By Mill Creek View Staff
Downtown Everett got a lot louder on Saturday night, and nobody seemed to mind.
The Music Circle packed Apex Kings Hall on May 30th for “70s Rock Anthems Live,” a student concert and scholarship fundraiser that turned the room into something closer to a sold-out arena than a music school recital. Doors opened at 5:30 and by the time the show started at six, the hall was full and the energy was already building.
Roughly forty students took the stage over the course of the night, working through a setlist built around the songs that defined a generation. The bill leaned on the heavy hitters of the era, with Queen, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Fleetwood Mac and Billy Joel all getting their moment. The Lynyrd Skynyrd numbers landed as a clear highlight of the evening, the kind of crowd singalong that reminds you why those songs have stuck around for fifty years.
What made the night work was the range. The Music Circle is built on a group-class model where players of every age and skill level learn together and perform together. That philosophy was on full display Saturday. Beginners who had picked up an instrument only months earlier shared the same stage as seasoned players, and the players ranged in age from grade-schoolers to adults in their seventies and eighties. This is not just a young person’s pursuit, and the room cheered for all of them with equal volume.
Performing live in front of a crowd is the centerpiece of the school’s approach, and for many students Saturday was the payoff for months of weekly classes. Watching a first-time performer step up, nerves and all, and walk off to a standing ovation is the whole point. The packed house gave them every reason to come back and do it again, and they will get the chance. The Music Circle stages two major showcases a year, with a warm-up concert in the days beforehand and a handful of additional band shows throughout the year. There will be plenty more nights like this one.
Beyond the music, the evening doubled as a scholarship fundraiser, with proceeds going to support young students who want to learn but need a hand getting started. It is a fitting mission for a program that has spent years making music feel accessible to anyone willing to show up and try.
For families who missed it, the good news is that The Music Circle runs classes year round in downtown Everett, welcoming students of all ages from 8 on up, across guitar, bass, drums, piano and voice. The school can be reached at 1616 Hewitt Ave, Everett, WA 98201, by phone at 425- 645-2550, or online at themusiccircle.org. If Saturday was any indication, there is no better place to start.
