As winter sets in, West Michigan’s indoor concert season has heated up with some sizzling national and local acts. Browse all the photo galleries at Local Spins.
Sold-Out Kickoff: Joe Pug dazzled the capacity crowd in the Music at the Museum series season opener. (Photo/Viki Stark)
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‘Tis the season … for bracing live music, as this Local Spins recap of recent shows proves.
From the sold-out kickoff to the third season of Grand Haven’s Music at the Museum concert series (with Joe Pug and Channing & Quinn) to the farewell show for Kalamazoo’s Less is More at Bell’s Brewery Eccentric Cafe, there was much to embrace across West Michigan.
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Music at the Museum Season Kickoff: Joe Pug, Channing & Quinn
Fans lined up early for the show to get the best seats, even in the freshly chilled December air. For more than an hour, many attendees stood shivering, bantering about past concert adventures as they waited for doors to open so they could pour into downtown Grand Haven’s Tri-Cities Historical Museum on Friday.
It seems everyone in line knew they didn’t want to miss a note: Music at the Museum was back.
Friday night’s sold-out premiere of the third season of the concert Series staged by the museum in partnership with Red House Concert Series followed two wildly successful seasons. While past shows focused heavily on local acts, the organizers of the series – Marianne Fischer and Jack Clark from Red House Concert Series, and Abbei Monroe of the Tri-Cities Historical Museum – decided broaden the scope to include more nationally known acts.
So, Friday’s night season opener featured Maryland singer-songwriter Joe Pug as the headliner, with Grand Rapids indie-folk duo Channing and Quinn opening. Fans sang and clapped along with most of Channing and Quinn’s songs, as the pair has graced the concert series on several occasion and were favorites of the crowd. The duo also performed a few deeper cuts, including rare tunes from a holiday season EP they said they don’t often get to revisit and one tune finished that afternoon.
Pug, meanwhile, transported the crowd through highs and lows all night. With somber tones and staggeringly powerful lyrics, some ballads often left the crowd silent, hanging on every word he sang. And in the next breath, he told stories and jokes that had everyone laughing several times over. With a strong stage presence, it’s small wonder he’s regarded nationally as a powerful performer.
As a true labor of love for organizers, the unique Music at the Museum series has endeared itself to lakeshore residents and Friday’s season opener proved why in dynamic fashion. – Matt Marn
PHOTO GALLERY: Joe Pug, Channing & Quinn at Tri-Cities Historical Museum
Photos by Jeff Brin and Viki Stark
Photos by Katy Batdorff
