Welcome to Ann Arbor and to The Ark, a world-class club with music for all ages and tastes! Each year, we welcome students to Ann Arbor with a show that’s free for them. For the Student Welcome Show this year we’re working with the U-M student-run Big Ticket Productions to present Joe and The Ruckus and Tea & Sympathy. Joe and the Ruckus is a newly founded student band that is recontextualizing classic funk and soul music within our 21st century, post-pandemic society, with repertory ranging from the father of funk, James Brown, to the king of soul, Stevie Wonder, and beyond into more modern artists.Tea & Sympathy is an Ann Arbor based indie-rock band with funk and pop-punk influences. The group is made up of University of Michigan students and delivers electrifying performances around town. Hint to nonstudents: in the past, this show has proven to be a great way to hear up-and-coming artists who appeal to young people!