Enchanting a sold-out crowd at St. Cecilia Music Center, The Lone Bellow’s Saturday tour stop was just part of a bracing concert week that also featured Jimkata, Ten Peso Version, Super Future & more.
Passionate Delivery: The Lone Bellow on stage for the trio’s sold-out show at St. Cecilia Music Center. (Photo/Anna Sink)
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The Lone Bellow impressed a sold-out crowd at St. Cecilia Music Center Saturday night with carefully balanced three-part harmonies, emotive songwriting and, yes, powerful bellows.
The Nashville-based trio of Zach Williams, Kanene Pipkin and Brian Elmquist treated the crowd to plenty of fan favorites from their latest release, “Love Songs For Losers,” but they also added some brand new songs from an upcoming album to their set list as well as covers of The Killers’ “When You Were Young” and Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon.”
The group touched upon numerous genres throughout the night including folk, blues, soul, pop and Americana.
Heavenly Harmonies: Kanene Pipkin (Photo/Anna Sink)
It would be impossible to categorize them into just one box, but their unique vocal chemistry is enough to characterize their sound. Even with three incredibly powerful voices and a single microphone, their harmonies blend flawlessly and no voice is competing to be heard above the others.
No matter the style the trio channeled, the performers poured their own hearts and experiences into songs that ultimately belonged to their listeners in whatever way they chose to apply them to their own lives.
Williams mentioned that it’s their intention to remain ambiguous about the specific topics of their songs so that fans can feel as connected as possible to the lyrics.
The group also praised the intimate setting of St. Cecilia’s Royce Auditorium, a venue where The Lone Bellow has now performed three times (with Saturday’s show following an appearance at Ann Arbor’s The Ark).
Williams jokingly compared the show to a “town hall meeting.” “If anyone has a question, just yell it out,” he said, earning a few exclamations from the back of the room.
Throughout the night, the trio interacted with the audience and called for fans to stomp and clap along during a few songs. The audience interaction didn’t stop after the encore, with the band meeting fans and signing autographs at the post-show reception.
PHOTO GALLERY: The Lone Bellow at St. Cecilia Music Center
Photos by Anna Sink
THE WEEKLY CONCERT PHOTO RECAP
West Michigan’s week of live music attractions also featured Ten Peso Version’s album-release show at The Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids, with electro-rock’s Jimkata at Bell’s Brewery Eccentric Cafe in Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids’ own Super Future (aka Nick Rowland) lighting up The Intersection on his “Augmented Duality Two-Set Tour.”
Week 2 Winner: Y-Not (Photo/Adam Briggs)
Saturday also boasted the second round of competition in The Stray’s March “Battle of the Bands,” with Y-Not winning the evening, joining Week 1 winners Rusty Vining & His Friends to advance to the March 29 finals.
This coming Saturday (March 15), Crunchfruit, Prophesee Levi, The Blue Pines, Stanley & Quiggle and Ride for Ruin will perform for the third round of the battle. Details here.
Meanwhile, the first Local Spins Fridays show for March boasted the SpeakEZ Lounge debut of Kalamazoo’s The Incantations, showing off their rock-infused Americana. The Wild Honey Collective makes its SpeakEZ Lounge debut on Wednesday (March 12).
Scroll down for images from the week’s shows.
PHOTO GALLERY: Ten Peso Version, Squatch, Tiberius, Joey Gaydos Jr.
The Pyramid Scheme (Thursday)
Photos by Chelsea Whitaker
PHOTO GALLERY: Super Future at The Intersection (Saturday)
Photos by Eric Stoike
