Creepy Cheapy Holiday III
The Crofoot
Pontiac, Mich.
Dec. 12, 2025
Christmas, Halloween and live music joined Friday for Creepy Cheapy Holiday III, a signature event at Pontiac’s Crofoot concert venue. It was the holiday version of its standard – and apparently even more popular – October Creepy Cheapy events, and added a spooky Christmas vibe to the festivities. The evening featured three stages of live bands playing covers of popular bands, plus a DJ performing to hundreds of costumed revelers.
I’m not a concert person; the rare exception is a full-on bubblegum pop production with dancers and effects, not a crowded room of local bands playing covers of other rock bands I’m mildly familiar with. I try to be open to new experiences – and always enjoy a good costume party – and joined a group of friends to check it out.
A couple drinks in, it wasn’t so bad. Music-wise, The Wild Life band performing the Weezer covers was pretty great. The group ahead of me trying to mosh to it was less so. I was excited to hear Living AI perform as Paramore but was disappointed and surprised not to hear “Still Info You” and “Ain’t it Fun” in their set. Would it hurt to throw a couple of the mainstream hits in there? There were also covers for Mayday Parade, Harry Styles, Slipknot, My Chemical Romance, Pop Goes Punk and Spiritbox, which I either missed or wasn’t that familiar to begin with to pay much attention.
The Wild Life band performing Weezer
The bigger appeal to me was everything else. The venue was full of grand Christmas decorations. Huge Christmas bulb ornaments hung from the ceiling, giant creepy nutcrackers lurked in corners, and there were lights galore. A deranged Santa corner paired a Christmas tree and presents with festive (and rude) skeletons.
The people watching was also a highlight. Costumes ranged from traditional Christmas with Santa hats, ugly Christmas sweaters and reindeer onesies to spookier Christmas styles, including skeletons, Krampus and some sort of anglerfish Christmas demon. My favorites were an Ebeneezer Scrooge and two Victorian ghosts from “A Christmas Carol,” who surprisingly, didn’t attend together.
When the bands got to be too much, a quieter room in the back had cozy couches and a small nostalgic arcade with Tetris, a pinball machine and “The Simpsons” video game, which were a lot of fun. I also appreciated the free Christmas cookies available in every room, and the Christmas cookie eating contest, although the diabetes-ridden themed cocktails were a bit much for me.
From the looks of the crowd, Creepy Cheapy is a beloved event for anyone who loves Halloween, live music and sometimes Christmas. If it one-day transforms to feature more pop music and show tunes, I could be convinced to return. Otherwise, it was an interesting one-off and visit to a foreign culture.
