The Emergency Festival & Tym Morrison Concert Previews!!

For our first of two concert preview posts this weekend, we're looking at the latest of an ongoing regular arrangement at a central venue this weekend, and the debut of a new (but familiar) concert festival on Saturday! If you're curious, Sault Michigan hard rock previews, anything short notice, and an acknowledgement of this weekend's private Das Bunkerfest will come in our next full news post, and yes, I am aware of some big recent concert announcements (they're coming too!) Now, here's what you need to know for the first of the weekend's heavier events!

We'll start with Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison's ongoing weekly concert arrangement, which will continue TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT for his 36th straight week at The Harp Bar & Grill! After another one week spell where he only played one show, this prolific local hard rock & metal artist will return to his usual hosted jam night tomorrow and a regular solo acoustic gig on Saturday, so whichever you prefer, Tym will be delivering the hard rock cover goods at the former Madison's Pub! Like usual for his Harp shows, there's no announced cover charge, you must be 19 to attend, and 10:00 PM start times are likely. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Tym's definitely doing something right for his run at The Harp to continue for so long, so whether you're an established fan of his current shows, or new to the party, keep this weekend's events in mind for some unplugged live entertainment! For a preview, here's Tym live at the former Smack Daddy's covering Metallica!



Next up, a new local concert festival makes it's debut THIS SATURDAY as LopLops Lounge hosts the first ever Emergency Festival! Sponsored by SooToday parent company Village Media and Tenaris Algoma Tubes, this event is in response to the "state of emergency" from the loss of many recent local concert festivals, and can be seen as a spiritual successor in particular to the on-hiatus Rotaryfest Second Stage, which shared a similar folk & roots performer lineup to The Emergency, and also featured LopLops and Tenaris among it's driving forces. However, The Emergency Festival will differ by featuring four different stages of music on Saturday, all taking place on Queen Street between East & Brock Street, with businesses open as usual, pop-up patios featuring craft beer along the block, as well as artisans, craftsmen, a farmer's market, and other family entertainment, so check the above links, SooToday's article on the event, The Sault Star's article and interview with promoter Stephen Alexander, and The Emergency's Facebook page for more details on the non-musical events taking place on Saturday! So, with four stages of music going down on Saturday, what can you see then?

Aside from the main stage, the three alternative "clinic" stages will run simultaneously from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM, and it's there you'll find the only performers this year that would fit on the SMS. The fourth "Pulse" stage will run outside of The Pita Pit on Saturday, and will feature DJ Seith, Yukon folk project Old Cabin, and local solo performers Chloe Moore, Chris West (as Great Chamberlain), Nick Luck (as Aldous), and Kylie Precepa, so click here for full details on that stage! The second "Acute" stage will be held outside of Case's Music, and it will feature Role Models frontman (and Inner City Surfers alum) Brad "Example" Lacell in a rare solo concert set, so look for some entertaining punk rock renditions from him at The Emergency on Saturday! His set will be at 12:00 PM, preceding headlining sets by country artist Lorrie Bolduc at 2:00 PM and Sault native Mark Kulmala at 1:00 PM, while Ryan Seabrook will open the "Acute" stage at 11:00 AM. Like the other stages at The Emergency, this is FREE & ALL AGES, so click here and check the above links for more details on this stage!

Interesting to see sort of "themed" stages, but it does allow for choice, and while it would be nice to see more of a metal or punk angle, Brad will deliver some of that on Saturday at noon, so don't miss his set if you're at The Emergency! For a preview, here's Brad Example covering a Hozier song!

Before touching on the other stage with "heavier" bands, let's acknowledge the main stage, which will be held in a similar location to the old Rotaryfest Second Stage just past The Grand Theatre. Mostly featuring Toronto-area bands, the "Emergency" stage will feature roots rockers The Treasures, country singer Lindi Ortega, local/Ottawa folk favourite Kalle Mattson, country rockers The Order of Good Cheer (featuring Saultite Frank Guidoccio), indie rockers Jane's Party, country artist Whitney Rose, and local blues rockers The Frasiers, so click here for full details on the main stage, which goes down from 3:00-10:00 PM after the clinic stages wrap up! As for the remaining stage, that's the third "Shock" stage, which is the only Emergency location to be hosted indoors, more specifically, inside LopLops Lounge proper. Basically, this stage is a partial reprise of last month's well received Lopstock all ages event, and it will be headlined by local post-punk quartet Gnaeus at 2:00 PM and alternative hard rock trio The Pixo Control at 1:00 PM! Nice to see both of these rising young bands back at it, so don't miss them either!

The opening bands at LopLops/the "Shock" stage will be newer local band Mashagama (likely successors to The Narwhal Sessions and Obviously D'uh) and local acoustic rock trio K.I.C.K. at 12:00 PM & 11:00 AM respectively. Though indoors, the FREE & ALL AGES statuses stand for the "Shock" stage, so check the above links for more details! While the main stage will appeal to past Second Stage fans, LopLops regulars, and country lovers, the "Shock" stage will be right up the alleys of Ears & Eyes followers and fans of some of the rising younger talent in the area, and it's your best bet for some heavier action during The Emergency! Don't miss it if you're downtown this weekend, and here's The Pixo Control covering Nirvana at Gusto's!



Very ambitious, especially for a first year festival, but it does fill what would have been Buskerfest's weekend on the calendar, and if you love past Second Stages, you'll love The Emergency! Hopefully this is a success to help repair some of the wounds to 2014's local festival calendar, and maybe we'll get a larger punk and/or metal element in 2015 if all goes well! Don't miss The Emergency on Saturday, and stay tuned for more previews and big concert announcements soon! Thanks everyone!