Brimming to capacity: Tour stops by Kip Moore, Lamb of God, Oh Hellos, City and Colour and Umphrey’s McGee, with rousing shows by local stars, too. The action, of course, was caught in Local Spins images.
Thrashing Away: Anthrax at The Orbit Room was just part of a hectic week of rock and more in West Michigan. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
January finished up with a real bang thanks to a week that brought a blizzard of national tours through West Michigan for capacity concerts, not to mention shows that helped boost the profile of some local favorites.
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And check out the separate Local Spins review and photo gallery from Saturday’s sold-out City and Colour concert at The Intersection.
UMPHREY’S MCGEE AT WINGS EVENT CENTER
Kalamazoo welcomed one of the nation’s most beloved jam bands, Umphrey’s McGee, for a Saturday concert at the Wings Event Center, filled with prog-rock-styled wizardry and a brilliant light show, one that fans “couldn’t stop talking about,” according to photographer Derek Ketchum. Tauk opened the show.
PHOTO GALLERY: Umphrey’s McGee, Talk photos by Derek Ketchum
THE OH HELLOS AT HOPE COLLEGE
Uber-lively Texas folk-rockers The Oh Hellos, led by brother and sister Tyler Heath and Maggie Heath, brought the tour behind their latest album, “Dear Wormwood,” to Hope College’s Dimnent Memorial Chapel and didn’t disappoint the student and fans who turned out for Thursday’s show (which also featured opener Liza Anne). The nine-piece band frolicked throughout the show, with members even jumping off the stage to get fans singing along. Throughout all the rambunctiousness, the vocals were on point.
PHOTO GALLERY: Oh Hellos photos by Anna Sink
SCOTTY MCCREERY, KARI LYNCH AT STATE THEATRE
KIP MOORE AT THE INTERSECTION
West Michigan country fans got to saddle up for two nights of country stars in a row.
The day after appearing on the Local Spins Live radio show in Grand Rapids, country singer Kari Lynch pumped up a three-quarters-full Kalamazoo State Theatre on Thursday, opening for headliner and “American Idol” star Scotty McCreery. Lynch, who moved to Nashville from Grand Rapids last fall, delivered a 45-minute set with her backing band, before the 22-year-old McCreery took the stage.
On Friday, a sold-out Intersection welcomed Kip Moore to Grand Rapids, to the glee of fans who also embraced an opening set by Chase Bryant.
PHOTO GALLERY: Scotty McCreery, Kari Lynch, Kip Moore photos by Eric Stoike
I BELIEVE IN JULIO, A.B. AT LONG ROAD DISTILLERS
Friday night’s interesting pairing of Grand Rapids punk band I Believe in Julio and hip hop’s A.B. drew a small but enthused bunch of fans to The Rickhouse, upstairs at Long Road Distillers on Leonard Street NW.
PHOTO GALLERY: I Believe in Julio, A.B. photo by Anna Sink
LAMB OF GOD, ANTHRAX AT THE ORBIT ROOM
A pair of metal icons rolled into Grand Rapids on Sunday night to close out the weekend with fervor at The Orbit Room. Local Spins contributor Jonathan Beatty filed this report:
Thrash metal giants Lamb of God bludgeoned a sold-out crowd at The Orbit Room Sunday night with its tight-knit brand of speed metal, while thrash legend Anthrax proved it still has what it takes to win over a boisterous crowd.
Virginia’s Lamb of God returned to Grand Rapids following the release of the band’s most recent album “VII: Sturm Und Drang” which garnered a Grammy nomination for best metal album of the year. The band came out rumbling with their tight, machine-gun like polyrhythms that provided plenty of thunder on an overcast evening.
The sold-out crowd was quick to match the band’s ferocity as fans began moshing and stage diving almost instantly as the band tore into a rather lengthy set after opening performances by Anthrax, Deafheaven and Power Trip.
Singer Randy Blythe paced around the stage like a caged animal, flailing his long body and dreadlocks around while his bandmates head-banged along to the quintet’s devastating grooves. Behind the band were montages of buildings and foreign places being demolished by bombs and other signs of war, adding a visual component to the harsh reality of songs such as “Now You’ve Got Something to Die For.”
Before launching into crowd favorite “Ruin,” they dedicated the song to their late longtime friend and Grand Rapids native/local booking agent Chris Johnson. This sparked raucous applause from the crowd and saw the band put forth a little more energy into the song, knowing it was being played in the hometown of a lost friend.
The rest of the set saw the band weave in and out of itsr catalogue with breakneck double bass drums patterns, and accompanying acrobatic guitar riffs courtesy of drummer Chris Adler, guitarist Mark Morton and Willie Adler, with the latter getting a huge reaction for his cut-off Detroit Red Wings shirt.
The band played not one, but two encores that saw fans dipping into their reserve energy tanks to oblige the demand for “more movement,”expelling whatever vigor they had left into the last few songs of the night.
The bombastic, high-energy show reminded fans why Lamb of God has become a leader in the metal genre.
PHOTO GALLERY: Lamb of God, Anthrax, Deafheaven photos by Anthony Norkus
SMALL BROWN BIKE, BLUE WATER RAMBLERS, DEEP GREENS & BLUES AND MORE
Elsewhere this week, Grand Rapids’ Max Lockwood and the Michigan Basement uncorked fun sets for a SpeakEZ Lounge crowd on Wednesday that boasted a fair number of area musicians; the following night, Deep Greens and Blues celebrated release of a new album at Founders Brewing Co. in Grand Rapids, with Olivia Mainville & the Aquatic Troupe delivering a headlining set; Devin and the Dead Frets rocked New Holland Brewing in Holland for a Friday night appearance along the lakeshore; the same night, Small Brown Bike returned to Kalamazoo to punk up a sold-out Bell’s Brewery in post-hardcore fashion with BoneHawk and The Reptilian; and folk’s Blue Water Ramblers performed a fundraiser for Lowell Arts on Saturday at Larkin’s Other Place in Lowell.
The weekend also brought “Womp at the Park” to Holland’s Park Theatre, a Friday night DJ affair that had Local Spins writer Matt Marn filing this report:
Park Theatre in Holland was full of bumping music and flashing color Friday night, as the Womp at the Park electronic dance music event started filling up.
The classic theatre showed it was full of new tricks as patrons dressed up, donned glow sticks, and danced until the morning with local electronic dance music performers took over the stage and the sound system to keep the crowd cheering.
Carlos Mosqueda, the event’s organizer, helps put on shows from Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids to Muskegon, with the event celebrating its third anniversary on March 18.
“I love the amount of people I get to work with and meet,” he said. “Some of these people have only been to one of our events before, but now they are family. It’s really cool, to see new people meet here, and now they are best friends.”
Mosqueda said he’s blown away by the performers as well as the visual artists with tables set up along the wall and the skill of the dancers in the crowd.
“Musicians, dancers, visual artists – it’s amazing,” he said. “I’m not too good with my hands… but these people, what they can do, is inspiring. If you have a talent, we want to see it.”
WEEKEND PHOTO GALLERY: Jan. 31, 2016
Max Lockwood photos by Anna Sink
Deep Greens & Blues, Olivia Mainville photos by Tori Thomas
Devin & The Dead Frets photos by John Sinkevics
Small Brown Bike photos by Derek Ketchum
Blue Water Ramblers photos by Gina Grover, Regina Joy Photography
Womp at the Park photos by Matt Marn
