A weekend launched with diverse, bracing folk at Calvin College, St. Cecilia Music Center and Founders Brewing was followed by heavy metal blasts at The Intersection, captured in these Local Spins images.
Unpretentious Passion: Jonathan Russell of The Head and The Heart at Calvin College Thursday. (Photo/Anna Sink)
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Unmasked: Iced Earth at The Intersection on Friday. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
To kick off the spring break weekend early on Thursday night, three Grand Rapids venues hosted national and local stars of the scene, with fervent folk fans on hand at each of them:
• Seattle’s six-piece folk-pop band The Head and The Heart won the hearts and minds of a sold-out crowd of more than 2,000 at Calvin College’s Hoogenboom Center with a passionate and intimate, fun and raw display for the youthful, 25-and-younger audience. “Their stage presence was anything but pretentious,” says photographer Anna Sink, noting the band exhibited a laid-back comfort level “that, paired with their natural musicianship, provided a surprisingly warm, house show-esque vibe.”
• Grand Rapids’ Ralston Bowles, Rick Chyme and The Northern Skies, Detroit’s Jill Jack, Traverse City’s Billy Strings and Don Julin and the Lansing area’s Drew Howard, meanwhile, closed out St. Cecilia Music Center’s 2013-14 Fresh Folk/Local Spins Live series with an unusual acoustic flourish on Thursday — Chyme’s hip hop paired with Bowles’ Americana strains and Strings and Julin’s bluegrass prowess, Jack’s vibrant vocals paired with Howard’s slide-guitar melancholy sweetness, The Northern Skies’ pairing of folk and rock, with all uncorking truly compelling tunes. Read the read and check out more photos in this Local Spins story.
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• Ann Arbor’s Appleseed Collective delivered its ragtime-flavored folk and Americana strains for an adoring throng deep into the evening Thursday at Founders Brewing Co., led by Katie Lee’s expressive singing and banjo work, and the guitar-playing and vocals of Andrew Brown.
Capacity Crowd: Wayland, with Devin & The Dead Frets and more, packed The Intersection on Saturday. (Photo/Totally Wayland)
On the flip side, there was also a boatload of passion exhibited for a more ear-splitting genre too: Iced Earth, Sabaton and Revamp cranked up the amps and hair-tossing at The Intersection, with West Michigan’s own Wayland doing the same the following night (with Devin and The Dead Frets, Uncommon Road, Jim Shaneberger and The After Effect also rattling the essentially sold-out house).
In addition, Tribal Seeds brought its reggae magic to The Stache, Infected Mushroom lit up the main showroom of The Intersection with its rousing EDM mania, Grand Rapids’ Gabrial James offered up his singer-songwriter strains at One Trick Pony and Grill One Eleven and The Doran Brothers debuted their harmony-filled ’60s and ’70s classics at Rockford Brewing Co. and Riverbend Bar & Grill.
And to finish off the weekend on Sunday night, a host of rootsy acts — including Mark Lavengood, The Tony LaJoye Trio, Fauxgrass, Nicholas James and Clouds — played the “Mini-Milk” benefit at the Tip Top Deluxe for the Buttermilk Jamboree, Organissimo got jazzy amid moody blue lights at the SpeakEZ Lounge, and singer-songwriters Ken Yates and Brian Dunne got acoustically cozy at Spring Lake’s Seven Steps Up.
Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
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