I drove almost two hours, shocked to see how many people were standing in line once I pulled up to the venue, a nearly sold-out crowd was waiting for doors at Grewal Hall here in Lansing on the evening of the 17 for Dead Poet Society and Highly Suspect.

The crowd was all ages and all types of concert shirts were worn from Five Finger Death Punch to who was playing tonight.

Once I got in the venue I was shocked at how beautiful it was and how interesting the layout looked. To my right was a beautiful bar with emerald green, wood, and gold with big tvs showcasing the drink menus and the merch tables set up on the left of me with your traditional shirts, hats, you name it but one thing was a little different on Highly Suspects’ table, they had two gorgeous vintage black guitars that should be hung up somewhere special.

As I walked through the venue there were people already standing at the barricades waiting for the show to start, making conversation and friendships in minutes of standing there together.

I walked up the stairs to the mezzanine to scope out the view I got to see the perfect Birds Eye view! This truly was the best spot in the house and later that night I would come to see a lot of concert goers would agree. Dead poet Society started first playing songs of their newer music like “Running In Circles“ with the crowd singing everything back to Jack and the band.

They didn’t have a ton of lights at the beginning of their set but half way through they definitely used them! Greens, yellows, blues, and reds were all used by the end of their set specifically for songs like “Hurt“ and the last song of the night for them, “In Too Deep“

I really loved the sound they produced and it honestly sounded exactly like the record versions throughout the whole show and I will definitely be seeing them again when I get the chance.

Highly Suspect was up next after waiting and they brought such a warm yet cold rocker vibe to the stage that you can’t really recreate. The lighting was bright for us photographers in the pit but it was truly beautiful! The orange colors were a nice contrast from the bold reds we were all used to by now, playing “Summertime Voodoo,“ matching the energy of the stage with carpets on the ground and a lamp behind all the instruments and the smell of incense and sage mixing with the fog in the air tightly packed the venue making it an experience even more than just a rock show could.

These were real people just doing what they love and you could feel that in the atmosphere even before they started playing. The whole night felt that way too! The crew at Grewal were some of the nicest people I’ve ever met and you could tell how respectful everyone was since we were all there for one thing, Music. After photographing all day with a close friend and some new ones the place and the show felt like home and I can’t wait to see them perform again.

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