Halloween Hoopla, West Michigan-style: From Stranger Things to a Fear Factory, a guide to your masquerade mayhem

Halloween falling on a Monday just gives folks an excuse to extend the weekend and party like zombies four nights in a row. Local Spins has your guide to West Michigan’s haunting musical maelstrom of fun.

 

Night has fallen and a brisk wind creeps through the trees, knocking together hollow branches and stirring dry leaves so they wrestle with a papery sound. A pale-yellow moon looms, eery noises arise from every direction and shadows reach from darkest corners.

The days leading up to Halloween hold a kind of suspense and superstition, a stillness between autumn and winter.

The holiday inspires the essence of fear … and provides an excuse to immerse oneself in it.

It also proves to be a night of costumed revelry and shenanigans – and one of the most entertaining times to see live bands take the stage, especially in Grand Rapids. Countless Halloween bashes provide endless opportunities to see some of West Michigan’s best artists give one-of-a kind performances.

“Any time where there’s a holiday or an event involved, it makes playing a show that much more fun,” said Kyle Brown of Bigfoot Buffalo, who will play the Billy’s Lounge Halloween party on Saturday, along with Hannah Rose (and the appropriately named GravesTones) and Eric Engblade.

“Halloween (or the Saturday of) and New Year’s Eve are really the two biggest party nights of the year, so playing a show on one of those nights is always exciting.”

There is a big change on the Halloween front in Grand Rapids this year.

SOMETHING NEW: “STRANGER THINGS” PARTY

Halloween on Ionia, a Halloween-themed EDM street party that drew 8,000 people last year, will not return. Instead, BarFly Ventures is hosting a “Stranger Things”-themed Halloween bash at two venues on Saturday night: Stella’s Lounge and The Waldron Public House.

“We decided to hold a Halloween event inside the walls and multiple floors of the Waldron Public House,” said Shane Philipsen, special events manager for BarFly Ventures.

“Last couple of years, the weather has been terrible, very wet and cold. We decided to move the party inside with the Stranger Things Party.”

The free event will feature multiple DJs across three spaces — Stella’s backroom and the first and second floors of Waldron Public House — with each decorated as a setting from the popular Netflix TV show.

Philipsen said the event also has no cover, allowing guests to walk back and forth between each venue.

Wristbands will be provided to the first 50 people, which will allow them to visit both Stella’s and Waldron in an express line.

But one of Michigan’s biggest indoor Halloween parties returns for another year in downtown Grand Rapids, with The B.O.B. hosting a full weekend of spooky, spell-binding festivities, featuring live performances by Lipstick Jodi (Saturday) and Vox Vidorra (Friday).

The two-day event (Friday’s Devil’s Night Pre-Party and Saturday’s “Fear Factory” Halloween Party) will feature four floors of terror and a costume contest with prizes totaling $3,500. Get details online here.

“What makes a show special is really the audience, and on Halloween you have a ton of people who are down to have a good time, dressing up, and getting rowdy,” Brown said. “Couple that with a killer lineup like this one — we love playing with the GravesTones and Eric Engblade’s quartet is on fire lately — and you’ve got a recipe for a dynamite show.”

HALLOWEEN: THE LIST

There’s no shortage of Halloween parties featuring live music and terrifying get-ups (presidential candidates included) across West Michigan this weekend — and that weekend, in this case, extends from Thursday through Monday.

Here’s a roster of many to choose from, so get your scare on … not to mention your dancing shoes.

THURSDAY

LADIES ROCK!
GRAND RAPIDS HALLOWEEN BENEFIT
When: 9 p.m. Thursday
Admission: Free
Where: Mulligan’s Pub, Grand Rapids

Ladies Rock! Grand Rapids is raising funds – and equipment and awareness — for its first Ladies Rock! Camp planned for our fair River City in 2017. Organized by Lena Trinket and Jes Kramer, the evening includes indie punker Tonia Bug, rocker Blanca Luz, synth-pop duo PARTS and the three hot flashes of FLUSHED.

Big Lake Halloween Party and Costume Contest with Delilah DeWylde at Big Lake Brewing in Holland, 6 p.m. Thursday, free

FRIDAY

BASSNECTAR
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday (repeated at 7:30 p.m. Saturday)
Tickets: Sold out
Where: DeltaPlex Arena, Walker

This is billed as the second annual Halloween weekend spectacular — a two-night Bassnectar extravaganza at DeltaPlex Arena for 2016. Bassnectar, aka California DJ and producer Lorin Ashton, has come a long, long way since his early days as an EDM house party master.

These days, of course, he’s spinning and playing in front of thousands of exuberant EDM fans, enhanced by an impressive light show and touring behind his latest recording, “Unlimited.” Both of these all-ages show are sold out, but you might check with the DeltaPlex the day of the shows or with ticket brokers to see what might end up being available.

OBC FOURTH ANNIVERSARY PARTY & STAR WARS COSTUME NIGHT:
DREW BEHRINGER
When: 8 p.m. Friday
Admission: Free
Where: Our Brewing Company, Holland

Leave the roses at home for this age 21+ anniversary shindig, but make sure you bring your light sabres. A Star Wars dress-up theme is encouraged, but actually, any old costume will do as Our Brewing throws down for its we-can’t-believe-it’s-been-four-years-already celebration. The treat? Musician Drew Behringer, disguised as one guy but truly “a one-man cover band.” The trick? Keeping your Princess Leia buns pinned up.

OTHER FRIDAY PARTIES

• Devil’s Night at The B.O.B. with Vox Vidorra and AB, 7 p.m. Friday, $20 (see more details under Saturday’s “Fear Factory” at The B.O.B.)

• The Zombie Party with Delilah DeWylde at Grand Armory Brewing in Grand Haven, 8 p.m. Friday

• Old School Halloween Bash, 9 p.m. Friday at Park Theatre, 248 S. River Ave., in Holland, $7 (first 50), $10 (next 75), $13 (for the rest) — Billed as old-school bash featuring four DJs – DJ VanHekken, DJ Royalty, DJ Greg Rios and Curt V – playing “all your favorite ‘80s and ‘90s dance music.

• Dizzybird Records “Dead Musician” Anniversary Party with Hollywood Makeout, Coffin Problem, The Harlequins, Heaven’s Gateway Drugs and Suzies, 8 p.m. Friday $10 advance, $12 day of show (Showgoers encouraged to dress as favorite dead musician ‘for a chance to win cash and prizes.)

SATURDAY

FEAR FACTORY AT THE B.O.B.
When: 7 p.m. Saturday
Tickets: $30 (two nights); $20 at the door
Where: The B.O.B., 20 Monroe Ave. NW, Grand Rapids

This has long been billed annually as one of Michigan’s biggest Halloween bashes, with a costume contest boasting $3,500 in prizes and each floor transformed into “a uniquely themed” Fear Factory. Lipstick Jodi and DJs will provide music.

The B.O.B. also hosts a Devil’s Night party on Friday with music by Vox Vidorra and DJ AB. Tickets for both nights are $30 in advance; admission is $20 at the door. Get more information and details about the costume contest online here.

ROCKOWEEN 2016:
PAST TENSE
INNER ITCH
EDGE FROM FALLING
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Admission: Free
Where: Quinn and Tuite’s Irish Pub, Grand Rapids

Quinn and Tuite’s Irish Pub makes it metal for Rockoween, and we’re not talkin’ tin whistles here. Start with Lansing’s Past Tense, which has left behind its past as a thrash metal tribute band to deliver originals in the classic metal tradition: Shannon Strobel on vocals, Matt Noe on drums, Banzai Ryan on bass, and Stony Garza and Rich Bates on guitars. Two sets of hard rockers from GR will also be on display: Inner Itch, with Jeremy Leal, vocals, Nick Schmuck and Joe Alvarado, guitar; Aric Gee, Bass, Mike Whitmill, drums; and Edge From Falling, five guys with guitars, drums and a bass. Costumes encouraged.

NIGHTMARE ON BURDICK STREET: DOMESTIC PROBLEMS, MEGA 80S
When: 8:30 p.m. Saturday
Tickets: $17
Where: State Theatre, Kalamazoo

Folk-rock’s Domestic Problems of Grand Rapids and retro-cover band Mega 80s of Detroit join the “ghosts of historic Kalamazoo State Theatre” to create a cross-Mitten Halloween funtime Nightmare on Burdick Street. Six musicians topped by horns defines those devilish Domestic Problems, while Mega 80s presents songs and fashion of a bygone era with “an eye-popping video spectacle in the background.” Plus, theatre patrons can expect spirits in addition to those that haunt the top shelf. Best costumes win awards. Tickets can be unburied here.

EIGHTH ANNUAL MASQUERADE BALL:
RED SEA PEDESTRIANS
THE CORN FED GIRLS
When: 9 p.m. Saturday
Tickets: $15
Where: Bell’s Eccentric Café, Kalamazoo

This Halloween costume party is 21+, and that also describes the number of genres that Red Sea Pedestrians can play, and, oh, yeah, the six-musician band won two of WYCE’s Jammy Awards for best roots album, so they can play that, too. And, yes, strings are attached to Kalamazoo-brewed, Americana-steeped The Corn Fed Girls. Ride your broom here to get tickets.

OTHER SATURDAY PARTIES

• “Stranger Things” Halloween Party with DJs at Waldron Public House and Stella’s Lounge in downtown Grand Rapids, 8 p.m. Saturday free (with more details online here)

• Rockford Brewing Halloween Party with Hazy Past at Rockford Brewing in downtown Rockford, 8 p.m. Saturday, free

• Tarantino Halloween Dance Party & Costume Contest with A.B., George Benson and S.A.V.A.G.E. at The Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids, 9 p.m. Saturday, $10 advance, $12 day of show

• Tail From the Crypt CD-release and Halloween Party at Corner Record Shop, 3562 Chicago Drive SW in Grandville, 8 p.m. Saturday, free

• Billy’s Lounge Halloween Party with Hannah Rose & The GravesTones, Eric Engblade and Bigfoot Buffalo at Billy’s Lounge in Grand Rapids, 9:30 p.m. Saturday, $6 ($5 if wearing costume)

• The Sailor Kicks Halloween Party at Vander Mill Cider in Grand Rapids, 7 p.m. Saturday

• Halloween Extravaganza with Jack and Jeff Revue at Macatawa Ale Co in Holland, 8 p.m. Saturday

• Halloween Horror Hootenanny with Mich-Fits, Hank 420 and Grim Day at Louie’s in Kalamazoo, 8:30 p.m. Saturday, $6 ($5 with costume)

• Halloween Bash with Rich Burkholder at Saugatuck Brewing Co., 2948 Blue Star Hwy. in Douglas, 6 p.m. Saturday, free (considered a warm-up to the 10 p.m. Halloween parade that takes place in downtown Douglas)

• Trail Point Halloween Party with Delilah DeWylde at Trail Point Brewing Co. in Allendale, 4 p.m.-midnight, free (the event includes a costume contest, slider-eating contest and Delilah DeWylde performing at 8 p.m.)

• Digidamn Nightmare Before Christmas with Dark Electro Dance at Mulligan’s Pub in Grand Rapids, 10 p.m. Saturday (with costume contest at midnight)

• Hops and Hips Thriller Dance Party with the Kalamazoo Ballroom Academy at Arcadia Ales in Kalamazoo, 6:30 p.m. Saturday (billed as an evening of dinner and a dance lesson)

SUNDAY

• Devil’s Night Party with Murder Party, I Believe in Julio, Bet on Rats and Joe & The Westside Orchestra at The Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids, 8 p.m. Sunday, $6 (tickets online here and tune into to Local Spins on WYCE, 88.1 FM, at 11 a.m. Friday when Bet on Rats will be the in-studio guests)

MONDAY

• Tip Top Deluxe Halloween Party with Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys, Delilah DeWylde and Jesse Ray & The Carolina Catfish, 6 p.m. Monday, $10 advance, $15 day of show (Details online here.)

• Founders Brewing Halloween Party with The Mystery Lights and The MisTakes at Founders Brewing in Grand Rapids, 9 p.m. Monday, free

• BassBin Halloween Party at Billy’s Lounge in Grand Rapids with Zach Blets, Richard Oxygenn and Timothy Getz, 9 p.m. Monday (This BassBin Monday features a costume contest with a $500 top prize.)

Copyright 2016, Spins on Music LLC