Josh Groban, Blackberry Smoke, Summer Roundup

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On the final day of August, Local Spins features not only photo recaps of two Sunday shows, but galleries from a summer of free community concerts across the state. It was a live music summer unlike any other.

Sounds of Summer: Josh Groban, Blackberry Smoke and Montague’s summer bandshell concert setting. (Photos/Andy Visockis/Derek Ketchum/Eric Stoike)

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On Sunday, crossover pop singer Josh Groban and the Grand Rapids Symphony paired up for the first time at Grand Rapids’ Acrisure Amphitheater the same night that Southern rock’s Blackberry Smoke brought its 25th anniversary tour to Warner Vineyards in Paw Paw.

The shows wrapped up one of the busiest weeks for outdoor concerts in the summer of ’26 — a summer that gave Michiganders way more options to enjoy engaging live music than just ticketed performances at high-profile venues across the state.

That’s because communities from northern Michigan to Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo to the Lake Michigan shoreline have hosted more than 150 free concert series over the past three months — most of them starring local and regional acts who revel in showcasing their music for all-ages audiences amid scenic parks and beaches. Every year, Local Spins lists schedules for these series in our “Free Outdoor Community Concerts Guide” –and a few series continue into September.

To document this outpouring of live music in the great outdoors as summer begins to wane, Local Spins today presents photo galleries from performances in more than a dozen communities which host these family-friendly affairs — giving readers a chance to see the scope of musical styles and picturesque settings that make Michigan summers special when it comes to live music.

Browse the photos of Josh Groban, Blackberry Smoke and these community concerts below (with a special thanks to photographer Eric Stoike for capturing many of these weeknight shows in towns across the region). And check out more reviews and photo recaps from the past week here: Toto, Myles Smith, Ionia Freak Fair put exclamation point on August’s final weekend

PHOTO GALLERY: Josh Groban & Grand Rapids Symphony at Acrisure Amphitheater
Photos by Andy Visockis