A couple of days after Ray LaMontagne’s tantrum and stage walk-off at Meijer Gardens, singer Michael Buble proved that nice guys finish first, playing to an adoring crowd at Van Andel Arena. (Photo gallery)
Being Loved: Fans showered Michael Buble with affection at Van Andel Arena on Friday night. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
Today across West Michigan, Facebook was buzzing about singer Michael Buble’s concert at Grand Rapids’ Van Andel Arena.
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Singing Giant: Buble dwarfed by the giant video screen. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
OK, fine, there’s still a fair amount of social media kibitzing about the fallout from Wednesday night’s hyped tantrum by singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, who briefly walked off the stage due to some chatty concertgoers, thus igniting endless debate over concert etiquette.
By contrast, Canadian jazz-pop singer Buble completely engaged the happy crowd with chatty banter, sparking accolades and flattering comments on Facebook:
Denise DeVille Martinez gushed that “It was fantastic,” Christina Antcliff raved that he was “even better in person,” and Ellen Bristol called it a “fabulous show” (which opened with a set by the Naturally 7 vocal group).
Local Spins photographer Tony Norkus noted that in addition to interacting with the crowd, Buble gave free concert tickets to about 100 people from the Clark Retirement Community, who had earlier created a buzz by producing a lip dub video set to Buble’s rendition of “Feelin’ Good.” Buble played the video on the giant screen and thanked the group, earning a standing ovation from the crowd.
MICHAEL BUBLE and NATURALLY 7: THE LOCAL SPINS PHOTO GALLERY
Photos by Anthony Norkus
(Click on photo to enlarge gallery)
Email John Sinkevics at john@localspins.com.
Copyright 2014, Spins on Music
