Taking Back Friday

While the main stretch of Downtown Grand Rapids – home to staple venues such as The Intersection and The Pyramid Scheme – tends to consistently draw concertgoers each weekend, The Orbit Room manages to pull in a big-name act every few weeks that draws fans to the eastern edge of the city. On Friday, Sept. 12, the spot will play host to two high-profile alt rock bands: Taking Back Sunday and The Used. Though both bands have been in the mainstream for over a decade, each of the two crews recently dropped fresh albums, Taking Back Sunday with “Happiness” in March and The Used with “Imaginary Enemy” in April, meaning that those in attendance will likely have a chance to enjoy plenty of new material and classics alike. The show is all ages and doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets for the show are $30 in advance, $35 the day of the show. For more information, visit orbitroom.com. Beneficial Basslines On Friday, Sept. 12, a handful of local musicians will take to The Intersection’s outdoor stage looking to raise funds for 20 Liters, a local nonprofit dedicated to bringing clean water to the country of Rwanda. The inaugural outdoor concert, BeneFest, is a part of the venue’s Rock the Lot series and will feature performances by The Crane Wives, Vox Vidorra, The Accidentals and Channing + Quinn. Also pitching in are local food and beverage vendors such as Founders Brewing Co., Lantern Coffee, Cult Pizza and Brewery Vivant, to name a few.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m. for this all-ages show and tickets are $15. To find out more, check out sectionlive.com/events/benefest. Strange, Beautiful Lakers Having just returned from a 4,000-mile tour that stopped to perform at five national parks, GVSU’s New Music Ensemble is no stranger to the limelight. On Saturday, Sept. 13, the group looks to share their catalog of recently commissioned music from their tour with musicians and fans alike at the seventh annual Strange Beautiful Music VII, hosted by the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit. The show begins at 4 p.m., and while the bulk of the evening will feature performances by New Music Detroit, the GVSU New Music Ensemble is the first act to take the stage. By employing the “Pay What You Want” system, general admission tickets for the show range from $10-$100, depending entirely on what each person can afford. For more information about the ensemble’s performance and to purchase tickets, go to dso.org/CalendarView.aspx. Celebrating the Community – Eastown StreetFair For the 41^st year in a row, the residents of Grand Rapids will unite to celebrate the city’s hippest community, Eastown, by indulging in all of the arts, crafts, eats and music that the eclectic district has to offer. Hosted on Saturday, Sept. 13 by the Eastown Community Association and Eastown Business Association, the outdoor gathering spans across several streets, and is family-friendly as well as free. The first batch of vendors opens their booths around 9 a.m., with performances and events running through 10 p.m. To find out more about the fair, such as when and where vendors will be located, visit eastown.org/streetfair-map-vendor-list. Pinball Paradise The Pyramid Scheme in downtown Grand Rapids, home to a handful of classic pinball machines, has seen its fair share of balls and flippers. But it’s not often that the venue packs over 50 units into their building, as is the case on Sept. 14 and 15, when they host the third annual Pinball Pyramid show. During the two days, all machines – which include everything from a Tron-themed rig to a Metallica-themed rig – will be free to play from 2 p.m. until 2 a.m. For the true pinball prodigies, the venue will also be holding two tournaments – both of which are approved by the International Flipper Pinball Association, of course. Advanced tickets are $10 per day or $12 the day of. The expo is all ages until 8 p.m. each evening at which point it becomes 18 and up. More information can be found at facebook.com/events/539502026161301.