The Lumineers’ Stelth Ulvang plays ‘stealth’ show at Grand Rapids brew pub (Story, video, photos)

The accordionist and keyboard player for the platinum-selling Colorado folk-rock band played an unscheduled concert for a packed house Monday at Hideout Brewing.

 

For a guy named Stelth, playing a surprise, unscheduled show at a place called Hideout Brewing sounds, well, perfect.

Singer and multi-instrumentalist Stelth Ulvang, a member of the platinum-selling Colorado folk-rock band The Lumineers, unfurled an impromptu performance early Monday night upstairs at the cozy Grand Rapids brewery and pub on Plaza Drive off of Plainfield Avenue NE.

Not exactly hiding out, Ulvang was actually passing through Grand Rapids – and playing for tips – while on a September solo tour before The Lumineers kick off a tour that takes them to South America in November and South Africa in December.

“It’s more just to keep moving. I got a little restless,” Ulvang said of going out on the road with his one-time bandmates in indie-folk’s The Dovekins — drummer Max Barcelow (Fierce Bad Rabbit) and bassist Blake Stepan — plus a new violinist.

Ulvang, who releases a new solo album, “And As Always, The Infinite Cosmos,” in three weeks, conceded it’s also energizing to play small clubs and interact with audiences in intimate settings. That’s in stark contrast to the large venues played by The Lumineers, whose debut album soared to No. 2 on the Billboard 200 Chart and generated the smash hit, “Ho Hey,” which recently earned honors as the BMI Pop Song of the Year and the Most Performed Song of the Year.

“You lose touch in a way,” Ulvang said of being away from the road and playing smaller settings.

His set in Grand Rapids was arranged at the 11th hour with help from a friend who works at Hideout Brewing. Over the weekend, Ulvang and his bandmates made a stop in Fremont where pal Nick Jaina had directed a Satellite Collective dance and music production at the Dogwood Center for Performing Arts.

Ulvang and his three-piece band play a show in Kalamazoo on Tuesday before traveling to Indianapolis.

“I love it,” the singer said of performances like the one on Monday attended by about 45 people who jammed into the upper level of Hideout Brewing for the free, folk- and roots-oriented show. He conceded band members are still working up and fine-tuning material with their new violinist.

At one point, Ulvang told the audience the band was passing the hat for donations so they could “get back to Colorado.”

The set included a brief guest appearance on the rousing final song by Grand Rapids singer-songwriter Ralston Bowles, who had bumped into the musicians by happenstance on Sunday busking and practicing their music outdoors at Rosa Parks Circle in downtown Grand Rapids.

Ulvang noted he’s headed back to work with The Lumineers – Wesley Schultz, Jeremiah Fraites, Neyla Pekarek and Ben Wahamaki – after his tour. The Lumineers, he said, are working on the follow-up album to their 2012 self-titled debut.

Copyright 2014, Spins on Music