The Crane Wives, Bennett and Lincoln County Process drew a hefty throng on Friday, but there was more folk, soul, hip hop, dubstep and rock in this weekend’s lively gallery mix, from Skankadank to The Floozies.
Ah, yet another musicians’ joke for LaughFest’s sake …
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Q: How many drummers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A: None. They have machines that do that now.
While that may be true to a certain degree, even EDM outfits use real drummers in many cases (like Kansas duo The Floozies who opened for Grand Rapids’ own Ultraviolet Hippopotamus in a rousing show at The Intersection on Saturday night) and top-notch, inventive drummers were in abundance at many West Michigan shows, from the Dan Rickabus Nooftet at Founders Brewing (with Max Lockwood’s Michigan Basement project and Gifts or Creatures also performing) to Skankadank’s horn-hued soulful rock at Rockford Brewing to heavy metal’s The Sword playing to an elbow-to-elbow sold-out audience in The Stache at The Intersection.
And Grand Rapids’ Lo Mobb and March Forth brought drums and their full-band hip-hop attacks to Founders on Saturday, regaling a capacity crowd in the process.
But then there were the drummer-less shows: The vocally gorgeous folk trio Bennett (opening for The Crane Wives at The Intersection), the Red Tail Ring folk/Americana duo from Kalamazoo who “played their hearts out” and lit up Spring Lake’s intimate Seven Steps Up with their Appalachian-styled strains, and the Makem & Spain Brothers putting grins on the faces of a packed house at Fenian’s Irish Pub in Conklin by playing harmony-filled ballads and rollicking toe-tappers, not to mention uncorking a bevy of humorous anecdotes.
Much of the action was captured in Local Spins photos and videos, which you can check out below. And for a complete story and more photos from Friday’s Crane Wives show, click on this link.
Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
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