Tag Archives: Tears for Fears

Review: Lake Street Dive (and Darlingside) at Meijer Gardens

3-bottom, Local Entertainment, , , ,
Now familiar to the Meijer Gardens summer concert series after their second visit in three years, Lake Street Dive – from left, Michael Olson, Rachel Price, Bridget Kearney and Michael Calabrese – is a band of eclectic sounds and songs. (Supplied photo)
Now familiar to the Meijer Gardens summer concert series after their second visit in three years, Lake Street Dive – from left, Michael Olson, Rachel Price, Bridget Kearney and Michael Calabrese – is a band of eclectic sounds and songs. (Supplied photo)

30-second Review

 

Lake Street Dive, with Darlingside opening, Aug. 24 at Meijer Gardens amphitheater.

 

Lake Street Dive is a band of a multitude of musical styles and a sound much bigger than its lean four-member lineup would suggest – and the Brooklyn-based band’s choice of covers included as part of its nearly two-hour, 21-song set Wednesday was clear evidence of both. From a fun-filled, mostly loyal-to-the-original version of the Kinks “Lola”, to Prince’s “When You Were Mine” – a soulful version with a great standup base solo intro by Bridget Kearney, to an encore closing blast of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”, Lake Street Dive and most especially lead singer Rachel Price showed off their versatility. Among the highlights of the band’s original songs were a bluesy/gospel sounding “Godawful Things” as their opening number, “Mistakes” with Michael Olson stepping away from his guitar to his trumpet, and the soulful “Rental Love” – the first two off the band’s great 2016 release Side Pony and the last off 2014’s Bad Self Portraits.

 

May I have more, please?

 

Darlingside put on a surprising and pleasing opening set focused on harmonies, a single vocal mic and an alt folk sound reminiscent of the Avett Brothers or Mumford and Sons. (Suppled photo)
Darlingside put on a surprising and pleasing opening set focused on harmonies, a single vocal mic and an alt folk sound reminiscent of the Avett Brothers or Mumford and Sons. (Suppled photo)

Another great example of the multitude of musical styles the audience at Meijer Gardens was witness to was a surprising, might I say stunning, opening eight-song, 45-minute opening set by Massachusetts-based quartet Darlingside.

 

Described by NPR as bringing a “baroque folk-pop” sound – and I can do no better for definition – Darlingside’s sound featured single microphone vocal harmonies, sparse percussion sound sans a drummer, but acoustically superb use of strings other than guitar and banjo. On their latest recording, 2015’s Birds Say, bassist Dave Senft, guitarist and banjo player Don Mitchell, classical violinist and folk mandolinist Auyon Mukharji, and cellist and guitarist Harris Paseltiner have created a sound that reminds one of the Avett Brothers or Mumford and Sons, but really sounds like nothing I’ve heard before.

 

The band had me at its a cappella opening “The God of Loss” from Birds Say and cemented my attraction with its set-ending “Blow the House Down” from 2012’s Pilot Machines, the band’s debut recording.

 

After first running across the band when they were still students at Williams College in western Massachusetts in 2012, I can’t wait to fill in the blanks in my CD cabinet and keep a watch on their continued and justified exposure.

 

Looking Ahead

 

What’s up next with the Fifth Third Bank Summer Concerts at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park: the sold-out Seal on Aug. 31, with tickets available only for the rescheduled Tears for Fears on Sept. 26.

 

Schedule and more info:

meijergardens.org/calendar/summer-concerts-at-meijer-gardens

‘Shout’ it out: Tears for Fears reschedules its Meijer Gardens concert

3-bottom, Entertainment, Upcoming Events, , , ,

infoboxAfter being postponed as the June 6 opener of the Meijer Gardens concert season, Tears for Fears’ sold-out show, is back on the schedule with a new Sept. 26. If you already have tickets for the original show, you already are in. If not, there is still a chance.

 

Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park announced last week that tickets purchased for the June  6 concert will be honored for the new date. Refunds of those June 6 tickets will be available at point-of-purchase until August 1 – when all tickets for the original June 6 date become non-refundable. Tickets purchased for the Sept. 26 date are all non-refundable. Ticket prices are $75 during the members-only presale, and $78 for members and $80 for the public.

 

Tears for Fears comes to the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture in September.
Tears for Fears comes to the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Sept. 26.

Meijer Gardens members may buy tickets for the rescheduled date during a members-only presale beginning at 9 a.m., Friday, June 24 through midnight, July 1. Tickets can be purchased in-person at Meijer Gardens Admission Desk during normal business hours with no handling fees, by phone at 800-585-3737 with a handling fee of $8 per order, or online at StarTickets.com with a handling fee of $8 per order.

 

If tickets remain available after the members-only presale, sales to the public will begin at 9 a.m., July 2, the same three ways.

 

Tears for Fears’ Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith previously announced they had postpone some shows due to “family” matters.

 

The UK band formed in 1981 and have sold more than 30 million albums worldwide to date.  They have released four albums as a group. Their platinum-selling 1983 debut “The Hurting” and 1985’s “Songs from the Big Chair” produced two massive hits, “Shout” and “Everybody Wants To Rule The World.” Orzabal and Smith released “The Seeds of Love” in 1989, and after a break, reunited to release “Everybody Loves a Happy Ending” in 2004. They are currently working on material for a new release scheduled for 2017.

 

While there are plenty of goodies in their catalogue, with a fair share of audience “sing-a-longs” to their eighties hits, last year at Bonnaroo they mixed the old with the new and even reportedly preformed a great cover of Radiohead’s “Creep.”

 

We can hope they will do the same in September.

 

Schedule and more info on ticket plan is available at meijergardens.org/calendar/summer-concerts-at-meijer-gardens.

 

— Kady

A tutorial on how to get your hands on those Frederik Meijer Garden concert tickets

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Entertainment, Local Entertainment, Upcoming Events, , ,
Complicated Animals performs at the Frederik Meijer Gardens.
Complicated Animals performs at the Frederik Meijer Gardens.

The Greater Grand Rapids area was all a buzz last week. Not only did Garth Brooks tickets go on sale  – with 60,000 tickets sold for six-concerts in one day – but the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park released its 2016 summer concert series line-up as well.

 

And it is quite the line-up with a mixture of returning favorites, Grace Potter, Gavin DeGraw,  and The Beach Boys, and some who have never performed at the Gardens’ outdoor amphitheater such as opener Tears for Fears and Motown’s darling Diana Ross.

 

“We brought back some such as Jackson Browne because his show sold out so quickly last year and so now those who didn’t get to see him might have the chance to do so,” said Andrea Wolschleger, whose last task as public relations manager for the Frederik Meijer Gardens was promoting the summer concert series. “It really is a nice mix of returning favorites and new faces.”

 

While tickets are a hot item, with the Gardens at about 95 percent sold for the 2015 summer series, Wolschleger said there is a misnomer that all the concerts sellout right away during the members-only preview sale.

 

“Actually during the member sale, we might have five or six of the concerts sellout,” Wolschleger said.  There are around 30 concerts in the series starting with Tears for Fears on June 6 and ending with Gavin DeGraw and Andy Grammar on Sept. 7.

 

Of course, If you are really hoping to snag those tickets for Diana Ross, the best chance is to be a member of the Gardens since the member-only sale starts at 9 a.m. April 30.

 

“I would recommend becoming a member before April 30,” Wolschleger said. “You are going to want to be able to get online right away at 9 a.m. If you try to get your membership done that same day you might have problems getting online for the members’ sale.”

 

Becoming a Gardens member – which starts at $50 for an individual ($30 for a student) – now or even a few days before means any problems can be resolved before the sale starts, Wolschleger said. Members also save $2 a ticket. There is an $8 per order handling fee through StarTickets. For the general public, there is a $3.50 handling fee per order plus a $5.25 convenience fee per ticket. There are no fees for tickets purchased through the Meijer Gardens Admission desk during normal business hours.

 

Members have until midnight May 13 to order tickets. Starting at 9 a.m. May 14, tickets are released to the general public. For a complete list of performers, dates and times, click here.

 

The amphitheater seats 1,900 and is general admission. Blankets and low-rise chairs that are 32 inches maximum from ground to highest position of the chair are allowed. A limited number of standard-height chairs will be available to rent for $5 on a first-come, first-serve basis.  Concertgoers may bring their own food, bottled water and non-alcoholic beverages. For complete guidelines, click here.