Amid weather that could only be described as ‘perfect,’ three outdoor shows and one indoor spectacle lit up Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo on a summer Tuesday. The recaps and photo galleries at Local Spins.
From ‘MMMBop’ to ‘Child at Heart’: Hanson electrified Grand Rapids fans on Tuesday night. (Photo/Derek Ketchum)
SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTO GALLERIES
Support our coverage of
West Michigan's music scene
On Tuesday at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, one of the biggest crowds in the history of the Tuesday Evening Music Club series was smitten by Traverse City alt-folk trio The Accidentals and the youthful, Cleveland-area Kaboom Collective Studio Orchestra, which unfurled symphonic takes on some of The Accidentals’ most-beloved tunes.
Appropriately, it all wrapped with the Great Lakes State anthem, “Michigan and Again,” that many fans likely were still humming as they packed up their lawn chairs or waited in a long line for Accidentals merch and autographs after the show.
At the same time in downtown Grand Rapids, bluesy folkster Pokey LaFarge was also reveling in absolutely perfect Michigan weather by making his debut for Listening Room’s Listening Lawn series on the Studio Park piazza, barely a stone’s throw away from an indoor spectacle at GLC Live at 20 Monroe.
Biggest Crowd Ever? 2,000-plus turned out for The Accidentals & Kaboom Collective. (Photo/Anna Sink)
Celebrating 30 years of music and a new album, Hanson was making a Grand Rapids stop on a 90-city world tour which landed them at GLC Live for the first time since 2018.
Fan Felicia Craycraft offered up this recap of the pop-rock band’s set: “Opening with 2013’s ‘I’ve Got Soul,’ Hanson dove even further back into its repertoire with the next few songs, preforming several enduring fan favorites from their first album, ‘Middle of Nowhere,’ before dipping into some tracks off of the band’s new album, ‘Red Green Blue.’ The crowd — representing a mixture of generations — loved every minute of it, singing and dancing along to each song.
Hanson preformed 25 songs in all, including ‘Where’s the Love,’ ‘If Only,’ ‘This Time Around,’ ‘Penny and Me’ and the song that started it all 25 years ago, ‘MMMBop.’ The band even got the crowd singing and swaying with its rendition of The Beatles’ ‘With a Little Help from My Friends,’ capping an amazing night of music that brought us all together.”
Oh, and 50 miles to the south, Texas country-blues singer Charley Crockett regaled fans at Bell’s Brewery Beer Garden just as he’s poised to release a new studio album, “The Man from Waco,” in early September.
Browse the photo galleries from all four shows here.
PHOTO GALLERY: Hanson, Allen Mack Myers Moore at GLC Live at 20 Monroe
Photos by Derek Ketchum
Photos by Anna Sink
Photos by Jamie Geysbeek
