I recently spent an unexpected 24 hours in Detroit after a flight cancellation on my way home from a work trip. I had never been to Detroit before, and I didn’t have a lot of time, but I decided to make the most of it and see what music I could catch that evening.

Don Was at the Concert of Colors

It turned out that my timing was pretty lucky because the city’s annual Concert of Colors was happening that weekend, and Don Was’ All Star Revue was performing that night. I went straight to it after checking in to a cheap hotel with my airline voucher, but the auditorium was completely full and they only let me in after some other concertgoers left.

They were paying tribute to The Scene, a Detroit-based dance and music TV show that aired in the 70s and 80s, with some of the show’s original hosts, musicians, and dancers performing.

Don Was brought this band to NPR for a Tiny Desk Concert earlier this year and it’s a good one:

Tigris

After the show, I wanted to see what kind of Hi-Fi bars Detroit had to offer and ended up heading to Tigris.

This place was great! They’ve got some of my favorite interior design that I’ve seen at a bar like this, and an incredible sound system. Yukiko Koizumi was DJing that night and I thoroughly enjoyed her set. I saved quite a few tracks from it. One of my favorites was a remix of Fly-day Chinatown. I’m not sure if it was this exact one, but it’s close enough to convey the vibe of her set:

Tigris is open as a cafe during the day, so I ended up back there for coffee and a donut the next morning.

I’d love to have a place like that in the Bay Area!