Album-release shows and the debut of a new local music festival were part of a week that also featured a West Michigan tour stop by Yonder Mountain String Band, the kickoff to the Celadon concert series and a birthday bash at The Pyramid Scheme.
Busy Weekend: Nicholas James & The Bandwagon followed up a CD-release show at Founders Brewing on Saturday with a set at the Grand River Water Festival on Sunday. (Photo/Hunter Gamble)
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The mega-groovy and massive Electric Forest was by no means the only game in town this week for West Michigan music lovers. (Check out a recap of the final day of Electric Forest here.)
Indeed, Sunday’s Grand River Water Festival at Grand Rapids’ Riverside Park was an inspiring, one-day showcase of local and regional music with more than a half-dozen, family-friendly performances in a comfy outdoor setting.
The last weekend in June also boasted several album-release shows, including Nicholas James & The Bandwagon at Founders Brewing Co. in Grand Rapids, The Red Sea Pedestrians at Bell’s Brewery in Kalamazoo and Silverstiles at The DAAC in Grand Rapids.
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Saturday’s first-ever Sound of the City festival at the Harris Building in Grand Rapids featured nine West Michigan acts covering several different genres in the event hosted by the new radi8er music app and platform. Although turnout was modest — with folks coming in and out during the day-long affair — Rob Anthony of radi8er noted it was an upbeat event. “Everybody’s having a good time,” he told Local Spins.
The week also boasted a Kalamazoo tour stop by bluegrass powerhouse Yonder Mountain String Band, the Steve Hilger Band kicking off the Celadon Summer Concert Series and Delilah DeWylde & The Lost Boys playing the outdoor stage at Kalamazoo’s Old Dog Tavern, and Heaters, Heavier Than Air Flying Machines, Hollywood Makeout, Seth Galligan celebrating the birthday of Nicole LaRae (of The Pyramid Scheme and WYCE-FM) with performances at The Pyramid Scheme.
Finally, as mentioned above, things wrapped up Sunday with a Michigan music bonanza at the seventh Grand River Water Festival at Riverside Park in Grand Rapids. The event — which combined environmental education, family activities and live music — featured performances by a who’s who lineup of regional roots acts, including Fauxgrass, Nicholas James & The Bandwagon, Madcat Midnight Blues Journey, Rachael and Dominic John Davis, Kathy Lamar and Bob VanStee, Hawks & Owls, Dede & The Dreamers, Seth Bernard and May Erlewine, and more.
Check out all of the images below. (Click on the photos to enlarge galleries.)
PHOTO GALLERY: Sound of the City 2016
Photos by Deshia Dunn and John Sinkevics
PHOTO GALLERY: KALAMAZOO HOOPLA
Yonder Mountain String Band, Red Sea Pedestrians, Guitar Up!
Delilah DeWylde & The Lost Boys
Photos by Derek Ketchum
Photos by Rex D. Larsen
