Remembering The Great Concerts At Summer Celebration in Muskegon

Maybe it's because we were all younger then, and maybe it's because there aren't that many acts that a lot of people want to see, but I'm sitting here thinking I miss concerts. And especially concerts in scenic locations, and one that was pretty special in these parts was the Summer Celebration. It was an annual event on Muskegon Lake, right on the cusp Lake Michigan in downtown Muskegon. Eventually, organizers ran out of money a decade ago, (it was right after the Great Recession of 2008) so that's that.

The list of performers at Summer Celebration reads like a who's who of popular music. Remember the database only goes back to the mid-1990's, but here's who played at Heritage Landing.

(catlyn777 via YouTube)

Three Dog Night, The Spinners, Santana, James Brown, Verve Pipe, Blues Traveler, Cheap Trick, Poison, Gin Blossoms, Spin Doctors, Blues Traveler, The Moody Blues, The Allman Brothers Band, Sheryl Crow, Boston, Melissa Etheridge, ZZ Top, Smokey Robinson, Rick Springfield, Foghat, Styx, Journey, Whitesnake, Collective Soul, Hoobastank, Everclear, Tesla, David Lee Roth, Alice Cooper, B.B. King, Train, Goo Goo Dolls, Steve Miller Band, REO Speedwagon, Kansas, Sammy Hagar, Loverboy, Joan Jett, Billy Squire, Heart, Charlie Daniels Band (from the final summer), and listed as the final headliner is Cinderella.

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Certainly, right now is a tough time to organize a concert, but just seeing some video of these shows, and knowing what summertime is like around Michigan, with live music and some cold beer, it makes you long for the days when this was a annual staple of summer.

Heritage Landing is still there, and there was supposed to be a religious concert this past summer, but oh, for the rock and roll concerts of my youth.