Sonic September

Five Greater Lansing shows to keep on your radar this month

Whether you’re in the mood for an intimate songwriters’ round, a precision recreation of one of rock’s most infamous breakup albums or a sweaty night of guitars at Mac’s Bar, there’s no shortage of solid sounds in the city this month. Here are five quick picks to consider.  

 
La La Delivery and friends 
Friday, Sept. 12 at The Avenue Café 
2021 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing 
facebook.com/avenuecafe2021 

Friday nights at The Avenue have always carried a certain unpredictability, and this one leans hard into Lansing’s love of loud guitars. La La Delivery, one of the city’s most reliable purveyors of dreamy indie rock, takes the helm for a bill that doubles as a Lansing-Detroit summit. 

On the home side, Leisure delivers soft-punk grooves that could easily get the group signed by K Records tomorrow. From Detroit, Past Dog Beach layers gothic vocals with post-punk riffs, while Dyzioek pushes things into a moodier, loner-folk songwriter territory. 
 

‘Soul of a Songwriter’: Jessey Adams & friends 
Saturday, Sept. 13 at UrbanBeat 
1213 Turner St., Lansing 
urbanbeatevents.com 

This Saturday, UrbanBeat is goin’ country with a Nashville-style writers’ round — a format where the songs stand bare, stripped of production and pushed into the spotlight. Jessey Adams, a Michigan native with a fast-rising profile, anchors the evening, joined by Waylon Hanel, Jenna Kay, Ryan Scott and Leah Williams. 

Adams is the kind of artist who’s rooted in the classic outlaw country tradition but sharpened with a modern sensibility. Her songs are cut with honesty and wanderlust. She’s already opened for Dierks Bentley and Sunny Sweeney, taken top honors at the Pensacola Beach Songwriters Festival and snagged the Michigan State Fair Superstar competition. Her latest single, “Old Appalachia,” folds small-town storytelling into a sound custom-made for crackly pickup truck speakers but big enough for neon honky-tonks. 

Accolades aside, the draw of this event is intimacy. The round format has each artist sharing stories and trading verses, revealing the process as much as the product.  

 

‘Four on the Floor: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Harvest’ 
Saturday, Sept. 20 at Mac’s Bar 
2700 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing 
facebook.com/macsbarmsu 

There’s something timeless about a four-band bill at Mac’s Bar: sticky floors, cheap drafts and an audience packed shoulder-to-shoulder for local rock. The “Rock ‘n’ Roll Harvest” roster lives up to its name, gathering a crop of regional bands for a night that’s more sweat lodge than showcase. 

Headlining is the Sean Anthony Sullivan Band, a Lansing act known for mixing Michigan grit with plenty of barroom swagger.  
 
“My true driving force in learning guitar at a young age was to further my songwriting,” Sullivan told City Pulse. “Artists like Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, Steve Earle, Springsteen, Seger and Bob Dylan enamored me. Those artists could write poetry and tell a story in an unshakeable and intimate fashion. They could make you feel the words within and the emotions behind those songs.” 
 
Also taking the stage is another heartland rock unit, Brian Lisik & the Immoral Standards. The outfit brings a dose of Akron-bred rock ‘n’ roll storytelling, the kind of rustic rock sensibility that never goes stale. Rounding out the lineup is Lie., a five-piece West Michigan-based ensemble with dual lead guitars and striking group harmonies, and Two-Body Problem, a Lansing band that’s honing a self-described blend of “rock, academic nonsense, funk, folk, jam, pop and everything else.”  

 

Classic Albums Live performs Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumours’ 
Sept. 27 at Wharton Center’s Pasant Theatre 
750 E. Shaw Lane, East Lansing 
whartoncenter.com 

The Wharton Center keeps the music flowing later in the month with a tribute to a classic rock staple: Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours.” Released in 1977 at the messy crossroads of love affairs, breakups and substance use, it became one of the biggest blockbusters in rock history. Classic Albums Live, a cover concert production company, specializes in bringing this sonic majesty back to life with forensic attention to detail.  
 
Selling over 40 million copies worldwide, “Rumours” remains among the top 10 best-selling albums of all time. Rolling Stone ranked it seventh on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and Pitchfork once called it “merely perfect.” 

What makes “Rumours” endure isn’t just the pristine production or Stevie Nicks’ ethereal presence — it’s the emotional rawness baked into every groove. Lindsey Buckingham snarling through “Go Your Own Way,” Christine McVie pouring her heart into “Songbird,” and the band locking into the ominous, anthemic thunder of “The Chain.” 

Classic Albums Live’s approach is simple: no wigs, no costumes, no gimmicks — just a group of top-tier musicians playing the record front to back, note for note, cut for cut. For longtime fans, it’s the closest you’ll get to experiencing Fleetwood Mac in its turbulent prime.  

 

Rio Da Yung OG 
Sept. 30 at Grewal Hall  
224 S. Washington Square, Lansing 
hall224.com 
(All tickets purchased for Feb. 25, 2025, will be honored) 
 
Flint’s Rio Da Yung OG doesn’t bother with radio polish. His tracks are jagged, blunt-force dispatches from the street, delivered with a stamina that’s made him one of Michigan rap’s most prolific voices. Since his first songs surfaced in 2017, he’s dropped music at a breakneck pace, stacking tapes, collabs and full-length LPs. 

By 2019, he was laying down tracks with hometown ally RMC Mike on “Dum and Dumber Too,” an LP that cemented his no-frills style. A year later, he released his first studio album, “City on My Back,” which expanded his reach with features by Detroit artists Icewear Vezzo and Babyface Ray. His grind didn’t slow: 2021 brought “Murder Mitten Babies” with Baby Zeek, plus the group project “Back from Michigan” and his solo EP “Fiend Lives Matter.” Even a prison sentence in early 2021 couldn’t mute him. He kept feeding fans with new drops. 

After walking out of prison in December 2024, he came out swinging in the new year. Within weeks, he dropped “Rio Free” and the single “Something Happen.” Last month, he unloaded the 20-track “F.L.I.N.T. (Feeling Like I’m Not Through)” — so far, three of the corresponding music videos have racked up over a million views on YouTube. Catch him in Lansing with The Player and Deonte Hall before he blows up even more.