The 2026 Concert List
The Summerfest lineup was announced, so that means my first half of 2026 is all but scheduled.
We started the year out with a dud. Brian Regan was one of the least enthralling comedians I’ve ever seen perform for someone that was once “big time.” Aries Spears was stellar. Hilarious, quick-thinking, and even tipped me $100 for taking photos in his post-show meet and greet line. So what, I’m biased.
Got back into he flow of things in early February with a country show that was … slow. The opener, Trenton Fletcher, wasn’t memorable as I keep confusing his name (and even had to scroll down to remember it while typing), but he did have a nice sticker design. Meloy had the same merch since the last time he was here, and was selling posters that didn’t even have the GR show date on them.
I took a few laps during the Kompany show. I’m a sucker for seeing how middle-of-the-floor EDM shows happen. Ran into an old colleague at the bar, so that was nice, but left about half an hour into the set. I’m trying to appreciate the noise music.
Highlights so far include both The Offspring and Frank Turner, as I thought they would. I wasn’t expecting the level of theatrics from The Offspring, but they wowed both me and my dad, and we are not emotive people. Descendents never cannot bring in solid openers, even though they’re just okay most of the time. And hey, nobody shit in the pit, so that’s a win.
I have an eclectic roster coming up, so it should be fun. I know I’m going to absolutely get tired along the way, as 130 shows last year was exhausting, and there’s 56 on the books for this year before adding anything beyond July.
But like, look at July. Holy shit most of that is within one week. Insanity.
C = Comedy
123 = Indicates ranking at the time of the show, not overall standing. Click to see the full running list.
January
C. Brian Regan [Gary Brightwell]
We did not start the year off right. This was a bad night from two performers that were not in cahoots with their audience. The laughs were tepid, at best. Whatever he “had” in the past, wasn’t there anymore.
C. Aries Spears [Andy Steinberg]
Absolutely crushed. Night and day difference from the first comedy show of 2026. And no, it’s not because of the $100 Spears slipped me for taking the photos in his post-show meet-and-greet.
February
336. Josh Meloy [Trenton Fletcher]
Fletcher had a good sticker, 90s dixie cup style. Yeah, that’s about it.
HM. Kompany
Always entertaining to see EDM sets in the middle of the floor. Rans into a lot of friends at this show, but ultimately the music doesn’t hit me in the same way it does them.
59. The Offspring [Bad Religion]
Americana was heavy in the rotation of my late-90’s memories, and this show brought them all back. Likely the best show I see at Van Andel all year, barring any late-game adds to their schedule, The Offspring blended a perfect mix of noise and surprise (although some banter went a bit long). I wasn’t quite sure how Dexter Holland’s voice would hold up but that went away real fast. Really liked all the stage setup — graphics, inflatables, confetti … baby grand piano. Was not expecting a full-force ‘Hey Jude’ cover but it worked. Bad Religion as an opener is also an incredible flex.
166. Descendents [Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls, Nobro]
Descendents continue to be loud and in your face, but can’t carry a headline time slot. The youth are alright, as demographics were gameboard-eqsue (8 to 80), but everyone needed to focus on one band and that was Frank Turner.
469. Shane Smith & The Saints [Ken Pomeroy]
255. Badflower [Point North, Olive Vox]
Another viral clip. I was pressured, I swear.
495. Kameron Marlowe [verygently]
311. Ole 60 [Southall]
I think we almost set a record for ejected minors from 20 Monroe.
262. Nothing More [Catch Your Breath, Archers, Doobie]
The barricade latch support snapped off early into the show. Naturally it happened right in front of two small children, a girl who I’ve warned at other shows to stop dropping to the ground every time I point, three adults under 5-foot-6, and a woman who wouldn’t stop crying. We survived, however.
Also don’t let Instagram lighting fool you. Jonny Hawkins is just Josh Katz with muscles. You would honestly be surprised how many of your favorite lead singers are the size of Tom Cruise.
March
452. Stephen Wilson Jr [Stephanie Lambring]
Started late, went over. Did an interesting escort through the venue (and into the men’s room) during the 13-minute long version of Gary where I saw a guy drink a Fireball shooter and chuck it into the urinal beside him but was too busy to do anything about it. You win this round, peeing man!
524. Our Lady Peace [The Verve Pipe]
Unfortunately, we didn’t see Raine Maida’s best, and now we know why. From sound check to the in-house feed, you could hear something was off all night. Within the crowd, the music took the edge off the vocal miscues, but when you work in a building and can hear the cleaned-up feed, it was rough. I checked other tours and they sounded near album quality. A coworker remarked how one of their Detroit shows was a must-see. So, maybe a return trip is in order once everything heals up. This was also the best I’ve heard the Verve Pipe play in our venue, just not enough to save the whole night.
481. Josiah Queen [Jervis Campbell, Gable Price]
Another case of not listening to the music. Expected country, got Christian. Nothing wrong with it, just crowd control in a sold-out room and constant eyes on the water refilling station.
302. The Floozies [Too Many Zoozs, Bray Radbury]
Love a good sax set. Don’t flip those vowels.
HM. Sam Barber [Clover County]
One of those rare shows that gets the honorable mention tag yet I was present for the whole show. We were just plain busy. Medical call here, underage there, three fights back to back to back. Once I got done writing an ejection log I’d be back on the main floor coordinating the EMTs.
270. Erra [Currents, Caskets, Aviana]
Erra had a cool sticker sheet, better than the music, however. Currents should have headlined.
HM. Riff Raff
Slid in for about 15 minutes during the Currents/Erra intermission to see some pretty great guitar riffs. Top quality sticker pack as well. I though Riff Raff would have good merch and was not disappointed.
112. Gary Numan/Mammoth [10 Years, Tremours, James and the Cold Gun]
WOW. Both bands are absolute must sees and I am 100% down to buy tix for either band to get the full experience. I was, however, split between upstairs (Mammoth) and downstairs (Numan) but at near alternating time slots. Numan leans into his one-hit wonder but never lost fans, while Mammoth goes heavy into his own catalog without kowtowing to the Van Halen heads lining the front row.
156. Boys Like Girls [IDKHOW, Arrows in Action]
This IDK set blew away their Milwaukee set last year while BLG improved upon their featured set for Dashboard Confessional in 2024. An Arrows in Action fans also called me old.
She didn’t say it directly but she had a Snapchat message and I said it’s hard for artists to read from the stage. She replied, “well, they’re younger than you.”
April
HM. Dirtwire
I caught some sound check, came back for one song and bought a sticker
265. The Devil Wears Prada [Four Years Strong, Split Chain, I Promised the World]
And then I had to work this show the rest of the time. Lot’s of things happened during this 24-hour period that if you need to now, you already know.
130. zzzahara [Bleary Eyed, LoudFoxCult, Heat Above]
Shoegaze at its finest. I saw one show here then they sold the building! Also first concert beanie, and first time seeing a CRT display merch, so shoutout Heat Above.
74. Kishi Bashi [Bayonne]
A must-see whenever he’s near. From the new mascot, Honey Buddy, to finding out Mr. Steak was at January 6, to Heated Rivalry-inspired merch, Kishi Bashi proves that creative explosions can exist in small spaces. I believe this show was part of a nostalgia tour, as Bashi played at Calvin 10 years ago touring this album and returned to its auditorium. But if I had not already been in tune with Calvin’s concerts and Bashi’s mailing list, there’s no way I would’ve known this show was on the books. No general Calvin announcement or ad dollars were put behind this show.
C. Stavros Halkias [Sahib Singh]
319. The Wedding Present [Mark Robinson sings Unrest]
Any reason to break out my Pavement tee is a great day. Even better when the band who you only bought tickets to based on the recomendation of your aunt to take your dad (who didn’t go due to illness) plays a deep Pavement cut.
189. In Color [Eden Joel]
424. Lorna Shore [Paleface Swiss, Signs of the Swarm]
If you want to see a high-quality picture of me from this show, it’s on my Hinge profile.
372. Dog Skull [Bronson Arm, Miracle Blood, Heavens Best Angel]
Go see small shows at local independent venues. Overpay at the door for the fun of it. Overpay for free stickers to encourage people to make more music, some of which you like, some of which you don’t. But they don’t know that (and probably won’t reads this).
240. Hail the Sun [Foxy Shazam, Makari, Resilia]
Foxy Shazam did the thing. They played the song. You know the song. If you don’t know the song, watch the show. If you don’t know the show, you aren’t cool anymore. Or don’t have HBO Max.
606. George Birge [Highway Home]
168. The Midnight [New Constellations]
You ever listen to a band in the background for so long that you love the tunes, but can’t name them for the life of you? That’s New Constellations for me. I had quite a few songs in my Spotify Top 100 in 2022 and 2023 but didn’t make the connection when signing onto this show. First song hit me like a ton of bricks. Got to chat with the band post show, escort the singer to the stage around the outside to feature on Jason, my favorite The Midnight song, and get a free signed poster and small sticker (I paid for a big sticker). Fan for life at this point.
537. Avatar [Fleshgod Apocalypse, Frozen Soul]
Total Clown Show, after a Total Baroque Show, after a Total Texan Show.
May
494. Juvenile
437. Andy Arcade Presents Deep in Bloom
30. Bilmuri [The Home Team, GANG!]
Wild man, wild show, wild story about the show. Wasn’t going up until the day before, my friend had a spare ticket to join their quadrumvirate and was leaning girl but “of all the men who asked, I was the best choice.”
This was the fifth and final day of a big show stretch that started with The Midnight and ended with a 3-hour drive on Monday morning ahead of a work day. Yes, it was a slog, but totally worth it. Got to Detroit on a blustery day, parked early to avoid the Tigers and Pistons traffic. Went to a flawless new bar, The Bastille. Ate some Mom’s Spaghetti. Merch (and Mitch) was on point, with a sticker and 5-pin set that I apportioned two to a random guy who gave me a free Coors Light and one to the quad who I’ve seen accompany my friend at a few harder shows. She makes the trip to GR quite often, she gets a pin.
It’s so important to have a solid foundational lead up to destination show. A show can be great but the journey terrible that makes the whole day bad. But this day wasn’t. It was damn near perfect. One thing went astray, but not worth getting into here, and doesn’t matter anymore anyhow.
66. Phoneboy [Heart Attack Man, Slow Joy]
I had a back-to-back, Top 100 show last year with Franz Ferdinand and Tune Yards. Very pleased to report another happened so early in 2026. Saw Phoneboy last year at Summerfest and they improved in a small room, with two solid openers helping out. There were some leavers after HAM, and they really missed out. I pity them.
460. Dayseeker [Northlane, Wind Walkers, Sace6]
461. La Dispute [From Inland Lakes, Flooding]
I’m combining these two days for the utter disappointment I feel toward all the fans. Sace6 had some tween girl fans as the lead singer looked like Sombr, Wind Walkers had a fervent merch line but hardly any enthusiasm during the show. I’ve never seen a more stone-faced crowd of 2,600 people during Northlane’s painful 45-minute set.
Flooding, a slowcore band, made me want to quit my job. From Inland Lakes was a slight improvement. The push pit and lawlessness of the La Dispute crowdsurfers was unwarranted. Chaos. No order. No circle in the it, no hands for the surfers. An unrelenting, undulating, uneducated mass of arms, legs, torsos, and emotionally starved millennials.
161. An Evening with The Joy Formidable
A wonderfully pleasant viewing experience from a band I’m accustomed to melting my face with sweet guitar licks.
206. Silversun Pickups [Giant Waste of Man]
No fights, no biting, no moshers. How boring.
596. Nate Smith [Josh Ross, Just Jayne, Brandon Wisham]
193. Dance Gavin Dance [The Fall of Troy, Wolf & Bear]
Between DGD and Chiodos, I’ve got some homework to do on bands I should’ve known prior but for whatever reason weren’t on my radar.
635. Highly Suspect [Dead Poet Society]
Even a solid DPS set could’ve salvaged the utter stupidity of both Highly Suspect fans and their lead singer who encouraged said fans to do said stupid shit. But even Dead Poet pulled up lame so this was a bottom of the barrel kinda night. Yes, it's harsh to rank a working show so low, but even an attending attitude wouldn't place it much higher.
453. Tech N9ne [E-40, King Iso]
Mashups were all the rage when I was in college, and I was not immune. I followed a bunch of people on MySpace and Soundcloud and burned them to various CDs along with all my illegal Limewire downloads. One of my favorites was A plus D (Adrian & the Mysterious D) who would often include hip hop over indie and it absolutely rocked my 19-year-old brain. A heavy dose of these mashups featured E-40. For 40 minutes in between a lackluster King Iso and Tech show, I, like many others in attendance, reveled in the memory of my much younger self.
283. Alpha Wolf [Gideon, Mugshot, Resolve]
185. Kid Cudi wsg Chip the Ripper [Big Boi wsg Sleepy Brown, A-Trak]
C. Comedy Bang Bang
350. Prince Daddy and the Hyena [Remo Drive, Liquid Mike, Potionseller]
June
406. The Wallflowers [Early James]
84. An Evening with Wilco
The Bends
Hunny
Tash Sultana
State Champs
Hot Mulligan
Amyl and the Sniffers
Old Mervs
Altered by Mom
Trapper Schoepp
Dexter and the Moonrocks
Goldfinger [Mustard Plug, The Suicide Machines, Five Iron Frenzy, Catch 22, The Boy Detective, sullvn]
July
Father John Misty
Upheaval 2026 Day 1 [Gojira, Poppy, Story of the Year]
AC/DC [The Pretty Reckless]
The Black Crowes [Whiskey Myers, Southall]
Metric [Broken Social Scene, Stars]
311 [Dirty Heads]
August
Theory of a Deadman [Sevendust]
Tedeschi Trucks Band [Alabama Shakes]
Kesha [Chromeo]
September
Rufus Du Sol
TLC [Salt-N-Pepa, En Vogue]
Mumford and Sons
Taking Back Sunday
