This edition of the Local Spins Weekend Photo Galleries and week-in-review concert recap boasts a couple of sold-out national tour stops, several local CD-release shows, a Cris Kauffman tribute and more.
Passionate Performance: Disturbed’s was one of many across West Michigan this week. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
Time to jump right into what was a eclectic week of music mania in Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo:
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PANIC! AT THE DISCO AT MILLER AUDITORIUM IN KALAMAZOO (Thursday)
Panic! at the Disco revved up a sold-out audience Thursday at Miller Auditorium in Kalamazoo, a show presented by Western Michigan University’s Campus Activity Board. The band sang songs from its new album, “Death of A Bachelor,” while adding classics such as “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” and “Nine in the Afternoon,” creating a nostalgic feeling for fans. Lead singer Brendon Urie — who thanked the crowd for a highly energized opening night of the band’s tour — encouraged fans to dance with his lively stage presence and a cover of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Indeed, the night was filled with Uries’s backflips, shredding guitar solos and passionate fans. Singer LOLO got the crowd moving during an opening setg with her powerhouse vocals and humorous personality. – By Molly Stephanak
PHOTO GALLERY: Panic! at the Disco photos by Tori Thomas
DISTURBED AT THE ORBIT ROOM IN GRAND RAPIDS (Friday)
Sold out for quite some time, likely due to Disturbed’s surprising success with a cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence,” the Chicago heavy metal band’s appearance at Grand Rapids’ Orbit Room on Friday night in support of its “Immortalized” album drew a West Michigan crowd that was singing along to the band from the first song. (“The Sound of Silence” came midway through the group’s set.)
PHOTO GALLERY: Disturbed photos by Anthony Norkus
CRIS KAUFFMAN TRIBUTE SHOW AT SHAKESPEARES IN KALAMAZOO (Friday)
As Local Spins photographer Derek Ketchum put it, the Cris Kauffman Tribute Show and Michigan Epilepsy Foundation fundraiser celebrating the life and musical endeavors of Kalamazoo’s Cris Kauffman, who passed away in February 2015 from Epilepsy/SUDEP (Sudden Death From Epilepsy), was “an incredible evening of friends and family celebrating” the late musician.
About 200 people attended the event, which raised about $1,500 for the Michigan Epilepsy Foundation and, just as important, raised awareness of the debilitating condition. The evening included live painting, poetry by FlowPoetry and live music from the likes of E-POD (which got the crowd dancing, especially with Prince’s “Purple Rain”), Stikyfüt, The HECK With Branden Mann, Megan Dooley, Kayla Jo, Desi Taylor and Louis Bryant. – By Derek Ketchum
PHOTO GALLERY: Cris Kauffman Tribute photos by Derek Ketchum
Copyright 2016, Spins on Music LLC
Elsewhere this week:
• Marshall Crenshaw & The Bottle Rockets returned to a jam-packed Tip Top Deluxe Bar & Grill in Grand Rapids on Wednesday night, uncorking a set of The Bottle Rockets’ rootsy, alt-country styled rock and a set of Crenshaw’s pop-hued rock (though Crenshaw’s voice doesn’t always have the “pop” that it once did).
• Lucero and acoustic guitarist John Moreland electrified a sold-out crowd at Bell’s Brewery in Kalamazoo on Thursday, with the headliner uncorking a two-hour show that inspired plenty of audience sing-alongs.
• Speaking of capacity crowds, Grand Rapids’ Bermudas and Flushed packed ’em in Friday at Long Road Distillers in Grand Rapids for their EP- and album-release shows, with Detroit’s Best Exes opening.
• The same night, Nathan Kalish & The Lastcallers unfurled a CD-release show for their new album, “Continental Breakfast of Champions” at The Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids, with The Bootstrap Boys and Brother Adams.
• Also on Friday, Ann Arbor’s The Appleseed Collective returned to the Tip Top Deluxe in Grand Rapids, inspiring this recap from Local Spins contributor Lauren DeLuca:
More than just a snowstorm swept into Grand Rapids on Friday night. A non-stop grooving new grass and string show courtesy of Ann Arbor’s The Appleseed Collective filled the Tip Top Deluxe wall to wall. With its unique style and melodic harmonies, the band highlighted a variety of tunes – from material appearing on its first album, “Baby to Beast,” to the group’s five-song “Tour Tapes” EP. Now a quartet, The Appleseed Collective has seen many transformations since the release of its first album and has toured extensively over the past year. Now, the band aims to slow down and carve out some ‘band time’ for music development. “We are so busy on the road there has not really been time to make as many changes,” said percussionist Vincent Russo. “It’s time to grease up the machine for what’s to come.” Friday’s show opened with an acoustic set by Jason Dowdy followed by the upbeat Kent County String Band, who got Tip Top’s packed crowd up and moving, setting the tone for the evening.
• Saturday brought Tony Visconti and Woody Woodmansey’s Holy-Holy tribute to David Bowie to the main showroom of The Intersection (featuring some members of Bowie’s band), with Grand Rapids’ own The Zannies pumping up a young crowd in The Stache (aka, The Intersection’s front lounge) for their EP-release show (which included a rocking cover of Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out”). And just down the street at Founders Brewing, Ohio’s The Werks rolled out its psychedelic funk-rock and jam-band strains.
• Also on Saturday, Underoath played a jam-packed concert at The Orbit Room in Grand Rapids. Local Spins contributor Jonathan Beatty filed this review:
Nostalgia seems to be all the rage with so many reunion tours being rolled out to capitalize on recapturing one’s youth, even if only for one night. One of the most anticipated of those tours was the resurrection of Underoath, which found the Christian post-hardcore band ambitiously recreating their two most beloved and commercially successful albums in their entirety to a ravenous sold-out audience at The Orbit Room in Grand Rapids.
After openers Caspian delighted fans with ethereal guitars and a thunderous rhythm section that put the capacity crowd into a trance, Underoath wasted no time reminding everyone what made the band one of the breakout acts from its scene. Launching into the first song from the band’s seminal album “They’re Only Chasing Safety,” the crowd exploded with an energy that was welcomed and matched by the band, with a sea of bodies moving every which way as a mosh pit broke out in the center of the room. An undeniable sense of joy filled the room, with band members smiling ear to ear and exchanging high fives throughout the set.
Clearly, Underoath fans haven’t lost their dedication to the band in the three years since things ended abruptly. Fan and Indianapolis native Nathan Kane said between sets that Underoath’s music has impacted him and the members of his own band, Whale Bones, who were also in the audience. “Underoath has been a very formative band for me,” he said. “When I found out they were reuniting, I knew I had to see them. A seven-hour drive is completely worth it to see a band that has shaped me and the members of our band so much as a songwriters and performers.”
It was also a rare treat for some fans as singer Spencer Chamberlin later showed up at The Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids, taking some photos with fans and signing various items.
For a separate Local Spins review and photo gallery of Saturday’s Ian Anderson presented “Jethro Tull: The Rock Opera” at DeVos Performance Hall, click here.
WEEKEND PHOTO GALLERY (April 5-9)
Marshall Crenshaw & The Bottle Rockets photos by Anna Sink
Lucero, John Moreland photos by Derek Ketchum
Bermudas, Flushed photos by Anna Sink
Nathan Kalish, Bootstrap Boys photos by Katy Batdorff
Appleseed Collective photos by Lauren DeLuca
Holy-Holy, The Zannies photos by Anthony Norkus
The Werks photos by Tori Thomas
Underoath photos by Jonathan Beatty
