Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue’s debut at Meijer Gardens was just the capper on a music-filled week in the Grand Rapids area, captured in images at Local Spins.
Bringing Bourbon Street to Grand Rapids: Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue at Meijer Gardens on Sunday night. (Photo/Anna Sink)
Leave it to Trombone Shorty to get a party started … instantly.
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Getting Funky: Trombone Shorty on stage. (Photo/Anna Sink)
The feisty trombonist, trumpet player and singer, along with his band Orleans Avenue, brought a little bit of Louisiana merriment – with a hint of that Louisiana humidity – to Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park on Sunday night and made sure the longest day of the year kept going a while longer in festive fashion.
It all started on a sizzling, sun-splashed note early when The Band of Heathens from Austin, Texas, uncorked an audience-engaging set of its rootsy, soulful, alt-country-hued rock, a performance that build to a climactic finish with “Medicine Man.” (Anyone wanting proof of the band’s impact as an opening act only needed to check the lineup at its merch table following its set.)
Clearly though, Trombone Shorty, aka Troy Andrews, aimed to deliver a memorable party for a sold-out amphitheater in his first visit to Meijer Gardens.
That he did, with the six-piece band unfurling a trombone-powered, funk-fueled, New Orleans-bred, audience-pleasing, dance-inspiring, rhythm-shifting, rock-hued, jazz-enhanced jam session of an evening with extended renditions of songs ranging from “On Your Way Down” to Ray Charles’ “I Got a Woman.”
Approving Crowd: Sunday’s show was a sellout. (Photo/Anna Sink)
“We want to keep it funky,” he declared about an hour into Sunday’s show. “Do you want to keep it funky?”
The answer, of course, was a resounding, ‘Yes.’
Official Sponsor of The Local Spins Weekend Photo Gallery
Trombone Shorty’s inaugural appearance at Meijer Gardens was the just the final volley in an explosive week of music across the Grand Rapids area:
• The Weezil Malone Band fired up the second installation of the Rogue River Blues Series in downtown Rockford on Tuesday night, with a large crowd enjoying the blues riffs along the river;
• WLAV’s first Summertime Blues concert at Walker’s DeltaPlex Arena boasted Jarekus Singleton (after moving the series this year from Rosa Parks Circle in downtown Grand Rapids (with more about that in a story here);
Battle Winner: The Suburbans at The Intersection’s Stache. (Photo/Taylor Mansen)
• The Indigo Girls regaled fans in their return to Meijer Gardens with more photos and a review here;
• Grand Rapids’ own Hannah Rose & The GravesTones performed in the HopCat presents Local Spins Live at River City Studios series (with video, podcast and story to come);
• Michael Franti & Spearhead made a triumphant return to Meijer Gardens, playing on stage, in the crowd and out in the parking lot as described in a Local Spins review;
• Gorilla Music’s Battle of the Bands finals unfolded at The Intersection, ultimately won by Hudsonville funk-rockers The Suburbans. Alternative indie band Retrofit finished a close second, followed by hard rock/metal band Monument 6 in third place. The Suburbans went home with a Tascam DP-32 Portable Studio and their choice of $500 cash, fifty personalized band T-shirts, two months of management with gorillamusicmanagement.com or an out of town show in any city of their choice.
• Saturday’s mega street party, Founders Fest, filled the area outside the brewery with a host of bands playing two stages. Check out the story and images in this Local Spins review and photo gallery.
TROMBONE SHORTY AND THE WEEKEND PHOTO GALLERY
Weezil Malone photos by John Sinkevics
Summertime Blues photos by Tori Thomas
Indigo Girls and Hannah Rose Graves photos by Anna Sink
Michael Franti photos by Chris Clark
Battle of the Bands photos by Taylor Mansen
Founders Fest photos by Anna Sink and Anthony Norkus
Copyright 2015, Spins on Music LLC
