Friday night’s sold-out, four-band show at The Stray was just part of a wide-ranging week of live music in Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. Browse the photo recaps at Local Spins.
‘Be Love’: Seth Bernard and Jordan Hamilton on stage at The Stray. (Photo/Anna Sink)
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If anyone can speak to the collaborative power of the Michigan music scene, it’s Seth Bernard.
The prolific northern Michigan singer-guitarist and founder of the Earthwork Music collective did just that on Friday night during his set with award-winning Kalamazoo cellist Jordan Hamilton at The Stray in Grand Rapids — a sold-out, four-band night at the cozy venue.
Michigan’s “beloved” music community has “defined success on its own terms,” Bernard told the rapt crowd, noting that “so much of the work has come from the ground up.” But challenges still remain.
“I think we do a great job of lifting artists up and we can do an even better job,” he said. “So many people come together to lift each other up and we can do more. Artists can have just a little bit less stress on their plates in terms of making their month to month, and just a little bit more of the system being on their side.”
Fleetwood Magic: Kait Rose at Bell’s (Photo/Derek Ketchum)
In terms of an uplifting collaboration, that was reflected in the evening’s final set with longtime duo performers Bernard and Hamilton trading heartfelt, positive-message songs along with impressive guitar and cello solos for a packed house that sang along to selections by both artists.
It followed an eclectic evening of music that included Cincinnati-based art-pop band KNOTTS (led by singer/multi-instrumentalist Adalia Powell-Boehne), Ann Arbor dream pop/folk duo Turtledoves (formerly of Grand Rapids’ The Soil & The Sun and a couple that recently relocated from Cincinnati) and Grand Rapids’ indie-rock band PHABIES.
That same night — 46 miles to the south — a Southwest Michigan songwriter was paying tribute to a legendary band as part of her annual two-night “residency” at Bell’s Brewery Eccentric Cafe in Kalamazoo.
Singer-guitarist Kait Rose’s “Fleetwood Magic” celebrated its sixth year of paying tribute to the music of Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks, employing different costumes and a wide array of songs from the classic rock band’s crowd-pleasing catalog. (Fleetwood Magic returns to Bell’s Saturday night with another varied set.)
Earlier in the week, another art-pop band, California’s Tune-Yards (led by Merrill Garbus) heated up The Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids after Florida metalcore outfit Trivium revved up headbangers at GLC Live at 20 Monroe with help from In Flames, Fit for an Autopsy and Frozen Soul.
Browse photos from all of these shows below.
PHOTO GALLERY: Seth Bernard & Jordan Hamilton, KNOTTS, Turtledoves at The Stray
Photos by Anna Sink
PHOTO GALLERY: Kait Rose’s Fleetwood Magic at Bell’s
Photos by Derek Ketchum
PHOTO GALLERY: Tune-Yards, Rituals of Mine at The Pyramid Scheme
Photos by Katy Batdorff
