The second annual Eastown music fest expands to five houses, with 35 intimate performances the first weekend in November. Frontier Ruckus, Paucity, Breathe Owl Breathe, Ghost Heart and many more will perform.
Cozy Concerts: The 2012 debut of the Lamp Light Music Festival was a big hit. Birdfingers performed at The Bird House. (Photo/Rick Beerhorst)
In the not-too-distant past, “house concerts” were a rare and smart way for bands – and fans – to enjoy an intimate evening of music among friends in a relaxed setting.
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They certainly still rate as ultra-comfy environments to embrace live music outside of the bar scene, but they’ve now become one of the hottest trends in the concert field.
John Hanson
And Grand Rapids’ Lamp Light Music Festival – which debuted last year with a host of weekend performances in four Eastown homes – stands at the cutting edge of this movement as one of the most innovative avenues for bands to connect with their audiences and vice versa.
The second annual Lamp Light Music Festival, which takes place Nov 1-3, has expanded slightly, putting five Eastown homes in the mix, with 35 performances by bands and solo artists.
“It is a celebration of music and culture on a very grass-roots level,” says Lamp Light founder John Hanson, frontman for the indie-folk band Strawberry Heritage. “Visitors can expect to see some of the best local and regional bands playing unique sets, some stripped down and scaled for the festival.”
Those bands include high-profile Michigan acts such as Frontier Ruckus, Breathe Owl Breathe, Ghost Heart, Samantha Crain, Antrim Dells, Chain of Lakes, Gifts or Creatures, Paucity, Ribbons of Song, The Soil & The Sun, The Wallace Collective, Valentiger and plenty more, along with a number of emerging artists. See the full three-day schedule online here.
Home Sweet Home Concert (Photo/Rick Beerhorst)
They’ll perform at five houses with engaging names – The Waffle House and The House of Pancakes (which are neighboring residences, allowing fans to “bounce back and forth between parallel performances,” according to Hanson), Hen House, Bird House and Neighborhood House – with residents opening their doors and their kitchens to concertgoers. (The festival actually lost a house and added two from 2012.)
Hanson concedes that organizers “expect the festival to grow and we are taking measures to accommodate a slightly larger audience this year,” along with adding a handful of family-friendly workshops ranging from quilting to bicycle maintenance.
But intimacy remains a priority.
“We love that we can include our favorite local bands as well as bring in some of the best regional talent in creative music,” Hanson says. “The prospect of expansion is exciting but we have to remember what we are: a house show festival, and the small numbers make it special.”
Still, it’s hard to contain the growing enthusiasm of musicians and listeners for this event, which also includes displays by regional visual artists. Photos, video and audio of performances will be expanded this year to “help share the magic” of this living room-based festival.
“The history and spirit of the neighborhood plays into the experience of the festival,” Hanson says. “Lamp Light is also a hub for networking, where the line between audience member and artist is blurred. It’s a great place to listen, learn and enjoy yourself.”
And, I might add, to really hear what an artist is trying to say with his or her music.
Weekend passes are $35 and available online here. Only weekend passes currently are available, though Hanson says day passes will be sold “day of show.”
Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
Copyright 2013, Spins on Music
Hi John,
I’m curious about this house concert phenomenon particularly this nascent one that is emerging as a business model albeit a scaled down one. Do the promoters expect to pay themselves at some point? Do they pay the homeowners? Do the promoters pay 100% of travel expenses for the musicians or just a portion? How many artists, musical or otherwise donate their time one hundred percent in order to as the old expression states, get exposure? Do travel expenses for musicians include a place to stay? If money is made at some point, does all the many roll back to the musicians or will the promoters pay themselves first and then the musicians if there is anything left over? Just curious.
Bruce
It’s very informal and the way pay is handled varies a lot. But there’s a lot of show trading — artists and musicians in one city will help host house concerts for other artists from other cities and vice versa, with the artists usually just staying at the home of one of the hosts. Often, all of the money collected at the door for an individual house concert goes to the performing musicians, but I’m guessing sometimes those hosting the shows share in some of the take. And artists such as Brian Vander Ark have turned this into an important part of their business. Here’s another Local Spins story about this phenomenon.
https://localspins.com/home-sweet-home-musicians-reveling-in-house-concerts-as-new-way-to-do-business/