The week started and ended with a bang at different ends of the musical spectrum. Maddy O’Neal, The Claudettes, Cold Leather Seats & Miki Yamanaka are also part of our live-music-in-review roundup.
Stellar Strings and Strains: Yonder Mountain String Band on stage at St. Cecilia Music Center. (Photo/Jeffrey Wilkinson)
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It all started with the singular holiday strains of a virtuoso banjo phenom and his equally virtuosic bandmates at DeVos Performance Hall.
Unfurling their unique take on “Silent Night,” “Sleigh Ride,” “Jingle Bells,” “O Come, All Ye Faithful” and even “Flight of the Cosmic Hippo” followed by “I Want a Hippo for Christmas,” Bela Fleck & The Flecktones, with special guest mandolinist Sierra Hull, uncorked a wildly entertaining tour stop Tuesday in Grand Rapids.
It was just the first salvo in an eclectic lineup of concerts from Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo — a roster that included:
• Americana band Cold Leather Seats’, which made its Local Spins Wednesdays debut at SpeakEZ Lounge in Grand Rapids;
• Bluegrass favorites Yonder Mountain String Band, which pumped up St. Cecilia Music Center’s Acoustic Cafe Folk Series on Thursday;
Evan Dando of The Lemonheads (Photo/Derek Ketchum)
• Led by Evan Dando, alt-rock/punk’s The Lemonheads, which overcame a late start at Bell’s Brewery Eccentric Cafe due to a tour bus breakdown to deliver guitar-driven gems for a near-capacity crowd, with Erin Rae opening the evening;
• Chicago’s The Claudettes (along with Detroit’s Carolyn Striho), who unleashed their unique piano-fueled music at Tip Top Deluxe Bar & Grill in Grand Rapids on Friday;
• Electronic music’s Maddy O’Neal, who fired up The Intersection’s Elevation the same night;
• Indie-rock/pop’s Michigander, Low Phase and PHABIES, who got into the holiday spirit for Michigander’s annual Christmas show in Grand Rapids at Elevation;
• The jazzy Miki Yamanaka Trio, who delivered two seated-but-standing-room-only shows at Bell’s on Saturday, part of the Gilmore Keyboard Festival’s Rising Stars Series.
• The Texas hip hop, jazz and ‘conscious funk’ of Ghost-Note, who closed out the weekend with a tour stop at Holland’s Park Theatre.
Scroll down to browse all of the photo galleries.
PHOTO GALLERY: Bela Fleck & The Flecktones at DeVos Performance Hall
Photos by Steve Baran
PHOTO GALLERY: Cold Leather Seats at SpeakEZ Lounge
Photos by Chelsea Whitaker
PHOTO GALLERY: Yonder Mountain String Band at St. Cecilia Music Center
Photos by Jeffrey Wilkinson
