The five-act affair for Meijer Gardens’ Tuesday Evening Music Club came the same night that Rotary Rocks in Rockford boasted sets by Roosevelt Diggs and Nicholas James & The Bandwagon. Recaps, photos.
Back Home: The Accidentals put an exclamation point on an energetic, eclectic and lengthy show. (Photo/Chelsea Whitaker)
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It was an all-female rock show for the ages.
Indie folk-rock band The Accidentals made their way home to Michigan once again — this time for an unprecedented 3-1/2-hour edition of the Tuesday Evening Music Club at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, bringing along a whole crew of friends and collaborators to share the stage.
Vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Sav Madigan stressed the importance of women in the music industry lifting each other up and working alongside one another rather than competing and comparing.
“We can always take up space, we can always break that ceiling, we can do whatever we want,” Madigan declared amid the ultra-collaborative, five-band extravaganza that packed the amphitheater on a cloudy evening.
It seemed fitting that The Accidentals would bring this lineup of talented women to the place where it all began for them, where audiences have had their back since the very start. Some of the evening’s performers, such as opener Roxi Jane, were even being introduced to Michigan for the very first time.
Emma Zinck: The Accidentals backed the artist during her entertaining set. (Photo/Chelsea Whitaker)
Roxi Jane could barely contain her excitement about playing such a big show outside of her home state of Tennessee. Roxi Jane’s high-energy pop-punk sound and lively stage presence had the crowd hooked immediately after the show’s early 5:30 p.m. start time.
Folk duo The Burney Sisters slowed things down with their ethereal harmonies and captivating storytelling. The sisters carried their set and the content of their songs with such professionalism and wisdom that many audience members let out a collective, “What??” when Emma and Bella Burney revealed that they are 17 and 15 years old.
West Michigan native Patty PerShayla commanded the stage with her fiery vocal delivery and infectious energy. While PerShayla dabbles in numerous genres from blues to indie-rock, there’s a punk-rock undercurrent to everything she does. PerShayla played crowd favorites such as “I Dabble In Rainbows” from 2021’s “Cheap Diction,” while also introducing newer material, including an unreleased track called “Schrodinger.”
With The Accidentals serving as her backing band, Emma Zinck brought a unique rock edge to her collection of country songs. Zinck spoke openly about her struggles with alcohol, giving the audience context for the extremely personal lyrics within her songs. Zinck closed her set with the song “Country Enough,” about struggling to fit in with the rest of the country music crowd in Nashville.
When The Accidentals took the stage, they wasted no time getting into some brand new tracks from their recently released album, “Time Out 3,” including “It Keeps The Lights On” and “Someday We Won’t Live Here.” PerShayla joined the trio — Sav Madigan, Katie Larson and Katelynn Corll — for much of their performance, which featured the other openers on various songs.
With each of The Accidentals busy individually with other touring artists and projects, the group only has seven shows scheduled as The Accidentals this summer. And the trio made their gratitude for their home state and longtime supporters very clear throughout Tuesday night’s show.
The All-Star Cast: After the finale. (Photo/Chelsea Whitaker)
For their emotional finale, The Accidentals invited the entire lineup back on stage to join them in singing “Michigan and Again” for a crowd of proud fans and Michiganders who sang along as Tuesday’s lengthy spectacle came to a spirited end. (View video below.)
Meanwhile, to the north in Rockford on Tuesday, two West Michigan bands with their own devoted fan bases helped raise thousands of dollars in donations to ShelterBox (which provides housing to those affected by natural disasters and wars across the globe) as part of the Rotary Club of Rockford’s annual Rotary Rocks event.
Roosevelt Diggs and Nicholas James & The Bandwagon offered up enthusiastic sets for a robust crowd at Rockford’s Garden Club Park.
Many took advantage of Tuesday’s overcast, cooler weather — a big change from the heat-wave conditions that have dominated the summer — to dance in front of the stage and otherwise revel in the Americana, roots rock and country milieu, and all for a good cause.
PHOTO GALLERY: The Accidentals, Emma Zinck, Patty PerShayla
The Burney Sisters, Roxi Jane at Meijer Gardens
Photos by Chelsea Whitaker
VIDEO: The Accidentals at Meijer Gardens
PHOTO GALLERY: Roosevelt Diggs, Nicholas James & The Bandwagon
Garden Club Park in Rockford (Rotary Rocks for Shelterbox)
Photos by Anna Sink, Brayden Flodin, John Sinkevics
