Saturday, March 14, 2020

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Pantychrist & Mike Haggith), Another Cancellation, And More Updates!!

We have a pair of LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the ensuing months, plus some shorter assorted updates in today's post, but before then, we have another COVID-19 coronavirus cancellation to note on here, as local Celtic punk quintet Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide's planned St. Patrick's Day concert at LopLops Lounge has been postponed, as per the band's Facebook page. However, LopLops proper will remain open if you want to visit as a regular patron, and it is still owner Stephen Alexander's birthday, so hopefully he gets lots of relevant greetings in that regard! I had figured that if any more dominoes would fall this weekend, this would be the one given the holiday ties and The Tide's name recognition, but I didn't want to stir negative rumours about it beforehand. Now, with that said, The Wyld Stallyns have confirmed that they are still playing at The Whiskey Barrel tonight, and they are planning to take fan requests for live video streams if you don't want to attend.

As well, I have not seen any announcements regarding calling off Tym Morrison's slate of acoustic matinee concerts at Northern Superior Brewing & Gliss today and The Kiln tomorrow, though given their more intimate settings and the lack of any touring headliners, they are less susceptible to a coronavirus-related cancellation, in theory. Of course, we will keep you posted with updates on show postponements and cancellations when & if they roll in. Stay safe out there!

Now, let's kick off those new concert announcements, and both happen to be at LopLops too, starting with local/Thompson, Manitoba indie/hard rock musician Mike Haggith's return home for the official CD release concert for his new album "If Ever Comes The Day" on Friday, May 15th! This will be Mike's first local concert appearance since his acoustic Outspoken Brewing gig in August, but this looks to be formatted way more similarly to his last solo CD launch show here (in July 2015 at Rednecks for "The Warinside"), complete with a live backing band to be announced. For reference, he played alongside his then-Din bandmates Curtis McKenzie and Brandan Glew at that event. Much of the online materials for this show reflect "If Ever Comes The Day" proper, including information on it's lyrical inspiration & themes, the amount of songs and run time (12 songs, 47 minutes), and a few new-to-us song names like "Back Away Slowly" & "Into The Setting Sun". The full cover artwork is also now up on Facebook.

No word on potential opening bands, but 2015's release concert also featured the now-inactive Wild Iris and solo artist Micheal Husband. The "If Ever Comes The Day" release concert will have a $5 cover charge with a 19+ age limit and a 10:00 PM start time, and CDs will be on sale for $10, which does include a digital download card. When Mike announced that this album was coming out on a Friday, I had a hunch he would have a CD release party for it, and we're lucky enough to have it on local soil! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details on the show & CD as they roll in, and I think we know what album we're reviewing on the site in May!

Today's other new concert announcement will see all-female Hamilton hardcore punk quartet Pantychrist make their Sault Ste. Marie debut at LopLops on Monday, June 1st! Long-time readers may actually recognize Pantychrist from being scheduled for the cancelled Das Bunkerfest II in Garden River back in 2015, so it's great to see the ladies finally playing a local date five years later! Pantychrist's rough-edged, aggressive brand of hardcore punk should be more than welcomed on a local stage in June, and while LopLops may be a somewhat surprising venue, they should own that stage on this night! At least one opening band is to be announced. Promoted by the Oh!No Collective (who would have held Das Bunkerfest II under their old name Six, Two, Oh.), this 19+ show has a 9:00 PM start time, and while a cover charge has not been announced at press time, bring at least $5. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and stay tuned for updates!

Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last little while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or event name:

  • A Facebook event page has finally surfaced for the Alienator-headlined concert at Soo Blaster on June 4th, which confirms that this will be an ALL AGES event. Tickets are also now on sale via Soo Blaster, The Rad Zone, and through promoter Mathieu Villebrun, though a promised online sale point on the event page is not immediately visible. Visit the above links for more details!
  • SooToday contributor Chris Belsito posted this interview article with Matthew Good on Thursday, a day before he postponed his entire Moving Walls Tour, local date on March 26th included. How's that for unfortunate timing! The article proper features Matthew talking about his recent touring, songs he likes playing live, his new album, and some recollections on coming through or staying in Sault Ste. Marie on prior tours (his divisive 2007 show here was not brought up directly.) Very informative article, so give it a look above, and hopefully we hear about the rescheduled Soo event soon!
  • Apologies for the delay in acknowledging these on the site, but a couple of local news outlets were in attendance for and got photos from the We Will Rock You musical production at GFL Memorial Gardens in January! SooToday's Donna Hopper & SaultOnline's Megan Pounder both snapped lots of photos, with Donna's being higher quality, but Megan got far more pictures total. The context may be lost if you don't know the story, but it seems to have been well received by attending Queen fans! Give them a look above!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates on the site next week! Thanks everyone!

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