The pandemic affected everyone in different ways. But for a high-octane, full-volume live act like Grand Rapids’ own Jesse Ray & the Carolina Catfish, the experience was particularly terrifying.

For a band like Wolf Alice, America is still a wonderland. 

It’s incredibly rare for West Michigan to be the starting date for a massive international tour. It’s even rarer for a band to play a string of five huge shows across our state, on their way to even bigger concerts in Mexico, South America, and Europe. 

From the intertwined imaginations of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally comes Beach House, an indie alternative band based in Baltimore.

At its core, there is a certain sense of friendship and intimacy in the songwriting of Caamp, even as the band has blown up online and across the country.

Chart-topping Danish rockers return to Grand Rapids with co-headlining set at Van Andel Arena

Experimental emo rock icons Circa Survive persevere through the pandemic.

There’s nothing normal about the so-called “return to normal.” And there’s definitely been nothing normal about the return of live music, which has suffered through fits and spurts, as endless, elusive variants and shifting public health policies have made it nearly impossible to resume concerts in any sort of confident, conventional fashion.

They say you can never really start over again. But that sure doesn’t mean you have to stop learning and growing.

Filled with false starts and new beginnings, misinformation and revelations, 2021 failed to live up to its lofty promise of a return to “normal.”