Ogle images/videos of A Tribe Called Red, Nick Moss, Withhold the Blood, Graham Colton, Cooper’s Glen and MAJIC concerts, The Trace Duo, Jim Shaneberger, Billy Strings, Bowery, Equal Parts and more.
Rocking The Pyramid Scheme: Bowery on Saturday night. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
Joke made on stage before performing a Beatles song on Friday night: What did the boy octupus sing to the girl octupus on Valentine’s Day? I want to hold your hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand.
Support our coverage of
West Michigan's music scene
Yes, I can still hear the groans.
Things started thawing a bit outdoors this weekend and they really heated up inside, musically speaking, as this edition of the Local Spins Weekend Photo Gallery definitely proves.
Laine Allen of Equal Parts at The Pyramid Scheme. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
It started Thursday with A Tribe Called Red bringing their energy-inducing tribal EDM strains to The Pyramid Scheme, rock/pop singer-songwriter Graham Colton kicking off his tour in front of a small crowd at The Intersection, The Ben Daniels Band led by the son of actor/musician Jeff Daniels, playing Rockford Brewing, and singer-songwriter Nicholas James Thomasma with fiddler Clouds getting rootsy and intimate at One Trick Pony.
SLINGING MUSICAL ARROWS ON VALENTINE’S DAY
It continued on Valentine’s Day with the kick-off to the prestigious Cooper’s Glen Music Festival hosted by the Great Lakes Acoustic Music Association in downtown Kalamazoo with Pat Donohue, L’esprit Creole, The Royal Garden Trio and Open the Door for Three (with the award-winning The Boxcars wrapping up Saturday night’s show), the Traverse City duo of Billy Strings and Don Julin lighting it up bluegrass-style for a packed house at Rockford Brewing, the Jim Shaneberger Band and Hannah Rose & The Gravestones putting on a blues clinic at Billy’s Lounge, The Trace Duo delivering acoustic classic rock at the Bluewater Grill, and, yes, The Honeytones digging into their own trove of love songs as well as those ranging from Sam Cooke to The Decemberists for the MAJIC Concert Series at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in downtown Grand Rapids.
Graham Colton at The Interection. (Photo/Eric Stoike)
Meanwhile, exhibiting ferocious growls and some guitar-shredding prowess, Withhold the Blood took home this year’s Heavyweights of Rock championship hosted by WGRD-FM and MoshPit Nation at The Intersection. You can check out fan Malachi Fulwiler’s video of their performance of “An Eye for Misery” below.
WHERE’S THE BLUE LOVE?
And there was more to come: Bowery, Equal Parts, Flint Eastwood and Ignite the Borealis ramped things up in eclectic fashion at The Pyramid Scheme, Grand Rapids singer Kathy LaMar returned to One Trick Pony, and Chicago bluesman Nick Moss and band (with terrific singer-guitarist Michael Ledbetter in tow) absolutely electrified a surprisingly small crowd at the Tip Top Deluxe Bar & Grill as Moss prepares to release a much-ballyhooed new album, “Time Ain’t Free,” in March.
While on that subject, it was alarming to see just a two-thirds-full house for the Nick Moss Band, which delivered one of the best live shows I’ve seen so far in 2014, paced by Moss’ scintillatingly versatile guitar leads and Ledbetter’s soulfully passionate vocals. Indeed, other blues shows have struggled as of late, too. Is blues a dying genre? I don’t think so, but it certainly deserves more support as the basis for practically every modern variation on rock. Check out the video of Moss and band’s performance and get just a taste of what too many folks missed.
Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
Copyright 2014, Spins on Music
