The first weekend of October unfurled a bevy of musical milestones with live music from Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids to Cedar Springs. Revisit the action in Local Spins photos.
Fan-Pleasing Finale: Saturday’s Listening Lawn show dodged rain for an impressive In the Valley Below set. (Photo/Anna Sink)
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It was a weekend of milestones.
Grand Rapids indie-rock duo In the Valley Below played the final outdoor “Listening Lawn” show of the season at downtown’s Studio Park to celebrate the final weekend of ArtPrize, which returned this fall after a long hiatus.
On the fourth anniversary of legendary rocker Tom Petty’s death, Grand Haven guitarist and singer Jack Leaver brought his American Heartbreakers tribute to Cedar Springs Brewing Co.’s Festival Celebration on Saturday for an evening of Petty classics (spearheaded by Leaver’s vintage Petty-like vocals).
West Michigan ska powerhouse Mustard Plug, meanwhile, played its first indoor show at Kalamazoo’s Bell’s Brewery since the pandemic, with frontman Dave Kirchgessner thanking the nearly sold-out crowd for getting vaccinated and cheering science for helping the band get back on stage (along with Catbite and J. Navarro & The Traitors).
Add to that a robust lineup of bands — Cosmic Knot, Benzing-Graves Collective, Wondergem and more — playing Horizen Hydroponics’ Horizen Fest in Walker on Saturday; country’s Lanco bringing its “Honky-Tonk Hippies Tour” to The Intersection Saturday night; Carrie McFerrin playing Kalamazoo’s ArtHop on Friday, the same day that folk singer-songwriter Susan Werner and Grand Rapids’ own Ralston Bowles graced the Listening Room stage; and Pulaski Days returning to more than a dozen Polish Halls in Grand Rapids and the first weekend of October was jam-packed with music.
Which leads us to jam-packed photo galleries at Local Spins. Enjoy.
PHOTO GALLERY: In the Valley Below at Studio Park (Saturday)
Photos by Anna Sink
PHOTO GALLERY: Horizen Fest in Walker (Saturday)
Wondergem, Benzing Graves Collective, Cosmic Knot and more
Photos by Anna Sink
PHOTO GALLERY: Jack Leaver & American Heartbreakers at Cedar Springs Brewing (Saturday)
Photos by John Sinkevics
