Our week-in-review of West Michigan concerts boasts milestone performances and a send-off for a GR singer, plus The Baseball Project, Superchunk, The Bootstrap Boys & more. Browse the photos.
Quinn XCII: Unfurling passionate music, passion for Michigan sports teams at Van Andel Arena. (Photo/Eric Stoike)
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A high-energy homecoming at a packed Pyramid Scheme, a 40th Birthday celebration at Bell’s Brewery Beer Garden (appropriately featuring The 1985) and harmonica-playing Detroit Red Wings joining a Motor City star on the Van Andel Arena stage.
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That was just part of an action-packed week of live music from Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo.
Let’s start with Saturday night’s much-anticipated appearance by Detroit pop/hip-hop/soul artist Quinn XCII at Van Andel Arena, touring behind his latest album, “LOOK! I’m Alive.”
Expressing love for his home state and for Grand Rapids where his wife is from, Quinn had a bevy of relatives on board for the 18-song, Van Andel tour stop.
The ever-engaging singer played the expected hits, starting with “Georgia Peach” — and including “Another Day in Paradise” and “Straightjacket” in his set — while also rolling out an expected spotlight of tracks from the new album: “Dodged a Bullet,” “Olive Tree” and “Yellow Brick Road.”
What wasn’t expected? Having about 20 players from The Detroit Red Wings join him on stage for an impromptu lesson on playing harmonicas before adding their newfound instrumental skills on a smile-inducing “Live & Let Go.” The unusual “duet” came the night before the team’s annual “Red & White Game” scrimmage on Sunday at a sold-out Van Andel Arena.
“It was like an asthma attack, but it was pretty good,” Quinn joked after one player’s attempt at playing a few harmonica lines.
Sunday delivered two more memorable, milestone events to fans at different venues.
Bell’s Brewery celebrated its 40th anniversary in Kalamazoo with an indoor show featuring South Bend’s The 1985 (the year the brewery was launched), helping give the retro-themed night the right vibe — a vibe that included a costume contest won by a pair of Ghostbusters and more revelry after the concert was moved inside due to the threat of thunderstorms.
At The Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids, meanwhile, post-hardcore heroes La Dispute wrapped up its U.S. tour in support of “No One Was Driving the Car,” at the place where it all began for them 11 years ago, in their hometown — with support from Tummyache (U.K.) and Glitterer (Washington D.C.). Local Spins’ Chelsea Whitaker offers her take on the show:
Impeccable Energy: La Dispute at The Pyramid Scheme. (Photo/Veronica Ann Dearborn)
Tummyache opened the night with ethereal and raw vocals, and bass-riven angst. Mellow punk vibes got the crowd pumped. Glitterer came in with high energy and intense vocals, encouraging the first of many stage dives to occur in the night.
By the time La Dispute took the stage, the room was packed with young punks and old heads alike. Vocalist Jordan Dreyer made a point to acknowledge the long-term fans and appreciate the love from new ones. He reflected on tour, sharing that “maybe this is where the road leads back to.”
To come home to an intimate show, closing out the tour, proved to be a truly a special experience. Sprinkled throughout the set list of mostly new music, La Dispute treated fans with some old favorites, including “Andria,” “King Park” and “Scenes From Highways.”
Dreyer paused between songs on multiple occasions, acknowledging the current horrors of the world, reminding us to support each other as a community and protest those losing their rights (including the trans community), and urging people to initiate change “neighbor to neighbor, block to block.”
“The world is almost certainly going to get worse before it gets better,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean it can’t be good.”
The mosh pit was constant, the stage divers insane, the energy in the sold-out room impeccable — an event full of love and care for one another. It felt like one of those once in a lifetime experiences.
And that wasn’t all: Just down the street on Sunday, Grand Rapids singer-songwriter Hannah Rose Graves hosted a “send-off” party that featured an open-mic session and her band’s final 2025 performance before she hits the road for Memphis and Nashville.
Beyond that, the week featured the fall kickoff of the Local Spins Wednesday series at SpeakEZ Lounge with The Bootstrap Boys, Bell’s hosting Superchunk and Tee Vee Repairmann on Thursday and The Baseball Project (with R.E.M.’s Peter Buck and Mike Mills) and The Minus 5 on Friday, The Go Rounds and Luke Winslow-King playing Saturday’s “Apple Smash Day” at Kaleva’s Northern Natural Cider House, and eight regional acts playing Saturday and Sunday’s Fallasburg Arts Festival outside Lowell.
Scroll down to browse all the images and click here for reviews/photos from Thursday night concerts in Grand Rapids by Young the Giant, Jon Pardi and The Front Bottoms.
PHOTO GALLERY: Quinn XCII, Goth Girl at Van Andel Arena (Saturday)
Photos by Eric Stoike
PHOTO GALLERY: La Dispute at The Pyramid Scheme (Sunday)
Photos by Veronica Ann Dearborn
PHOTO GALLERY: Bell’s Brewery 40th Anniversary with The 1985 (Sunday)
Photos by Derek Ketchum
