Two bands made triumphant West Michigan appearances over the weekend: Albion-bred heroes The War & Treaty and Ohio’s Over the Rhine. Plus, view photos of Sullivan King and Arkansauce. Photos.
Holiday Homecoming: The War and Treaty with the Kalamazoo Concert Band. (Photo/Derek Ketchum)
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Call it “coming home for the holidays.”
For celebrated, soulful Americana band The War and Treaty — which got its start in Albion before finding Grammy Award-nominated fame in Nashville — it was an uplifting free show Friday at Kalamazoo’s Miller Auditorium, with Tanya and Michael Trotter, and Michigander/guitarist Max Brown, joining the Kalamazoo Concert Band for a holiday concert dubbed “World Peace.”
For acclaimed Ohio duo Over the Rhine — which first began playing regular concerts on the Grand Rapids campus of Calvin University 30 years ago — it was their first holiday show at the Calvin Chapel in four years, a heartwarming and intimate return to one of their favorite haunts.
Singer-songwriters Linford Detweiler and Karin Berquist, better known as Over the Rhine, mesmerized a warm and affirming Calvin audience.
Over the Rhine (Photo/Honglei Yang)
The lilting and angelic vocals of Berquist surrounded their guitar work and Detweiler’s keyboards for a compelling packages of reflective songs before a nearly sold-out crowd of around 600 in the chapel.
Yes, their 20 offerings were generously flavored with Christmas music, including the familiar carol “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear” and mainstream standards such as “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” along with their own classics such as “All I Ever Get for Christmas is Blue,” “All My Favorite People” and the sing-along chorus on “All I Need is Everything,” which came during the encore.
“Angels come bearing messages … but sometimes a song will do,” Detweiler said fittingly during a brief, post-concert Q&A session.
Elsewhere in Grand Rapids, the ever-effervescent DJ and heavy metal artist Sullivan King made it a weekend for not one but two “Restless Rapids” shows at The Intersection, while bluegrass stalwarts Arkansauce and Firesde Collective made a tour stop at Bell’s Brewery Eccentric Cafe in Kalamazoo.
Check out the photo galleries below.
PHOTO GALLERY: The War and Treaty, Kalamazoo Concert Band at Miller Auditorium
Photos by Derek Ketchum
PHOTO GALLERY: Over the Rhine at Calvin University Chapel
Photos by Honglei Yang
PHOTO GALLERY: Sullivan King at The Intersection
Photos by Eric Stoike
