Mid-August’s flurry of concerts and festivals electrified fans of electronic music, metal, country, punk, emo, indie-folk and more. View the recaps and photo galleries at Local Spins.
Letting It All Hang Out: Five Finger Death Punch on stage at Acrisure Amphitheater on Saturday. (Photo/Chelsea Whitaker)
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At Grand Rapids’ Acrisure Amphitheater on Saturday, the operative greeting was “Welcome to the Circus” — courtesy of heavy metal’s Five Finger Death, which celebrated its 20th anniversary with a “three-ring,” 20-song spectacle that ranged from “Eye of the Storm” to “Bleeding.”
Day 2 of Belknap Park’s Breakaway Music Festival, meanwhile, proved to be a Gigantic Nghtmre with the dream collaboration between electronic trap producer NGHTMRE and the live instrumental electronic duo Big Gigantic, along with fan-inciting sets by Subtronics, Two Friends, D.O.D, Daniel Allan and more.
And Kalamazoo “went postal” on Saturday with the first ever Dead Letter Fest at Old Dog Tavern that boasted a gathering of Midwest emo and punk bands, including Toledo’s Equipment, Chicago’s Thoughts on Bowling, Grand Rapids’ Ciao and a solo acoustic set from Hummus Vacuum.
Queen of the Hill: Fans at Belknap had a bird’s eye view of Breakaway. (Photo/Veronica Ann Dearborn)
Earlier in the week, Hank Williams Jr. had “all his rowdy friends coming over” to Acrisure Amphitheater for a cavalcade of country hits, including “My Name is Bocephus” and “Family Tradition,” not to mention a cover of ZZ Top’s “Waitin’ for the Bus.” (Set list here.)
And singer-songwriter Mat Kearney had “Nothing Left to Lose” when he played a sold-out concert at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park on Thursday — marking the 20th anniversary of his first major label release, “Nothing Left to Lose” by performing 21 songs that included a mashup “Won’t Back Down” tribute to Grand Rapids. (Set list here.)
Scroll down to browse photo galleries from all of these shows, with a separate Local Spins recap and photo galleries from Hanson at Warner Vineyards and Umphrey’s McGee with moe. at Meijer Gardens.
And check out full Day 1 coverage of Breakaway Music Festival here: Breakaway Music Festival blazes out of the gates with Fisher and more on Day 1
PHOTO GALLERY: Five Finger Death Punch at Acrisure Amphitheater
Photos by Chelsea Whitaker
PHOTO GALLERY: Breakaway Music Festival – Day 2
Photos by Eric Stoike
Photos by Veronica Ann Dearborn
