Independent and underground touring bands play the Pyramid Scheme, the music venue that anchors Grand Rapids' live music scene and says something important about the city's cultural self-confidence. The venue opened in 2011 in a converted industrial space, booking independent and underground touring bands in an intimate room with good sound and a serious bar program that reflects the city's craft beer identity. Grand Rapids is not a city that has ever been famous for its music scene in the way that Detroit or Chicago or Nashville are — its cultural strengths lie elsewhere, in visual art, craft, food, and beer.
But the Pyramid Scheme has carved out a genuine place on the national touring circuit, attracting bands who know that Grand Rapids audiences are enthusiastic and the room is well-run. The name is a joke about multi-level marketing — Amway, the company co-founded in the Grand Rapids suburb of Ada, is the world's largest direct sales company, and 'pyramid scheme' has a specific resonance in west Michigan that the venue's owners deployed with dry humor. The joke landed.
The venue stuck.