MUSKEGON, MI — Free day-long outdoor concerts take place in downtown Muskegon on Saturdays throughout the summer, and they’re designed to cater to a variety of musical tastes.
What began as a plan to deliver musical entertainment to an empty lot grew exponentially, with the site moving to the Hot Rod Harley Davidson dealership on Terrace Street near Shoreline Drive.
The VanDyk Mortgage Summer Concert Series will take place on Saturdays (and one Friday) between June 4th and August 6th. Each concert day will feature multiple musical acts from noon to 10:15 p.m. in a variety of genres.
With the addition of outdoor games and alcoholic refreshments, each concert day will feel like a mini festival.
A Friday’s concert day – July 1 – is during the Discover Muskegon festival which debuted on West Western Avenue last year. As with the July 1-3 festival, the music genre for the July 1-2 concerts is electronic dance music.
Other concert genres are Reggae, Classic Rock, Country/Blues, Motown/Jazz/R&B, Jam Funk Bands, Acoustic/Indie, 80s & 90s Pop, Rock/Rap Rock and urban arts artists/spoken word/DJs.
There will be no VanDyk Mortgage concert on July 16, but there will be music at Hot Rod Harley that day as part of the Muskegon Bike Time motorcycle rally which coincides with the Rebel Road rally.
This is the first year of the series, the brainchild of the non-profit Lakeshore Legacy Project led by Terry Puffer. Puffer, a local real estate agent, originally came up with the idea of offering outdoor concerts on city-owned land on West Western Avenue. Since then, several sponsors have multiplied and the concerts have been moved to the outdoor stage of the motorcycle dealership.
In addition to music, the concert series will feature beer, including local craft beers; cocktails; food trucks; and outdoor games like beer pong and corn hole.
Lakeshore Legacy states that its goal is “to bridge the income inequality divide in Western Michigan through immersive and community-building events.” His first major effort was a large – and growing – holiday light display in downtown Muskegon.
A “launch party” and fundraising event for the concert series will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. on June 2 at Wonderland Distilling Co., 1989 Lakeshore Drive in Lakeside. Tickets can be purchased by clicking here.
Those interested in volunteering during the concert series can register here.
Here is a complete list of concert musical acts:
June 4, Reggae.
12 p.m.-1 p.m.: Hurricane
1:30-3:30 p.m.: Indika Reggae Band
4-5 p.m.: The Jetts
5:30-7:30 p.m.: The Ries Brothers
8-10:15 p.m.: The Uglies Bumpin’
June 11, Classic Rock
12 p.m.-12:30 p.m.: Extension
1-2 p.m.: Group therapy
2:30-3:30 p.m.: Big Cadillac
4-5 p.m.: Rocket Queen
5:30-7:30 p.m.: Crazy Babies
8-10:15 p.m.: Shallow side
June 18, Country/Blues
Noon to 1:30 p.m.: Steeple Hill
2-3 p.m.: Chad Flores
3:30-4:30 p.m.: Kari Holmes
5-6 p.m.: Big Daddy Fox
6:30-7:30 p.m.: Nate Dill
8-10:15 p.m.: Jake Kershaw
June 25, Motown/Jazz/R&B
12 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.: West Side Soul Surfers
3-5 p.m.: The Skeletons
5:30-7:30 p.m.: Hermetic
8-10:15 p.m.: Hollywood Swinging – Cool and the Gang
July 1, electronic dance music
12 p.m.-1 p.m.: DJ Jodi Dro
1:30-2:30 p.m.: DJ Jason G
3-4pm: Shleepy Boi
4:30-5:30 p.m.: DJ Pumba
6-7:30 p.m.: Team Jet Pack
8-10:15 p.m.: Schedule
July 2, EDM
12 p.m.-1 p.m.: DJ Saxony
1:30-2:30 p.m.: DJ Prim
3-4 p.m.: Black Cat
4:30-5:30 p.m.: Farrero
6-7 p.m.: Pandora
7:30-8:30 p.m.: Stanlie Apartments
9-10:15 p.m.: Faren
July 9, Funk Jam Bands
12 p.m. to 2 p.m.: Common Molly
2:30-3:30 p.m.: The last straw motel
4-5 p.m.: Spike the media
5:30-7:30 p.m.: Desmond Jones
8-10:15 p.m.: Flexa Decibel
July 16, Acoustic/Indie
Noon to 1 p.m.: Emily and Mark Joyce
1:30-3:30 p.m.: Bri Baron
4-5 p.m.: Innocents found
5:30-7:30 p.m.: Kanin Elisabeth
8-10:15 p.m.: Will Evans
July 23, 80s-90s Pop
Noon to 12:30 p.m.: Sophie Sillman
1-2:30 p.m.: List of results
3pm-5pm: ID10T5
5:30-7:30 p.m.: Upcoast Kin
8-10:15 p.m.: Fool House
July 30, Rock/Rap Rock
12 p.m. to 1 p.m.: Above the Flames
1:30-3:30 p.m.: Colt Snufer and the Deadhorseman
4:00 p.m. to 5:45 p.m.: Chocolate starfish and hot dog flavored water – Tribute to soft cookies
6:15-7pm: Renegades of Funk – Rage Against the Machine Tribute
7:30-8:15 p.m.: Steal This Band – System Of A Down Tribute
9-10:15 p.m.: Black Avalon
August 6, Urban Arts-Artists, Spoken Word, DJs
12 p.m. to 2 p.m.: DJ Q89 and DJ Kay Kakes
2-3 p.m.: DJ E Hill and Mikke Clanton; Kaizen Kabir (transition poetry)
3-4 p.m.: DJ Tone, Z-BO and Rockstar Kashcal; Gemini Da Poet (transitional poetry)
4-5 p.m.: DJ Big Dawg Blast and Young Ra; Kaizen Kabir
5-6 p.m.: DJ Andrew Rodriguez; Prolific Da Poet (transitional poetry)
6-7pm DJs Nelly Nel, Ruben Martinez and Huff the Goat; gemini the poet
7-8 p.m.: DJ Jodi Dro, Reggie Brown and Nique Got-It
8-9pm: DJ Bet, DJ O Cuts and DJ Nano 2 Hype
9-10 p.m.: DJ Yung and Mr 1204
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