Saturday’s Local Spins Fest 2023: Celebrating Michigan’s Powerful Musical Artistry

Tickets for Local Spins Fest 2023 are $20, available online here or at the Studio Park piazza, 123 Ionia Ave.SW, in downtown Grand Rapids day of show. Children 6 and younger are free. $1 from each ticket sold will go to support Access of West Michigan’s anti-poverty and food programs. Gates open at 3 p.m. Chairs are available at the venue, but attendees can bring lawn chairs and/or blankets. No outside food or beverages allowed. Beverages and food are available at Studio Park. Scroll down for performance schedule.

With the theme, “Celebrating the Power of Michigan’s Female Artistry,” the second annual Local Spins Fest taking place this weekend in downtown Grand Rapids says a lot about Michigan’s fast-growing, burgeoning music scene.

All six local and regional acts performing Saturday at the day-long festival feature women as group leaders or as the driving force in their bands, part of a striking trend that Michigan has experienced in recent years with many female-led acts making a splash with fans, critics and industry execs.

And these artists are prepared to stand up and make a difference, too.

“As a female in the industry, more often than not you are in rooms full of men and it can be really hard to speak up and say what you think,” said Kalamazoo Americana and blues singer-songwriter Grace Theisen, who kicks off Local Spins Fest with her band at 4 p.m. Saturday on the Studio Park Piazza at 123 Ionia Ave. SW.

“Now, at 31, I hold integrity as my highest value and standard both on and off the stage.”
Theisen has long excelled at the off-stage part: While residing in Nashville in her 20s, she co-founded and operated a nonprofit organization, Songs Against Slavery, that worked to battle sex trafficking in the United States through benefit concerts and music partnerships.

Saturday’s festival celebrates the 11th anniversary of the Local Spins website that covers and spotlights Michigan’s music scene.

Tickets for Local Spins Fest are $20 and available online at themidtowngr.com, with $1 from each ticket sold donated to Access of West Michigan, which operates anti-poverty programs and helps coordinate food pantries in the Grand Rapids area. Children 6 and younger are free.

Several local nonprofit groups – including Access, Michigan Music Alliance and The Diatribe – also will be on hand to provide information to attendees, and Rockford Brewing’s Local Spinsation Ale will be on tap.

Grace Theisen )Photo/Elle Lively)

Like Theisen, other performers at Local Spins Fest have served as trailblazers in their own way, while creating an eclectic, wide range of music.

Grand Rapids’ hard-rocking Lokella, which fires up its set after Theisen at 5 p.m., has turned heads in West Michigan for years with its dark-but-infectious music, and Saturday’s show will be the band’s final performance with its current lineup.

Up-and-coming Grand Rapids soul singer Sarena Rae, who performs with her band at 6 p.m., founded Music That Raised Us, a dynamic multi-singer show that pays tribute to legendary and influential black female artists,

“My hope is that whenever I perform, the audience learns something new or is empowered to think deeper on a certain subject matter,” Sarena Rae said.

“Fans that plan to attend Local Spins Fest can expect to dance and be brought to a deeper level of connection with the community by celebrating both old and new music and the message behind my original songs.”

Also on the bill Saturday: Nashville country, Americana and roots rock singer Kari Lynch, who got her start in West Michigan; pioneering and award-winning neosoul Grand Rapids band Earth Radio, which melds jazz, funk, soul, rock and more into its boundary-pushing music; and headliner In the Valley Below, a Grand Rapids-based band that first made a splash in California with its pop-laced indie-rock and recently earned a Canadian gold record for its single, “Peaches.”

“My hope for every show is that every person in the crowd feels engaged, allows themselves to fully exist in the present moment and feels that they are just as much a part of the show as we are,” said Lynch, who’s released alt-rock-styled solo material as well country-propelled band projects.

The Kari Lynch Band (Photo/Eric Stoike)

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