Shows & Events

Low Ticket Alert

Heywood Banks

The Ark 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, United States

Heywood Banks is simply one of a kind, almost impossible to describe, with a style his very own. Equal parts genius and buffoon, this songwriter-comic-singer-poet-musician has become a cult hero and a pop icon, with a show that appeals to college students, stoners, businessmen, yuppies, rednecks, punks, kids or your grandmother. Heywood intersperses his humorous observations of life with twisted, inventive, bizarre songs, sung and played in a variety of styles, from folk, to country to rock to pop, and way beyond.

$35
Folk Festival

48th Ann Arbor Folk Fest

Hill Auditorium 825 N University Ave, Ann Arbor, MI, United States

The Ark and Bank of Ann Arbor are excited to announce the lineup for the Ann Arbor Folk Fest at Hill Auditorium. The festival is The Ark's largest annual fundraiser and delivers the full spectrum of “Ark music,” presenting a taste of what’s happening on the leading edge of acoustic music while delving into the very heart of folk and roots traditions. Friday night's lineup features Waxahatchee, Josh Ritter, Jobi Riccio, Adeem the Artist, Afro Dominicano, and MC Ketch Secor.

$47.50, $70, $120, $250
Folk Festival

48th Ann Arbor Folk Fest

Hill Auditorium 825 N University Ave, Ann Arbor, MI, United States

The Ark and Bank of Ann Arbor are excited to announce the lineup for the Ann Arbor Folk Fest at Hill Auditorium. The festival is The Ark's largest annual fundraiser and delivers the full spectrum of “Ark music,” presenting a taste of what’s happening on the leading edge of acoustic music while delving into the very heart of folk and roots traditions. Saturday night's lineup features Toad the Wet Sprocket, Bruce Cockburn, The Milk Carton Kids, Joy Clark, Willi Carlisle, and MC Ketch Secor. 

$47.50, $70, $120, $250
Artist Spotlight Series Live and Virtual

Taimane & Her Trio

The Ark 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, United States

The elevator at The Ark is out of service while technicians wait for a part to make repairs. Attendees for this show will need to be able to walk up and down the stairs to the second floor of The Ark where the show takes place. Born and raised in Hawaii of hapa Samoan descent, ukulele virtuoso and songwriter Taimane is renowned for her fierce and inventive style of playing the four-string island staple. She has also garnered great acclaim for her fiery stage prowess, keeping concertgoers on the edge of their seats from her first note until her last.

Free
Special Event

Guster

The Majestic Theatre 4140 Woodward Ave., Detroit, Michigan, United States

Not long before the making of their new album Ooh La La, Guster celebrated three decades together as a band—a journey that’s included landing a series of hits on the Billboard charts, working with luminaries like Steve Lillywhite and Richard Swift, launching their own music festival, and amassing an ardent fanbase partly on the strength of their relentless touring and deeply communal live show. But despite reaching a milestone few musical acts ever come close to attaining, Guster’s ninth studio LP reveals a band fully in touch with the voracious creative energy that first inspired their formation.

$33.50
Low Ticket Alert

Thornetta Davis

The Ark 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, United States

The elevator at The Ark is out of service while technicians wait for a part to make repairs. Attendees for this show will need to be able to walk up and down the stairs to the second floor of The Ark where the show takes place. International singer, songwriter and Independent recording artist, was awarded by the Detroit Blues Society “Living Lifetime Achievement Award” and awarded a star on the Canada South Blues Museum “Walk of Fame”. In 2015 Thornetta was crowned “Detroit’s Queen of the Blues” in a ceremony by the Detroit Blues Society, with proclamations from the City of Detroit, County of Wayne and the State of Michigan. She has performed with and opened for Bob Seger, Blues Legends such as B.B. King, Sir Mac Rice, Ray Charles, Etta James, KoKo Taylor, Johnny Johnson, Bonnie Raitt and more.

$30

Jax Hollow

The Ark 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, United States

Jax Hollow is an untamable force of nature. Hailing from Nashville by way of Western Massachusetts, The Berklee College Of Music graduate is bringing a much needed revival to rock with her fresh innocence and serious talent. Jax’s sound is a unique blend of Classic Rock, Blues, and Americana, combined with songwriting, riffs, ripping solos, and powerful vocals.

$25

Yasmin Williams

Special Guest: Brawny Lad

The Ark 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, United States

Based in Alexandria, VA, Yasmin Williams is an acoustic fingerstyle guitarist and film composer. She has an unorthodox, modern style of guitar playing and utilizes various techniques including alternate tunings, percussive hits, and lap tapping in her music to great effect. Her “radiant sound and adventitious origins have made her a key figure in a diverse dawn for the solo guitar” (The New York Times). Williams’s music has been described as rich, harmonious, and “in a lot of ways, the joy and possibility she brings to the guitar reminds me more of Eddie Van Halen than any of the other fingerstyle guitarists to whom she's compared” (NPR Music).

$25

Mindy Smith

The Ark 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, United States

Good things, it’s often said, come to those who wait. And yet, as one of the great poets of our time also famously observed, the waiting is the hardest part. Both truths have been proven once again on the journey to singer-songwriter Mindy Smith’s sixth studio album, Quiet Town, which brings a treasured musical voice back into the spotlight.

$25

Peter Mulvey

Opener: Katie Dahl

The Ark 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, United States

Peter Mulvey has been a songwriter, road-dog, raconteur, and almost-poet since before he can remember. In 1989 he spent a year in Ireland, busking on the streets of Dublin and hitchhiking to whatever gigs he could find. Back stateside, he spent a couple years gigging through the bars of his native Midwest before taking off for Boston, where he returned to subway busking and coffeehouses. Small shows led to larger shows, which eventually led to regional and then national touring. The wheels have not stopped since.

$25

Mike Dawes

The Ark 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, United States

Mike Dawes is an English guitarist known for composing, arranging, and performing multiple parts simultaneously on a single guitar. He is regarded as one of the world’s most creative modern fingerstyle guitarists, with a repertoire spanning original viral videos and popular arrangements, alongside mainstream chart success performing with Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues.

$25

The Ark’s Open Stage

The Ark 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, United States

Whether you're looking for your big break, want to perfect your live performance skills, or just want to perform live for the sheer fun of it, Open Stage nights offer supportive audiences and a terrific space. Performers have eight minutes (or two songs) each to do their thing. Doors open at 7:30, and names are drawn at 7:55 and 8:30. If your name isn't chosen, bring your raffle ticket with you next time, and you'll double your chances.

$3, Students and Ark Members free