The beloved Americana act filled The Pyramid Scheme on Friday with exuberant fans to celebrate its new album the same night Hand of Giants rocked SpeakEZ Lounge. Recaps, photos, videos.
Stage Passion: Roosevelt Diggs energized its hometown crowd on Friday. (Photo/Matt Marn)
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In every way, the triumphant evening of music was a testament to authenticity and sincerity in songwriting, perseverance, stage energy and the mutual admiration of fans and musicians.
Packing the house in elbow-to-elbow fashion, West Michigan Americana heroes Roosevelt Diggs lit up The Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids on Friday to celebrate release of the band’s new studio album, “No Place Like Home,” oozing cheerfulness, intensity and vibrance in equal measure.
In the process, the band — Levi and Logan Duddles, Jon Shears and Jeff Leitch — may have proven definitively that its latest studio effort stands as the signature, landmark release of its 18-year career, bringing in special guests Joe Hettinga (producer/keyboardist), Keala Venema (violin) and Jason Wheeler (mandolin) to enhance their sound with a video backdrop that helped tell the stories behind the songs.
Fans rightly reacted with exuberance throughout the dynamic set, not only for the new material but tried-and-true favorites such as “Everything As It Was” that had many singing right along.
Capacity Crowd: Devoted fans sang along and danced throughout the night. (Photo/John Sinkevics)
To close out the night — which included a cover of Billy Strings’ “Everything’s the Same” — the band came off stage and headed directly into the center of the rapt crowd to play in purely acoustic fashion.
The audience hushed out of respect and love for the group and its music. And when they finished their set, one likely could have heard the cheers from outside the venue.
Rootsy bluegrass act Futuretime String Band kicked off night by taking fans on a journey from the past to the future, and back again. With fingers blazing over the strings — both fiddle and acoustic guitar — cousin duo Keala and Lino Venema, with help from mandolinist Jason Wheeler, energized the crowd from the get go.
The duo performed teasers from their own upcoming new album, “time-traveling” between past ballads and futuristic tones.
The Reverend Jesse Ray followed with his trademark solo performance of high-powered bluesy rock. With a kick drum at his feet, a harmonica around his neck and an electric guitar strung over his shoulder, he took the crowd by storm, single-handedly inducing fans to stomp and holler along.
That same night, on the other side of downtown Grand Rapids, Big Rapids’ eight-piece Hand of Giants was enthralling a smaller crowd with its own brand of “Northern rock” as it made its SpeakEZ Lounge debut for the Local Spins Fridays series. With a new album on the way, the musicians spilled off the stage to unfurl original music that spanned Southern rock, blues, folk and more.
Browse photo galleries and video highlights from these performances by Michigan bands below. And come back to Local Spins on Sunday for photos and recaps of tour stops by Ryan Bingham, Roger Clyne and more.
VIDEO: Roosevelt Diggs at The Pyramid Scheme
PHOTO GALLERY: Roosevelt Diggs, The Reverend Jesse Ray at The Pyramid Scheme
Photos by Matt Marn and John Sinkevics
VIDEO: Hand of Giants at SpeakEZ Lounge
PHOTO GALLERY: Hand of Giants at SpeakEZ Lounge
Photos by Katy Batdorff
