A Good Old Fashioned Rock ‘N Roll Show Featuring New Bands

A good old-fashioned rock 'n roll show happened in Grand Rapids at the Intersection except it was newer bands that were performing like the greats used to.

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Modern Concerts

It's no secret that concerts are different than they used to be when bands like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones came out, Aerosmith, Journey, and Van Halen came out, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Alice Chains came out, and the newer bands of today.

The sound systems and lighting systems have changed over the years immensely. Stage shows from all genres of music are bigger than ever and even how the bands perform live has changed also.

Computers play a big part in the production of these massive shows from the lighting, the sound systems, and even the music you hear from the stage. A lot of bands is using backing tracks to sound fuller from backing vocals to the layering of other instruments so sometimes being the instrument since the band is saving money by not having a bass player and just having the computer play the part from the studio tracks.

This is fine but there is nothing like seeing bands who really play all their musical parts and all the vocals are live with no computers helping them along.

Old Fashioned Rock Show With Newer Bands

Dirty Honey, Dorothy, and Mac Saturn all performed at the Intersection Tuesday night September 27. It was a breath of fresh air seeing three bands not use any of the modern technology that many bands use to perform their sets.

Sure all three bands used a modern sound system and an led light show that was all run by computers, but the bands themselves really played their instruments and sang all their parts. This may seem crazy to hear that a live band is actually playing live but it is a thing in today's music.

I saw a story today of a band backing out of a festival gig because some of their laptops were missing that they use to perform their show which uses backing tracks. They felt they couldn't do the show without the computers.

Dirty Honey had some amazing moments last night that just wouldn't happen if computers were being used to perform their set.

Singer Marc LaBelle hits some incredible notes in some of the songs. I found myself applauding in the middle of songs because of it. These types of moments just don't happen with computers. Marc was singing "in the moment" based on how he felt and the vibe he was getting from the audience. It really made the show special and live.

Dorothy had their share of moments as well because the whole band was playing live and not to backing tracks. You could feel the natural breathing of the music through the performers vibing off the audience.

Singer Dorothy Martin has a great voice and several times she would adlib to an ending of a song that made it better than on the album. These are things that don't happen when artists are performing using backing tracks. During the soundcheck party, we saw the band work a part out that they later played live the first time and that is something that cannot happen with backing tracks without someone going to a studio and changing the part.

Mac Saturn from Detroit, Michigan, opened up the show they are very much an old-school live band. It was nice to see a young band doing 3 and 4-part harmony vocals. A lot of bands put those kinds of harmonies on the computer and to me, it's just not the same.

Later in the night Mac Saturn singer Carson Macc may have had a few too many and got up on stage a couple of times with Dirty Honey and the headliner allowed Carson to be there. If Dirty Honey had been playing to a computer with backing tracks, those moments could have potentially thrown the show off.

It was a fun night at the Intersection seeing three up-and-coming bands really play their instruments and sing. I hope more bands go back to this type of performance, it just feels so much better live and you are getting what you paid for...a live band.