To those who love live music, it's clear that something has changed in Lansing. Sure, the staples are still there: there's always blues at The Green Door; huge, national acts come through the Breslin Center per usual. But seriously, The Avett Brothers, MGMT and Ludacris will be featured in this year's
Common Ground Music Festival. Nineties rock favorite Fastball is performing at the Loft later this summer.
What is going on?
In brief, a lot of things. But while a host of factors have contributed to a new and growing live music scene in the area, one name seems to be connected, in one way or another, to nearly all of them:
Fusion Shows.
Though the unique concert promotion company just moved their office to Lansing a year ago, their presence in the area goes back much further. Literally, a 2008 fusion of Nate Dorough's Howell-based business, Livingston Underground and Irving Ronk's East Lansing-based Northlawn Music, Fusion Shows does, essentially, what such large companies as Live Nation does – book, promote and put on concerts.
What makes Fusion Shows different is scale. Rather than booking tens of thousands of shows across the country each year in venues seating tens of thousands concert goers, Fusion Shows is the local business version of that national brand, working with smaller venues across the state, such as The Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids, The Crofoot in Pontiac, and Mac's Bar in Lansing. Though their reach spans the state, Fusion Shows has been working to put Lansing on the must-stop list for artists coming through Michigan.
"When bands think of Michigan, they want to play in Detroit," says Dorough. "We've had to prove over and over with attendance, with great shows and word of mouth, that Lansing is a great place to play."
That tenacity has brought such bands as Neon Trees, Owl City and Foxy Shazam through the capital city.
"We've tried to hammer into these bands, 'Come to Lansing. Come to Lansing. Come to a Lansing,'" says Dorough. "They've all come here. They've all played at The Loft and played great shows."
The Venue Factor
The Loft itself has played no small role the burgeoning live music scene in Lansing. The 400 capacity venue opened in 2010, adding new depth to the local offerings for bands.
"A healthy music scene has a healthy hierarchy of venues," says Dorough, "from the smallest to the biggest for that market. The job of the promoters is to have a grasp what is happening on all of those levels."
Prior to The Loft, the gap between the capacity of Mac's Bar, just over 100, and the 15,000 seats at the Breslin Center was fairly pronounced. The size of the venue helped bring a big name artist back to a smaller venue in Lansing, years after he's worked with Fusion Shows to play Mac's Bar.
"When Macklemore was here five years ago, he played for 45 people he got maybe $50," says Dorough. But that relationship mattered. Though Macklemore can now play even larger venues – and did, selling 6,500 seats at Breslin last month – Dorough says that his positive experience the first time, paired with the unique atmosphere of The Loft made it happen.
"They love the intimacy of the room," he says. "A lot of times the bands that play behind barricades, they want to get back to that intimacy of those smaller venues -- if you can do that an pay them what they're worth."
That's not to say the hierarchy of venues in Lansing is complete. Even as Fusion Shows continues to book more shows in the area, Dorough envisions a future in which even larger mid-size venues are able to broaden the appeal of Lansing to artists.
"There's no Orbit Room [Grand Rapids, capacity 1,100]," he says. "In Detroit they go to St. Andrews [capacity 800] or The Crofoot capacity 1,100]. In Lansing there is a need for that kind of concert venue."
Partnerships
Fusion Shows isn't the only concert promotion company in Lansing. In fact, they're not even the only ones in their building, but that's not by accident.
Meridian Entertainment Group organizes and promotes large music festivals all over the country – not the least familiar of which would be Common Ground Music Festival. Recognizing that they do similar work in different venues, Fusion Shows sat down with Meridian to see how the two might be able to collaborate.
Sharing offices was just the beginning. While Meridian is still the company behind Common Ground, this year they worked with Fusion Shows to appeal to a broader audience.
"There will always be people who want to see CCR and Journey at Common Ground, but we know the college demographic," says Dorough. "It's a big expansion opportunity for us, and Meridian now have someone who knows what kids are listening to."
Between Meridian's experience booking national acts and Fusion Shows' connection to a new generation of audiences, the partnership between the two companies seems to have plenty of room for growth – similar to Lansing's potential to continue to grow as vibrant live music city.
Whether it's the next, larger music venue or the next exciting band to come through town, there seems to be nothing but potential for the city's future in live music. And as the current momentum continues, the name Fusion Shows will undoubtedly be connected to it all.
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Natalie Burg is the development news editor for Capital Gains.
Photos ©
Dave Trumpie
Dave Trumpie is the managing photographer for Capital Gains. He is a freelance photographer and owner of
Trumpie Photography.