The all-day festival this Saturday in downtown Grand Rapids will also feature Blue Jay Bridge, Vinylicious and DJ Jay Vee, performing under a mammoth tent. View the schedule.
Thrilled to Headline a Hometown Festival: The Verve Pipe (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
SCROLL DOWN FOR SCHEDULE, PLAYLIST
Support our coverage of
West Michigan's music scene
Social House owner Scott Esterline calls it an event to help “forget the past couple years.”
So Grand Rapids’ first-ever “October on Ottawa” festival aims to “bring the community together” on Saturday for a memorable, all-day celebration starring the diverse music of The Verve Pipe, Melophobix, Kari Lynch Band, Blue Jay Bridge, Vinylicious and DJ Jay Vee.
“We wanted to have music for everyone – local bands that people in the community would gravitate to,” Esterline said. “A day to sit back, listen to great music and socialize with people you might not otherwise know or meet.”
Running 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday (Oct. 15) in a large tent outside Social House, 25 Ottawa Ave. SW, the 21-and-older festival expects to draw up to 2,000 people, with an after-party continuing at Social House until 2 a.m.
Fans of alt-rock headliner The Verve Pipe, which takes the stage at 9 p.m., can expect a band “firing on all cylinders,” said frontman Brian Vander Ark of East Grand Rapids.
“We are always honored to be asked to play but there’s no greater honor than in our hometown,” Vander Ark said. “So many great bands live here and are performing at the event. It’ll be nice to hang out and watch them before our set.”
Saturday’s “hometown” show for The Verve Pipe comes after the band toured this summer with platinum-selling soft-rocker Five For Fighting.
“It was an amazing tour, which put us in front of a lot of people again. We gained quite a number of new fans as well,” Vander Ark said. “This fall, we are back on the road again, and working on new music. Very excited to still be going after this many years.”
With country’s Kari Lynch, funk’s Melophobix, DJ Jay Vee and popular West Michigan cover bands Vinylicious and Blue Jay Bridge also on the bill, organizers have lined up nearly 12 hours of music for October on Ottawa.
The city will close the street for the event; food, drinks and beer will be available for purchase. Tickets, $40, are available online here.
Weather won’t be a factor, Esterline insisted.
“We thought about this when planning and decided to do one of the largest tent festivals we know of,” he said. “This way, rain or shine, the show can go on.”
Find more information online here.
Social House (Courtesy Photos)
OCTOBER ON OTTAWA 2022: The Local Spins Playlist
Copyright 2022, Spins on Music LLC
