Ratatat, John Hiatt, Taj Mahal, Bangups, Heaters, Jesse Ray & The Carolina Catfish, Tallest Man on Earth: Weekend Recap, Photo Gallery

The weekend’s stunning array of shows by national and local acts paced a week of invigorating live music as Labor Day 2015 approaches. All highlighted in a Local Spins recap, photos and videos.

 

SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTO GALLERIES, VIDEOS

Back in the day, before emailing or texting, this sort of uber-wild night of live music would have been “something to write home about.”

Instead, Local Spins wrote about it for readers, with a passel of photos and videos to help prove the point.

Friday night’s diverse, unusual, unorthodox and unhinged kickoff to the Labor Day holiday weekend in Grand Rapids ranged from the blues and rootsy rock of seasoned favorites Taj Mahal and John Hiatt at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park to the retro/psych-rock of the up-and-coming Heaters and La Luz at The Pyramid Scheme to the raucous, rockabilly-fueled garage rock of Jesse Ray & The Carolina Catfish at Tip Top Deluxe Bar & Grill to the “power funk” of the instrumentally adroit Brooklyn ensemble Turkuaz in The Stache at The Intersection.

Three of those four shows boasted capacity or near-capacity crowds which is an impressive feat for a set of concerts on any holiday weekend. Here’s a brief recap of those three jam-packed shows, with some video highlights below. And Friday was just the beginning …

JOHN HIATT & THE COMBO, TAJ MAHAL TRIO @ MEIJER GARDENS

Taken at face value, there’s nothing really surprising about an evening of veteran musical storytellers inspiring an audience of devoted fans.

But bluesman Taj Mahal and roots rocker/Americana artist John Hiatt – who have more than 90 years of combined stage experience between them – upped the ante on Friday night at Meijer Gardens, buoyed perhaps by absolutely perfect weather and word that the amphitheater concert had sold out about five minutes after gates opened.

Indeed, Taj Mahal at 73 is beloved for good reason: His congenial demeanor, world music-tinged blues, engaging tales, multi-instrumental prowess and gregarious attitude – along with his trio’s engaging renditions of tunes such as “She Caught the Katy” and “Mean Old World” – sparked comments (overheard from concertgoers) such as “I just love Taj Mahal,” “great blues,” “he’s such a good storyteller” and “he’s so happy.”

The same might be said for Hiatt, 63, whose graciousness was only overshadowed by the musicianship and muscle of his crack-jack band which featured scintillating Nashville guitarist Doug Lancio – an outfit that impressively rocked the amphitheater on “Perfectly Good Guitar,” “Real Fine Love,” “Tennessee Plates,” “Cry Love” and “Thing Called Love.”

In acknowledging his opportunity to share the stage with one of his musical heroes, Hiatt told the crowd that he “might not have been making music” if he hadn’t heard Taj Mahal as a teenager. “This is a very wonderful, mystical thing,” he suggested. “Music is so powerful.” And that certainly was the case on Friday night at Meijer Gardens.

TAJ MAHAL, JOHN HIATT PHOTO GALLERY: Photos by Eric Stoike

HEATERS, LA LUZ @ THE PYRAMID SCHEME

Grand Rapids psych-rock/garage-rock heroes Heaters weren’t the headliners for Friday night’s Pyramid Scheme show. That was reserved for Seattle retro-rockers La Luz (with Today’s Hits opening the evening). Indeed, Heaters had billed Friday night’s hometown set as a CD-release show for a new album, “Holy Water Pool,” but unfortunately, it didn’t arrive on time for the concert.

No matter. The lion’s share of the near-capacity crowd clearly was there to cheer on Heaters’ mind-bending, reverb-laced, glorious wall-of-sound attack and they weren’t disappointed. This is a band whose magical, super-groovy, black-light-appropriate rock inspires fans to pound the stage with their fists, bob/gyrate/swoon and generally get mesmerized by the loud waves of spiraling beauty. And these same fans likely would be more than thrilled to flock to a rescheduled CD-release show – whether the CD ever shows up. (Photos below in the Weekend Photo Gallery.)

VIDEO: Heaters at The Pyramid Scheme

JESSE RAY & THE CAROLINA CATFISH @ TIP TOP DELUXE BAR & GRILL

Picture this scene: an over-the-top, uber-exuberant throng in the cozy confines of the Tip Top Deluxe Bar & Grill, screaming, fist-pumping and crowd-surfing – with most tables in the bar removed – while the uber-loud, uber-ferocious garage-rock/rockabilly duo of Jesse Ray & The Carolina Catfish untethers songs from its new album, “Dead Man Walking,” in a sweaty, balls-to-the-wall display that even featured a flaming cymbal at the end of the night.

With singer-guitarist Jesse Ray leaping off amps, hooting and generally doing his best Iggy Pop-meets-young-Elvis Presley-meets-Pete-Townshend shtick and drummer Josh Worsham literally knocking the stuffing out of his kit, the sold-out bunch got its money’s worth during a musical spectacle that kicked off with the talented Tom Hymn and Hannah Rose & The GravesTones and later featured Jesse Ray and Worsham winding their way through the packed house to the stage after an impassioned introduction by musician pal Nick Stevenson. It was a local rock show for the ages. (Photos below in the Weekend Photo Gallery.)

VIDEO: Jesse Ray & The Carolina Catfish at Tip Top Deluxe

Elsewhere:
• The same night, the nine-piece Turkuaz impressed a small but enthusiastic turnout at The Stache in The Intersection with its funky smorgasbord of tunes;

• After recording a new studio album with Steve Albini, Grand Rapids’ Bangups unleashed their newfound four-piece rock vibe at Founders Brewing Co. on Saturday night, following sets by Mavericks & Monarchs and Hollywood Makeout. Guitarist-singer Joey Dornbos and drummer Brent French of the Bangups doubled their pop-vocal fun with their new lineup (which on Saturday featured guitarist Rusty Vining and bassist Neil Biegalle), uncorking fresh songs such as “Buddy Holly’s Ghost,” “Spirals” and “Illumination Hill.” Check out the video below. Oh, and surfy garage-rock outfit Hollywood Makeout has never sounded better.

• Sweden’s The Tallest Man on Earth (aka Kristian Matsson) brought his indie-folk charm and a full band to Hope College’s Dimnent Chapel in Holland to help a bevy of enthused students kick off the new school year, touring behind his latest album, “Dark Bird is Home,” with singer-songwriter Lady Lamb opening the show.

• Kalamazoo’s Audiotree Music Festival fired up downtown’s District Square with sets by an array of international and regional bands, including Andrew W.K., The Joy Formidable, The Fall of Troy, Chon, July Talk, Northern Faces, Foxing, Tiny Moving Parts, Narco Debut, Heaters, Cardboard Swords and hi-ker, attracting a “wall-to-wall” crowd. As photographer Derek Ketchum put it: “What a show. Nothing better than a full day of music like that.”

• Hey Marco! morphed into Grand Rapids’ version of Steely Dan for the third time in three years on Friday night, powering up a full and impressive evening of Steely Dan tunes for a pumped-up crowd as part of tribute show at Billy’s Lounge in Eastown.

• Plain Jane Glory made its SpeakEZ Lounge debut on Wednesday night as part of the Local Spins Wednesdays series, engaging a small-but-enchanted bunch at the intimate venue.

• Brooklyn’s Ratatat brought its full-bore, light-intensive rocktronica attack to The Intersection on Sunday night for a sold-out show for a happy, hyped-up bunch.

In addition, check out Local Spins’ photo gallery and full review from O.A.R.’s sold-out show at Meijer Gardens on Wednesday online here.

WEEKEND PHOTO GALLERY: Sept. 6, 2015

Heaters, La Luz photos by Anthony Norkus
Jesse Ray & The Carolina Catfish, Hannah Rose, Tom Hymn photos by Anna Sink
Bangups, Hollywood Makeout photos by Anthony Norkus
The Tallest Man on Earth photos by Anna Sink
Audiotree Music Festival photos by Derek Ketchum
Hey Marco! photos by Tori Thomas
Plain Jane Glory photos by Anna Sink
Ratatat photos by Anthony Norkus

VIDEO: The Bangups at Founders Brewing

Copyright 2015, Spins on Music LLC