Iowa was a huge success and applauded by all 110 attended.  We appreciated them greatly.  many people came to me and said the entertainment was amazing, wonderful, where did I hear of them and said it was the best class reunion ever and what a way to go out on our 50th reunion gathering.  I thank appreciate all you and our dueling pianos guys.  They were great and very interactive with the crowd.

The players did a great job performing at our event. They provided fun and upbeat music and kept our guests engaged. We would definitely recommend Fun Pianos to others looking for great entertainment.

It was AWESOME!!!  I wish it would have been longer than 2 hours – they did not disappoint!  That’s by far the biggest crowd we’ve ever had after our banquets so it’s safe to say it was a success.  Thanks so much for everything – it was absolutely fantastic!  We received so many compliments after the show, everyone had a GREAT time and really enjoyed it. Thanks again!

We had a incredible show! The guys were fabulous!! Thank you so very much!!  

It was fantastic and great!  Thank you so much.  The players were great.

Great company to work with and such talented piano players – so much enthusiasm!  Can’t beat it for entertainment for any type of party or company function.  I highly recommend them!

"Our company, The Advisory Group, celebrated its 25th Anniversary on September 22, 2016 with a dinner Gala and spectacular entertainment provide by Fun Pianos. The event was a huge success, in great part because of Sam & Gary’s ability to reach out to everyone in the room and get them engaged and having fun! Within moments of the start, even the most conservative client in the audience was “chair dancing” and singing along! There were several highlights throughout Fun Pianos’ hour and a half set, to include the touching military tribute, a kick-line of married couples, Gary’s singing for a couple’s special celebration dance, and my personal favorite was having one sweet, older lady join Sam on stage while he played the piano. Sam used great charm in provide her with cues, and to encourage her along. It was adorable! Fun Pianos provided great entertainment for our business celebration, and, speaking for our entire audience of over 250, we had a ball! I would highly recommend Sam Ferguson and Fun Piano’s for your next event!"

The guys were amazing! Lots of people still talking about how great of a show it was! Thank you for making our banquet such a success! We would highly recommend the guys again to anyone!

The show turned out great and everyone had a good time! They were wonderful entertainers and piano players and I would highly recommend them both! Thanks again for all your help in getting everything planned – it was a success!

The show went really well! Everyone really enjoyed the performance! The guys were also great to work with.

The show was so great! I have not had that much fun in a long time! Everyone that attended wants to do it again next year! Mark and Frank were so great! Thanks for everything!

It was an awesome show! Everyone loved it!

The guys did a great job and everyone had a wonderful time. This is an event we plan to do again next February. Thank you for all of your help!

Omg it was awesome!! We had a great turn out! Thank you so much!

The show was wonderful - we had so much fun and loved the touch the dueling pianos provided. Thank you for all your help setting up the show!!

I thought the show was AMAZING!! It went much better than I had anticipated and was more than I had hoped for! My dad had been telling me he was not going to stay through the reception and he was dancing until midnight!! The guys were able to keep my grandmother as well as all of my young nieces and nephews involved throughout the piano show. I was told by many of my guests that this was one of the most fun receptions they had ever been to and the guests from the reception in the room next to ours kept stopping by my reception because the “music was better" and their DJ was “boring"! Thank You, Thank you, Thank you!! My husband, myself, our families and our guests had an absolutely amazing night!

Fun Pianos was the perfect choice for my wedding reception. We had well over 350 guests and the players got everyone from 2 to 90 years old involved! The best part was even guests who don't like hitting the dance floor had such positive comments about the reception because they felt like they got an entertaining show!

What a success!!! I cannot tell you how many compliments I received for booking 176 Keys for our fundraiser!!! The guys were Fabulous!!! So so much fun!! They were so great and so helpful in raising money.....I cannot thank them enough for an amazing event! First class show!!! Thank you!!!

Everything went great. The guys did a wonderful job and many of the employees have told me how much fun they had. It was a success.

Your team has been very easy to work with. On the morning of the event I got a VM saying they were in Cedar Rapids and on their way. By the time I got to the hotel that afternoon at 3:00, they were already completely set up ! The show was great! Everyone loved them and had a good time, people talked about it for days after. I was shocked that they didn’t take any breaks, they did an amazing job straight thru. They followed the owners request for no attention and it was much appreciated. One owner even said let’s put them in our 3 year rotation schedule for entertainment! Your team does an amazing job! Can’t wait until next time!

We received many compliments of the Best Corporate Christmas Party Evah! We highly recommend you for any or every occasion. Thank you to Fun Pianos for your professional touch. We sat for 368 and filled the house.

This client loved us so much, they had us return for their Holiday party again! Here's what she had to say the first time around..... Holiday Party on 12/13/13 IT WAS OUR BEST PARTY EVER. Truly, people are still talking about it. IF we get to have a party next year, you are in!!! It was so very awesome. And here is her comment this year (2nd time) Holiday Party 12/19/14 Oh, once again they were just terrific!!!

Fun Pianos by 176 Keys helped make our yearly fundraiser a huge success! We ended up having a sold out event and raised a lot of money for our school! They made my job of organizing their part of the fundraiser, so easy! The players were amazing! They interacted with the crowd, were so funny, appropriate and professional. Thank you so much for helping make our fundraiser awesome!

Oh my gosh it was FABULOUS!!! People really really enjoyed them! The event was a huge success and we raised over $16,000! Thank you so much!

SO TERRIFIC! A GREAT TIME was HAD BY ALL! Great Guys and FANTASTIC singers/performers too!

The show was absolutely amazing!! My now husband and I had a blast and I think our guests did too.. We've heard many compliments! I don't think hardly any of our guests had seen a dueling pianos show before so they didn't know what was going on at first..but then really got into it! I so wish I would've got it on videotape. :( My dad n bro were even dancing and I've never seen that before. Overall..AWESOME and I wish we could do it again!

Everyone had a great time! Thank you very much for making our event great!

The show was great! We received a lot of very positive feedback from everyone – looks like we’ll be having you guys come back again next year! :)

The players did an excellent job. They got the crowd involved which was entertaining for everyone.

The show was FANTASTIC!!!!!! The players were awesome. I have had too many compliments to keep track. In fact some employees that have been with the company for over 20 years said that was the best Holiday Party they have attended. Once again THANK YOU for providing great entertainment. That was my first experience with Dueling Pianos and I loved it as well.

I just wanted to drop you a quick note of appreciation for the wonderful show you did for us last week. The guys were great in all respects and I know that our guests had a great time all evening. My new son-in-law shared with me that very rarely at wedding receptions, does the Dance Floor stay packed and active all night. All age groups had a “Hoot” of a time! And most importantly to me, my Daughter and new Husband enjoyed every minute.

I want to thank you both so much for helping facilitate our Volunteer Appreciation Event last night. It was FABULOUS! It was everything I wished for and more. The players were great. They got the crowd into it and, honestly, I couldn’t believe how many people they got up there to squiggle and wiggle and pound on the table and sing and shout. It was very high energy and, absolutely great. You both, as well as the players, were very easy to work with, very professional and helpful. They were here when they said they would be and got right to work setting up, etc. It all went very smoothly – why did I worry??? So, thank you, thank you again. I really enjoyed working with everyone. I have nothing but the highest praise for the way you run your company!!

It was great and we’ve had really good feedback. They were great entertainers incorporating the 4 state universities. You are definitely on our list for potential future entertainment gigs.

176 Keys Fun Pianos is by far the best dueling pianos show you can book for your event. From the day of booking to the date of the show, the staff worked with me to make sure we had the best show possible. They kept the audience from young to young at heart not only entertained, but part of the show. The performance was exactly as expected and more. We will without a doubt be booking 176 Keys Fun Pianos for our future events!

Just wanted to send a quick note and say thanks! Everyone had a ton of fun last night – the dueling pianos were a huge hit! I received compliment after compliment! I would definitely recommend you to anyone looking for a fun filled evening! Thanks again!

Oh my gosh! That was the best show ever! We had so much fun. I have had hundreds of compliments already. What a great group to work with. I could have sat there all night. I would recommend this show to anyone! We are so doing this again. Thank you so much for being so great to work with.

Hey! Just a quick note to thank you so much for the AWSOME show Saturday night! All of my guests had a blast, including Wes and me! You made the night memorable and people are still laughing! Many people said it was the best reception they had ever been to. My nephew said he wanted to go back to the pianos for his birthday!Thanks again! Wes and I really appreciate it!

Everything went FANTASTIC! They were absolutely fabulous – they were able to somehow get almost 100% participation out of a room of 180 people. We’ve received only positive comments back from our employees and their guests. Not a dull moment once the two of them hit the stage.Thank you for taking hand in yet another successful holiday party! Please pass along our sincere thanks to both piano players.

I just wanted to thank you for the excellent entertainment you provided for us at our biennial company meeting on Saturday, February 12, in Johnston, Iowa. We’ve had many company meetings with a lot of entertainment, but nothing has ever topped your dueling pianos! I had several employees and spouses come up after the show to say that your program was the best we’ve ever had. I agree. Thank you, again, for helping to make our company meeting a tremendous success.

Results are in and 176 Keys Dueling Pianos was a huge hit!!! People are saying that this year was the best party yet. I’ve been planning our holiday party for the last 4 years and I would agree with the rest of the group that this was absolutely wonderful. It was so nice to work with you.

They were great! It was perfect! Thank you!

Thank you for providing such great entertainment for us in Monticello, Iowa this past weekend. The guys did an outstanding job both Friday and Saturday night. They were professional, entertaining, accommodating and just two great guys! I hope they enjoyed themselves, because everyone in Monticello who attended certainly enjoyed them! Job well done!!!

Just wanted to let you know that the guys did a fabulous job for us. We had a sell out crowd and had nothing but compliments on the show. Not only was it a great 2 hour show but they were so accommodating and responsive to anything we requested. They did a great job of reading the crowd and directing their performance right in to it. Not to mention the horrible snow storm, wind and cold they endured to keep their show date.

We survived and from all indications – the party was a great success! They did a great job!

“… Thought I would let you know how fabulous you guys were at our wedding!! Everyone had an absolute blast and several have said our reception was more fun than most they have been to. Words can’t explain how much fun Brian and I had at our reception. We will always have wonderful memories. Plus, not only were you completely entertaining, but you also took control of the order of events when we showed up late to the reception when our limo had a flat tire. That made it so that once we arrived, Brian and I could kick back and enjoy ourselves because you had it under control!!…” Jenny and Brian Wise Bride and groom jwise@desmoine.gannett.com

“… Thought I would let you know how fabulous you guys were at our wedding!! Everyone had an absolute blast and several have said our reception was more fun than most they have been to. Words can’t explain how much fun Brian and I had at our reception. We will always have wonderful memories. Plus, not only were you completely entertaining, but you also took control of the order of events when we showed up late to the reception when our limo had a flat tire. That made it so that once we arrived, Brian and I could kick back and enjoy ourselves because you had it under control!!…”

“I wanted to write you this letter to let you know how much we appreciated your performance. You musical talents and comedic touch really made for a terrific show. I really like how you involved our employees in your performance. From the beginning of the night you had our employees singing a long and laughing…”