Live music is back in full force in West Michigan, and along with that comes a new wave of bands ready to kick off their careers.

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There’s no argument that La Dispute’s upcoming show at GLC Live at 20 Monroe on Sept. 28 will be the biggest concert of their entire career.

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• La Dispute
• GLC Live at 20 Monroe
• Touring Music

When Chris Carrabba songwrites, he clears his calendar.

• GLC Live at 20 Monroe
• Touring Music
• Chris Carrabba

Musicians don’t get the luxury of planning for their big break, but for drummer Spencer York, that was a good thing. When York joined the post-hardcore band Movements a decade ago, he was merely hoping to make a name for himself where he grew up: in Orange County’s local music scene. 

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• Movements

After Mikel Jollett, singer/songwriter/best-selling author, and frontman for L.A. indie rock band The Airborne Toxic Event, finished his memoir, “Hollywood Park,” he didn’t know what he’d write about next.

• The Intersection
• Touring Music
• The Airborne Toxic Event

There’s a cold, hard truth that to have success in the music industry in 2024, the algorithms that dominate the Internet need to work for you. For long-time Grand Rapids band The Crane Wives, they just didn’t, until one day they suddenly did.

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• Patty PerShayla

When Chicago EDM duo Louis The Child takes the stage at this year’s Breakaway Music Festival in Grand Rapids, expect the unexpected. 

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• Belknap Park

Looking over this year’s list of Best of the West Music finalists makes one thing perfectly clear: live music didn’t just survive the pandemic, it’s back and it’s thriving.

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• Best of the West

So often in music, like in life, timing is everything. That’s definitely the case for rising Grand Rapids jazz fusion group Pocket Watch.

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• jazz
• Pocket Watch

Sameer Gadhia of Young The Giant didn’t originally dream of being a lead singer.

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• Touring Music
• Young the Giant