With classic hits such as "Wheel in the Sky" and "Any Way You Want It," classic rockers Journey kick off this year's weeklong Common Ground Festival on Monday night.
The Common Ground Festival runs for seven days, offering more than one band per evening to enhance any musical palate. The festival is located at Adado Riverfront Park in downtown Lansing, between Cedar Street and Grand Avenue.
"We are having a great selection and nice variety (of bands)," said Malinda Barr, Common Ground Festival's media coordinator. "We were able to bring one band back from each year in the past five years."
At this year's music extravaganza, there are a variety of acts performing, including The Beach Boys on Sunday night. Journey, The Allman Brothers Band, The Black Crowes, John Legend and Seether are among a few of the other acts to take the stage and croon to crowds.
But unlike the bands listed above, Naturally7, a New York City-based R&B group, will display its music a bit differently.
The group is comprised of seven members, none of whom use regular instruments. Instead of playing drums, bass and guitars, the group creates music using only sounds from their mouths.
This performance and many others will contribute to possible high attendance at this year's festival. Last year's Common Ground festival drew more than 90,000 people to the Lansing area and Barr hopes the numbers will remain high and possibly increase this year.
"We are expecting all concerts to be pretty even numbers," Barr said. "We want close to sellout crowds each night."
Other than music, there will be plenty of food vendors present at the festival. Some of the businesses include Melting Moments, Flats Grille and Maria's Tacos.
In its third year of attending the festival, East Lansing's Flats Grille, 551 E. Grand River Ave., will be offering its signature flat sandwiches. Flats Grille owner Paul O'Connor said the festival gives the restaurant more exposure.
"It brings people to downtown Lansing from all over," O'Connor said. "For Flats Grille, it gives us some exposure, people can see our restaurant and what we can do."
Another East Lansing business, Melting Moments, 313 E. Grand River Ave., is also in its third year at the festival, said Melting Moments manager Lisa Belen.
"We are going to have vanilla and chocolate ice cream along with self-serve yogurt," Belen said.
Besides the music and food featured at the festival, there are many other activities beyond tastes and tunes. There is a 5-on-5 flag football tournament on Saturday, and a skating competition that will feature half pipe, street and bowl contests. To register for the football tournament, contact SoccerZone at (517) 394-5425. The deadline to sign up is July 14 and the cost is $150 per team.
Tickets for the Common Ground Festival are still available. Tickets for the entire week are $89 and single performance admission is $29. Tickets can be purchased at All Star Tickets Plus Outlets, either by phone at (800) 585-3737, at the Festival Office, located inside Lansing City Market, 333 N. Cedar St., or at the Festival Box Office.
For more information, visit www.commongroundfest.com.
