Headlining Saturday’s Local Spins Fest at Studio Park in downtown Grand Rapids, The Accidentals reveal a fun roster of upcoming summer highlights. Plus, see how you can help pick the band’s encore.
Festivals, Food, Diving and Dogs: Some of The Accidentals’ favorite things about summer. (Courtesy Photo)
LOCAL SPINS WEEK KICKS OFF TONIGHT (MONDAY) WITH LUKE WINSLOW-KING, RALSTON BOWLES AND DANIEL LUTZ. GET TICKETS, DETAILS HERE. AND SCROLL DOWN FOR A LOCAL SPINS WEEK PLAYLIST AND THE FULL SCHEDULE OF LOCAL SPINS 10th ANNIVERSARY SHOWS.
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When Traverse City alt-folk heroes The Accidentals return to Michigan this weekend to headline Local Spins Fest in downtown Grand Rapids, they’ll be gearing up for a jam-packed summer of concerts – and ready to embrace some things they adore about touring and music festivals.
With a couple of pandemic-impaired years behind them, multi-instrumentalists Sav Buist and Katie Larson, who’ve now relocated to Nashville, and drummer Michael Dause, based in Grand Rapids, have a full slate of 2022 concerts ahead, including several in their home state.
2021: The last time The Accidentals played Studio Park in downtown Grand Rapids. (Photo/Anna Sink)
It all starts Saturday (May 21) with the day-long Local Spins Fest outside Grand Rapids’ Studio Park, with The Accidentals headlining a six-band lineup celebrating the online publication’s 10th anniversary.
Local Spins Fest kicks off with DJ SuperDre at 3 p.m., followed by Cabildo at 4 p.m., Hannah Rose Graves at 5 p.m., Full Cord at 6 p.m., Public Access at 7 p.m. and The Accidentals at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 and available online at listeningroomgr.com.
PICK THE ACCIDENTALS’ ENCORE: With the innovative Juke platform, fans can request their favorite cover song by The Accidentals be played during Saturday’s encore at Local Spins Fest by providing online tips through Juke. All proceeds will go to support Access of West Michigan (Local Spins’ designated charity). The song getting the most votes will be performed by The Accidentals. View a list of songs to vote for, leave a tip and make your song request at juke.band here. Or, just scan the QR code at right.
Because The Accidentals are true road warriors, we asked band members for their favorite things about touring – the things that make their hearts beat faster for summer of 2022. Here’s their “Top 6” list.
1. The Festival Food – OMG, the festival food. Bob’s Burgers at Earthwork Harvest Gathering. The yellow watermelon and dandelion ice cream at Holler Fest in Brooklyn, Mich. Cultured Ferments kombucha, Crepes by the Lake, Salt of the Earth, Man & Pan Paella, Moomers ice cream. It honestly makes us emotional. Plus, after drinking coffee from Dessert Oasis Coffee Roasters (Detroit), North Perk Coffee (Petoskey) or Brew (Traverse City), our hearts will LITERALLY beat faster.
2. After-Show Lake Diving – One of the best parts of coming home is realizing how many years you took those giant bodies of water all around your state for granted, and how much you love your state extra hard for them. Fresh water! We are SURROUNDED by fresh water! Where else in the world are you gonna find that? After 60 percent humidity, 85-degree weather gigs, there’s no better feeling in the world than jumping into Lake Michigan while the air cools and the fireflies start to blink out their Morse Code. It’s a really special kind of joy.
3. Bringing An Entire Orchestra on Tour with Us to Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park on Aug. 9 – This is going to be legendary. We are collaborating with the Kaboom Collective Studio Orchestra, an extremely talented group of 15- to 25-year-olds, who arranged orchestral accompaniments for 12 of our original songs, spanning the past 10 years. It’s called “REIMAGINE” and not only is it going to be an album, but we’re also taking them on tour with us and we’re coming Frederik Meijer Gardens in August. So yeah, our hearts are like timpanis thinking about this.
Saturday’s Band Schedule for Local Spins Fest at Studio Park.
4. The Jam Sessions – Speaking of collaborations, music is a conversation, and sometimes there’s no better way to catch up on the years passed than to simply play music with your friends. Life takes you to all kinds of places and maybe things are different, maybe people have changed, but music doesn’t care about any of that. Just seeing our friends – The Crane Wives, May Erlewine, Patty PerShayla and so many others – is just the fastest way to warm our hearts.
5. Local Spins Fest at Studio Park – This is an easy transition from Jam Sessions, seeing as we’re gonna get to hang with so many of our friends at Local Spins Fest this year. We’re coming to Studio Park in Grand Rapids on May 21 and it’s gonna be a total party. We’re fully prepared to rock out the place along with DJ SuperDre, Cabildo, Hannah Rose Graves, Full Cord, and Public Access (wsg Emilee Petersmark of The Crane Wives). May 21 is the last day of the festival, and you can catch so many other incredible Michigan acts in the days beforehand, including our friends Patty PerShayla and Jordan Hamilton at the Listening Room on Tuesday (May 17). Definitely don’t miss this one. We’re already excited just thinking about it.
6. The Dogs Who Bring Their People to Concerts in the Park – OK, well, we couldn’t make a list of things that make our hearts beat faster without talking about the dogs. We think our biggest fans are dogs. Or maybe we’re the biggest fans of dogs? Maybe they’re both true. Either way, nothing brings us more joy than playing a concert in the park and looking out to a crowd of wagging tails and excited barking. Sometimes they’re even wearing Accidentals bandanas. Those are the (D)OG fans.
In addition to Local Spins Fest, The Accidentals will play Historic Elk Rapids Town Hall in Elk Rapids on May 28, “Jump Into Summer” at Saugatuck Center for the Arts in Saugatuck on June 17, “Sizzlin’ Summer Concerts” in Lowell on June 23 and Blissfest outside Harbor Springs on July 8.
Get tickets and details for all Local Spins Week shows online here: https://localspins.com/local-spins-fest-2022-tickets/
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