Summer concerts continued to heat up West Michigan over the past week, with national touring acts stopping in Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. Local Spins has the photos, recaps, set lists.
Entertaining Spectacles: Ben Folds, Luke Bryan, Flaming Lips and Kurt Vile. (Photos/Derek Ketchum/Joshua Tufts/Elise Coates)
SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTO GALLERIES, SET LISTS
Support our coverage of
West Michigan's music scene
For fans of wildly entertaining, pop/rock piano marvel Ben Folds, the night at Kalamazoo State Theatre began with “Capable of Anything.”
For country devotees cheering Luke Bryan at a jam-packed Grand Rapids’ Van Andel Arena, the party started — appropriately — with “That’s My Kind of Night.”
At Bell’s Brewery Beer Garden in Kalamazoo, Kurt Vile & The Violators rocked a version of 2011’s “Jesus Fever” to launch the evening, part of their current U.S. tour.
And those celebrating the psychedelic wonder — and crazy, balloon-festooned pageantry — of The Flaming Lips at Grand Rapids’ GLC Live at 20 Monroe, it was all about the 2002 album “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots,” blasting off with “Flight Test” on Saturday night for the first of two fan-involving sets.
The roster of eclectic gems with recent West Michigan tour stops also included English drummer Yussef Dayes (with Jordan Hamilton/Tri-Magi opening) at Bell’s in Kalamazoo. Check out recaps, set lists and photo galleries below. Plus, check out separate recaps/photos of Bonnie Raitt at Meijer Gardens and Smiling Acres Music Festival in Trufant.
BEN FOLDS AT KALAMAZOO STATE THEATRE (Saturday)
Ben Folds covers all the angles — as a band (with Ben Folds Five) and solo act, on pop and classical stages, for himself and for charity.
Since the 1980s, Folds’ innovative, experimental, alternative-pop work has graced radios and movie screens. Bittersweet, self-deprecatingly wise and intricately played, his piano and songwriting skill has kept him on top. He released a memoir, “A Dream About Lightning Bugs,” in 2019, the album “What Matters Most” in 2023, and a William Shatner collaboration album, “So Fragile, So Blue,” this year.
On Saturday, the Emmy-winning, multi-platinum artist graced Kalamazoo State Theatre on the first leg of his “Paper Airplane Request Tour.” The name is the tour’s gimmick: During the second half of each show, Ben Folds takes song requests thrown to the stage via paper airplane, and plays them solo. He’s said the format has led to overwhelming engagement, building a “special bond” with fans. The premise is whimsical, fantastical and a bit silly, with the additional thoughtful, adrift nature of a paper airplane—perfect themes for his work.
Paper Airplane Requests: They littered the stage. (Photo/Derek Ketchum)
Ben Folds’ opening act, Lindsey Kraft, performed a 30-minute abridged portion of her musical “love, me.” The presentation of her romantic trials and path into music was unfortunately a bit weak. Kraft’s passionate chest voice, belting to her piano, made her best work, but she used a strange baby voice on most of her pieces. Nonetheless, she crafted a compelling story that garnered audience enthusiasm. Plus, the themes of “love, me” perfectly paired with Ben Folds’ music, making her a no-brainer as an opener.
Folds entered and started playing “Capable of Anything” without fanfare. The song, a both motivating and sorrowful piece about human potential, immediately liberated both the audience and artist from the rest of the world and themselves. From the beginning, his piano playing was beyond dexterous. It was difficult to not just watch in wonder at his hands at work, speedily sculpting flickering keys. Getting to watch this complex music in physical action made it more powerful, a real rather than hypothetical skill and labor.
Folds evoked charming pride in Kalamazoo by heralding its known music education presence. He told the audience of his earliest prepubescent songs, growing self-conscious and beginning to write pieces like “Having Two Dicks is Cool” in his teens, and then trying to regain that childlike ability to create. Folds lived in West Michigan as a young adult, and ended the first half with a few classic pieces from that period—often about people he knew in Kalamazoo. It was a heartfelt connection with an artistic powerhouse that so often goes wholly unappreciated.
Volley after volley of paper airplanes hit the stage after the countdown for the second half, knitting a carpet. Under the colored lights, all the white paper created beautiful highlight tones, and people assisted each other in getting their word out by tossing flopped planes closer bit by bit.
Valuing the requests equally, charmingly and randomly, Folds performed the pieces rapid-fire to much more intense responses in the second half thanks to the intimate, audience-oriented direction. It ranged from singing along, laughing and celebrating to leading the audience in four-part choral sections. His second-to-last song, “Me and Maurice,” will appear on his upcoming Christmas album, prompted by a cry of “Sleigher,” the name of the upcoming album. A dreamy, non-corny piece (rather the universal experience of walking a little dog through a Christmassy neighborhood and the transition from pre- to post-holiday), “Me and Maurice” shows he’s not just old hits. – By Cassandra Kipp
Set List: Ben Folds at State Theatre (Setlist.fm)
PHOTO GALLERY: Ben Folds
Photos by Derek Ketchum
THE FLAMING LIPS AT GLC LIVE AT 20 MONROE
Set List: The Flaming Lips at GLC Live at 20 Monroe (Setlist.fm)
PHOTO GALLERY: The Flaming Lips
Photos by Elise Coates
LUKE BRYAN AT VAN ANDEL ARENA (Thursday)
Set List: Luke Bryan at Van Andel Arena (Setlist.fm)
PHOTO GALLERY: Luke Bryan, Alana Springsteen, Chase Matthew, HunterGirl
Photos by Joshua Tufts
