Last weekend, the House of Vans held an event in the Cass Corridor area of Detroit at the historical Jefferson Middle School building.
The event lasted from Thursday, January 24th through Sunday, January 27th. DJ Napkin (Anthony Lopez) and I attended the Saturday date. There were many activities and sights to check out, including art shows, workshops, pop-up shops, and an indoor skate park located in the gymnasium.
When we first entered, we were offered a selection from a table of free House of Vans merch, which included gloves, shirts, tote bags, and hats–which is a tradition at many House of Vans event.
As we wandered around the building, we stepped into old classrooms that held the art shows, displaying the works of artists like Jay Howell, notable for being the art designer for Bob’s Burgers and Sanjay & Craig, and Jason Abraham Smith, a Detroit local concert poster artist. The artworks were hung along the walls in the halls and classrooms on display while they surrounded the work desks that the artists themselves craft them on.
Next, we headed upstairs to the third floor to check out the marketplace. This section included a number different local businesses such as Third Man Records, SMPFLD, and Grey Area. Records, shirts, eyeglass frames, and Detroit local barbecue were among a few of the things one could shop for in the marketplace.
On the second floor was the skate park, which was used throughout the weekend for skate workshops and competitions–but for Saturday evening, it was an open skate. It was a popular section with many people being allowed to skate all around a course of rails, ramps and quarter pipes while spectators watched from the upper balcony above the gymnasium floor.
We stayed for a while but soon left to catch a good spot for the live music performances. The show was being held in the school auditorium with only a 400-person capacity on a first come, first served basis, so it was crucial for us to get there early. This particular show had no security barrier between the audience and the stage, which made for an exciting and intimate experience, and the fact that we were able to get to the very front for it made it all that much more exciting for us.
Opening up the night was Kelsey Lu, who delivered a powerful, yet subtle set. Her performance was mesmerizing with the droning vocal effects and ambient instrumentals that backed her dynamic and proficient vocal performances. It came complete with smoke machines clouding the stage and interesting choreography delivered from her and the members of her band. Up next was Joyce Manor, who came through with a lively pop-punk set that got the crowd moshing and stage diving.
Frontman Barry Johnson even lowered the mic into the audience during their song “Constant Headache,” so they could sing along to the chorus: so it’s safe to say that audience participation was pretty high.
We could tell that the band was having a good time as they played through their set, despite having to fly out to Detroit for the show while still being in the middle of a tour of their own. They were really excited to be there and open up for Danny Brown.
Finally, it was time for Danny Brown to perform. He walked onstage, giving highfives to the audience members while Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” played. (DJ Napkin was lucky enough to get the first high-five of the night.) Danny then dived right into a blistering set with songs off of XXX, Old, and Atrocity Exhibition.
He briefly stopped between songs to talk, which is uncommon for him to do, but he was very happy to play a show in his hometown and was very courteous about it. Danny also mentioned that he was in the middle of recording his new album in New York, but came out for one night just to play the show. The show went on and eventually finished with what seemed like a new, unreleased song making for an interesting world premiere.
Overall, the House of Vans Detroit event was an outstanding show. It featured some big headliners but was in a very intimate venue. It showcased a great deal of the art and music Detroit has to offer and presented it in an interesting way that made it unique to the city. It was the kind of event that you would ask your friends about only to have your friends respond with, “you had to be there.”
Luke Hodorek
Features Contributor
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