The 2026 Concert List
The first half of 2026 is in the books with 64 shows! The second half has some big bucket list items but another 100 year could be in jeopardy.
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. 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.
HM. Kompany
I took a few laps during the Kompany show. Always entertaining to see EDM sets in the middle of the floor. Ran into a lot of friends, 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. Oh, and nobody shit in the pit this time, so that’s a win.
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 thought 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 know, 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
We only had one fight and it was during Back That Azz Up.
437. Andy Arcade Presents Deep in Bloom
Support your friends. Buy tickets to their shows and don’t ask for comps in small rooms.
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 if the journey is 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 pit, 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]
Nate Smith has one of the most harrowing origin stories in country music that also plays the most generic country music you’ve ever heard.
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]
The pros:
Acrisure Amp is an amazing venue operated/staffed by mostly awesome people
I’ve now heard half of Outkast live (and 33% of the Wu-Tang Clan if you include Young Dirty Bastard)
Kid Cudi’s lightbox stage setup was cool as hell
The cons:
As the venue is run by the same people as Van Andel, that means a fair amount of concession workers are volunteers of local school orgs and are in way over their head on serving minors.
Too many drunk children around me + smoke + cool night air = strep throat
C. Comedy Bang Bang
I’ve heard of the show before. I knew half the comedians. That night was funny for the first 30 minutes (exclusively due to Paul F. Tompkins). The show lasted over 2 hours.
350. Prince Daddy and the Hyena [Remo Drive, Liquid Mike, Potionseller]
It was only during this show I started to feel like crap and then spent the next week at home, the doctor’s office, then back home on antibiotics.
June
406. The Wallflowers [Early James]
Officially the band I’ve seen the most live at 5 times. While they’re always a crowd pleaser, this show featured their signature album in full followed by a Tom Petty album covered in full. My dad and I turned to each other 4 songs in and mutually confessed to not liking Tom Petty all that much.
84. An Evening with Wilco
The Wallflowers was my dad’s choice for the Meijer Gardens concert series and Wilco was mine. My dad was unfamiliar so I played him Jesus Etc and Impossible Germany back to back. Well, wouldn’t you know how Wilco played them during their set.
380. Revis [Coldville]
Better than expected, glad my friend Jon upgraded to the taller model for the comp.
221. The Bends
Wow, I guess some good things really do come out of Connecticut. Our first band of Summerfest 2026 was not only a big thumbs up from everyone, but starting off a long weekend on a positive note is great for overall morale.
354. Echo & The Bunnymen
While my mom and I only caught half of it, it was a damn strong half. Could not understand a lick of what (lead singer) Ian McCulloch was saying between songs, but it never mattered.
176. Tash Sultana
Not my mom’s favorite, but that’s OK. This show alone saved my $90 on a Meijer Gardens ticket AND nobody was really there so we got to be closer up and keep our personal space intact. Notion is my favorite of hers and while Jungle is the crowd pleaser, we can be honest that the first minute and half is the best part, so I let that serenade us as we left the park for the night.
173. Panic Shack
I’d say this was the overwhelming crowd pleaser. The all-girl noise explosion from Australia got all of us in the head bopping move and checking our pockets for VAPE, PHONE, KEYS, and LIPGLOSS.
211. State Champs
HM. FEES
I tend not to give cover acts a ranking, but these guys were very good to make me think about it for longer than a minute. I can’t say we were paying much attention, but we didn’t leave the scene either. The stage was parked next to the T-Mobile elevated experience we all became familiar with earlier in the day. I also tipped $5 to the mini donut stand and they gave me double the donuts.
149. Hot Mulligan
The new album is fantastic and everyone needs to see this band live. One of the best to do it as of late.
31. Amyl and The Sniffers
But Jesus Christ, what a show! I did not think my aunt knew all the words to every song, but you find out new things every day. My parents also liked it, though they stood near the back while I protected my aunt from every goddman person who refused to just walk around us and not into us while at the barricade. My fit tracker was also pleased with how energetic I was during the set.
471. Old Mervs
386. Altered by Mom
One of my biggest pet peeves with live shows is when an artist sends things into the crowd like beach balls or balloons, etc, and people just take them. They don’t volley them into the air, they don’t play with their peers, they just let the ball fall, tear into it like a bag of cereal, and moronically fold it to fit in their pocket.
Let the band see you’re having fun and not Scrooging it for everyone else.
219. Trapper Schoepp
148. Dexter and The Moonrocks
I hailed them as “the next best thing” to my parents and they didn’t disappoint. Some sound issues early couldn’t detract from incredible atmosphere packing into the smallest main stage at the festival. We had a circle pit, we had Spiderman, we had Spiderman lead a circle pit. We had barricade crashers into VIP (which shouldn’t be a thing at this festival but that’s a longer topic for another time). And most importantly, we had confirmation this band is going to do wonders in the near future.
218. Ska the Lot [Goldfinger, Mustard Plug, The Suicide Machines, Five Iron Frenzy, Catch 22, The Boy Detective, sullvn]
I like ska, a bit. This was a lot of ska. Not really too much ska, but now I’ve made you say ska in your head five times you’re still two skas behind the amount of ska I witnessed on June 27, 2026.
Impressive merch haul, great stickers, poster, and band energy. I just wish their fans were better. If you knowingly buy tickets to a show that sells out, with a bill seven bands deep, that all play high-energy music, where many people two-step, mosh, and crowdsurf, and you want to be front and center at the barricade, you do not, under any circumstances, get to complain or react violently when someone gets close to you. Not talking about an invasion of personal space, as that is often clear. I’m talking about Minecraft-era Jack Black-ified middle-aged dads in Pride glasses trying to backhand similarly dressed middle aged-men and women because someone from the pit bumped into his beer hand. The bands preached empathy and tolerance to the world writ large, and yet some of the most progressive audiences have lately displayed anything but.
That in no way means other genre fans are any better. Well, maybe metal, most of those kids are fine, provided they remember the deodorant.
July
330. Buffchick [Secret Forte]
181. St. Paul & The Broken Bones [Nathan Graham]
Father John Misty [King Tuff]
Upheaval 2026 Day 1 [Gojira, Poppy, Story of the Year, Lvndmvrks]
AC/DC [The Pretty Reckless]
The Black Crowes [Whiskey Myers, Southall]
Metric [Broken Social Scene, Stars]
311 [Dirty Heads]
August
Slow Joy [Bike Routes]
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
October
Interpol
Sleeping with Sirens
November
Hawthorne Heights
Dexter and The Moonrocks
