The Florida metalcore/pop-punk band provoked fan fervor the same week that saw lively West Michigan shows by Mustard Plug, Hannah Rose Graves, Graffiti, Vetiver, Small Brown Bike and more.
Fan Exuberance: A Day To Remember, State Champs and Southpaw drew avid devotees to The Intersection on Friday. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
Attracting exuberant crowd-surfers and ebullient pop-punk devotees, A Day to Remember filled up a sold-out Intersection in Grand Rapids on Friday, capping a week to remember for West Michigan’s music scene which also included six straight Garth Brooks concerts at Van Andel Arena.
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(Check out a separate Local Spins review of Brooks by Kari Lynch with photos by Eric Stoike here.)
And there was plenty more. But let’s start with that ADTR spectacle, recapped by Local Spins contributors Jonathan Beatty and Hunter Gamble, with photos by Anthony Norkus.
Shaking the Room: A Day to Remember at The Intersection. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
Florida’s A Day To Remember took an overwhelmingly ecstatic, sold-out Intersection crowd on a career-spanning journey Friday by playing a cross-section of the band’s entire discography.
The duality of the band’s sound was was fully on display. Showcasing a penchant for writing emotive pop songs that tug at the heartstrings and evoke crowd sing-alongs, ADTR also unfurled its metal might with punishingly heavy guitars and thunderous double bass drums that shook the room and whipped up a tornado of bodies for their many circle pits.
In recent years, ADTR’s fan base has exploded, leading the band to play in larger venues and to larger crowds.
And helping fire up that bigger Grand Rapids crowd was Southpaw, with an energetic stage presence and catchy tunes, followed by State Champs, which proved to old and new fans alike that the band’s live shows are not something to miss — from the opening “Breaking Ground” to fan favorites “Losing Myself” and “Elevated,” which closed the set.
ADTR, meanwhile, built suspense from the outset, with fading lights and the theme from the movie, “2001: A Space Odyssey.” That was quickly followed by chanting from the intro to “The Downfall of Us All” and the arrival of ADTR — and bass-heavy guitar work — on stage. From that point forward, the mosh pit exploded as the band kept up a fever pitch on songs such as “2nd Sucks,” “Mr. Highway’s Thinking About the End” and “All Signs Point to Lauderdale.” The band’s four-song encore included the acoustic ballad, “If It Means A Lot to You,” and the night-ending flourish of “The Plot to Bomb the Panhandle.”
PHOTO GALLERY: A Day To Remember, State Champs, Southpaw photos by Anthony Norkus
• Mustard Plug revved up West Michigan for two straight nights of dance-inspiring ska music, first at Bell’s Brewery Eccentric Café on Friday, then at Founders Brewing in Grand Rapids on Saturday. Rude Boy George and The Sailor Kicks opened both shows.
PHOTO GALLERY: Mustard Plug at Bell’s photos by Derek Ketchum
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• Grand Rapids singer Hannah Rose Graves celebrated a homecoming of sorts when she and The GravesTones, played the Local Spins Wednesdays series at SpeakEZ Lounge, with special guests, Kalamazoo’s Megan Dooley and band. Graves once worked as a waitress at SpeakEZ, so the restaurant was packed with well-wishers who cheered her return, which included hair-raising duets with Dooley at the end of the night.
• Thursday’s live music train got rolling early, with Grand Rapids’ eclectic artist/saxophonist Dante Cope (backed by a talented ensemble) performing at WYCE-FM’s “GR Live” at noon at H.O.M.E. in The B.O.B. in downtown Grand Rapids. At the same time, alt-rock/pop’s Boy From School played the second lunchtime “Relax at Rosa” concert outdoors at Rosa Park Circle about a block away. That night, Grand Rapids band Graffiti hosted a CD-release show for its new album, “Writings on the Wall,” at One Trick Pony, and Vetiver and Major Murphy played Founders Brewing.
• After appearing on Local Spin on WYCE at noon Friday, Grand Rapids electronic/R&B artist E. Andrei lit up The DAAC that evening with his dark, mood and enticing strains, along with Mishigami, Norty and Parts.
• On Saturday, Small Brown Bike brought its 20th anniversary tour to The Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids, with Detroit’s Cheap Girls and Grand Rapids’ The Cardboard Swords and Out also on the bill. The same night, Silverstiles and Eric Engblade performed at Rockford Brewing for a special show benefiting musician and brewer Alex Atkin, who suffered serious injuries last year in a motorcycle accident.
WEEKEND PHOTO GALLERY
Hannah Rose Graves, Megan Dooley, Dante Cope, Boy From School photos by Anna Sink
Graffiti, Vetiver, Major Murphy photos by Nick Hosford
E. Andrei photos by Anna Sink
Small Brown Bike photos by Katy Batdorff
Silverstiles photos by Anna Sink
