1. Jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux is coming to Grand Rapids. She's performing at St. Cecilia Music Center on Saturday, October 21 at 7:30 p.m. Her first album was 1996's Dreamland and her most recent album, Anthem, was released in 2018. Her performance will kick off St. Cecilia's Spectacular Jazz Series. The other concerts in the series will include "The Blue Note 85th Anniversary Tour" in January, and Samara Joy in March. Tickets are available on the venue's website.
2. More remarkable music coming to West Michigan. For the first time in five years, "the president's own" United States Marine Band returns to the Midwest on tour, performing a free concert on Monday, October 23 at Miller Auditorium. The musical selections will be in the style of the band's 17th director John Philip Sousa, who initiated the concert tour tradition in 1891. Tickets are available online at marineband.ticketleap.com/kalamazoo2023.
3. Oktoberfest Grand Rapids is back for another year. It'll once again be at Riverside Park on September 29 and 30. There will be real German beer, adult and kid-friendly games, and don't forget about the Dachshund Dash. If you want to skip the drink ticket line you can get them on Eventbrite. Learn more at oktoberfestgr.com.
4. Chances are you've already heard about the new amphitheater coming to downtown Grand Rapids. Now it's got a name! When the Riverfront venue opens in the next few years it'll officially be called, the Acrisure Amphitheater. Acrisure, a financial services company headquartered in downtown Grand Rapids has pledged $30 million that will go towards design and construction. That's about half of the project's $70-million fundraising goal for private donations. But the total budget comes in at around $184 million. The new amphitheater will have 12,000 seats and this is just part of the larger redevelopment plan along Market Avenue -- which will also feature more housing, green space, and retailers.The amphitheater is expected to open in the spring of 2026.
