It's a typical Friday night and the vibe to shake, rattle, rock and roll is running in high gear.
Whether you desire to sway your hips to a jam band or grind dirty to a local hip-hop act, the surrounding areas have a venue suitable for every taste on the palate of music.
But this time, instead of going to a monstrous basketball stadium or similar, music-murdering mecca - where the sound of your favorite band can be mauled by bad acoustics - why not try out a spot more comfortable, more intimate and more personal?
Scattered throughout the streets and back alleys of East Lansing and Lansing are enough miniature music venues and bars with stages to make all the jazz lovers, hip-hop fanatics and indie rock kids - among many others - happier than puppies chewing on a pair of Birkenstocks.
Steve Lambert, booking agent for Mac's Bar, 2700 E. Michigan Ave., in Lansing, said the hole-in-the-wall, rock bar is appealing for college students because students are Mac's target clientele.
"A lot of the music you hear on the radio, you'll hear at Mac's any given night of the week," Lambert said.
"The Impact's No. 2 by By Divine Right - that band is playing Mac's Sept. 1."
The bar, which boasts 50 to 75 fresh and upcoming bands a month, Lambert said, is a straight up rock and roll club.
"It is very much like this dirty music venue," Lambert laughed. "I've heard people come in and say this is like being in Brooklyn or New York City."
Aside from Mac's well-known reputation, Lambert said one of the most-favored aspects of the bar is the fact that patrons have the opportunity to meet band members right after they've finished hacking their axes on stage.
"At bigger places, you're not going to meet the bands because they're backstage and you're not going to run into them," Lambert said.
"At Mac's, no one's hiding."
Despite the bar's past history with all 21 years old and over shows, Lambert assured this coming year will host many opportunities for the 18 and over crowd to enjoy music together.
But if the bar scene simply isn't your cup of tea, or beer, look no further than Lansing's Old Town for the cozy confines of the Creole Gallery, 1218 Turner St., where the no alcohol, no-smoke environment allows music lovers to focus more directly on the stage and performer in front of them.
The 100-seat, one-third art gallery, one-third music venue, one-third theater, has hosted folk singers Richard Shindell and Tracy Grammer, pop trio Groovelily, and guitarist Thom Jayne, to name a few.
"I went to the Creole Gallery to see Alix Olson," Breann Rocha said.
"It was great to listen to her perform in such a small venue."
Rocha, a 24-year-old Lansing resident, said the comfortable feeling of the Creole Gallery was an aspect she hadn't found in any other music venue around the area.
"I liked the Creole Gallery a lot because it was really small and very personal," she said.
"It was really intimate because only a few people can fit in there and it was really cool because you got a chance to talk to who was performing after the show."
And taking it a notch even further down casual venue line, local coffee shops, such as Caffe Latte, 130 Charles St., offer customer's the leisure of sipping java while listening to open mic sessions that can feature anything from folk to spoken word.
"Once a month I come to East Lansing to see some friends and they'll usually take me to Caffe Latte where we can get coffee and hang out," said Staci Daniel, a Western Michigan University senior who recently visited East Lansing.
"I like going because it's not a huge corporate coffee chain and plus you get to hear live music for the price of your drink."
