2025 IN REVIEW

When we put a bow on 2025 tomorrow night, we will have presented 231 shows (23 of those sold out) in the Pyramid Scheme this year, for over 45,000 attendees. Hosting all of you is our life’s work, and we’re so proud to be in the trenches of this world with you all and your collective independent spirit. These four walls are nothing without your warmth, kindness, voices, creativity, passion, and support, and we try so hard to not take that for granted.

This year, we hosted legends like the Bouncing Souls, Thursday, Tim Heidecker, Azymuth, iDKHOW, and Cursive for the first time, welcomed back our friends La Dispute, Murder By Death, Adrian Younge, Pelican, Foxing, Still Remains, and so many more for long-awaited returns to the Scheme. And probably most rewarding of all, we hosted hundreds of West Michigan bands, rappers, dancers, songwriters, DJs, and comedians, working together to give us all a space to engage in a community that we’re so thankful for.

In 2026, we’re looking to continue to build on what we’re doing here. We want to encourage and support young people picking up instruments for the first time, career musicians hitting the road for one last tour, and everyone in between. Being an independent venue is harder than ever before, for a plethora of reasons that we don’t need to dim the vibes with in this post, but just know that every ticket purchased, every shirt purchased, every quarter you pop into one of our pinball machines, it’s supporting a small business that appreciates it so much.

Our goals for the next year are as follows:

Celebrate our 15th anniversary in style in April.
Put more BIPOC performers on our stage to better reflect the diverse population of this beautiful city.
Continue to keep ticket prices and fees fair and under control.
Help the industry ban unfair practices like speculative ticketing and scalping, and combat and shine a light the monopolistic operations of larger corporate promoters.
Support the formation and development of more young bands and musical projects.
Continue to take a stand against AI, especially in art, and supporting our friends in their endeavors.
Develop and grow our new monthly High Score Comedy and Trivi-YAH series.
Continue to fill off nights with fun free events like Vinyl Night, Pinball Disco, etc.
Host 1 show per quarter at Fountain Street Church, up to 1 show per month at The Big Room, and more shows at Wealthy Theatre, while continuing to present a strong and diverse calendar at the Pyramid Scheme.
Pull advertising money off of the big social media conglomerates and use it to support local organizations.
Continue to fight to get local openers on as many bills with strong touring headliners as possible.
Continue to offer fair drink prices and offer more non-alcoholic options.
Keep that pinball collection in tip top shape and bring you the chance to play new machines and classics.

If you’d like to discuss any of these goals further, reflect on a particular event you loved this year at the Scheme, or make a suggestion as to who to bring to town in 2026, please join in the conversation on our social media accounts below!

Happy New Year, Grand Rapids. We love you.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

Here’s some ways to get involved in 2026!

Share your thoughts with us on social media:

Share your talents at one of our events:

Just come enjoy all that we have to offer: