Northern Vibe Festival Fallout & Videos!!

In our final post of the month (our busiest month on the SMS for post count in over a year), let's look at fallout and belated updates from a returning concert festival outside of Sault Ontario from this past weekend! Everyone seems to have had a great time, but here's what you should know!

As you may recall, the sixth annual Northern Vibe Festival took place in Ophir this past weekend with it's heaviest Forest Stage lineup yet, but oddly, organizers never released a full schedule for either that stage or the DJ-centric River Stage. Between early advertising & social media postings after the fact, I believe I can tell you guys who belatedly played each day, if not every timeslot. The Friday, August 27th lineup was headlined by Frightlight at 10:00 PM, with Jonesy Land at 9:00 PM, The Wyld Stallyns at 8:00 PM (I think), and A Dire Setback opening at 7:00 PM. That appears to place the remaining local bands and all three Sudbury acts on Saturday the 28th, but timeslots are patchier here. The closing band was surprisingly The Soo Fighters at 10:00 PM, while I believe Harvey King & The Grindstone played at 9:00 PM given the setting of their Facebook picture from the event. 

The Dynowaves just said on Facebook that they were playing on "Saturday evening" (which I'd read being anywhere from 5:00-8:00 PM), while Lockdown's set was definitely on Saturday before nightfall, and Handsome Sandwich confirmed that they played at 4:00 PM. As for the remaining touring acts, I believe Matt Foy played on Saturday, but in a surprise announcement not reported on Facebook or the festival website, funk musician Dr. Bong was quietly replaced by Sudbury rapper Ronin705 that same day. A reason for Dr. Bong's withdrawal was not announced, but note that he hasn't updated his Facebook page yet in 2021 and thusly never promoted the festival there (granted, Ronin705 never plugged his involvement online either). Hopefully all's well with Dr. Bong, but Ronin705 is a talented MC, and hopefully he made some new fans out west!

Given the lack of internet at the festival grounds (cell phone data plans excepted), it understandably took a little bit for videos to surface from Northern Vibe VI, but the festival's Facebook page promises that videos and photos are forthcoming (so far, all that's up there is a 6 second clip of Forest Stage DJ Roost Radio's glowing rooster). On Sunday, debuting local rock cover quintet Lockdown posted four videos on their Facebook group from their set, where they covered The Arctic Monkeys' "Snap Out Of It", The Tragically Hip's "Blow At High Dough", The Black Keys' "Gold On The Ceiling", and Elle King's "Ex's & Oh's". Not pointing to a heavier base here, but Lockdown are talented and make use of two vocalists well for a diverse setlist! I just wish the videos were zoomed in more. The same filmer also got one video of their sister band The Soo Fighters at night's end, so what should you know there?

The clip sees them covering The Foos' classic "Monkey Wrench", and given that it was very much nightfall here, the lack of zoom on the camera is painfully obvious. Visually, I can't comment on the band's new lineup at all (I can't even see Jules' Dave Grohl wig through the bright stage lighting), though the credits at the end do list Lockdown singer Nicole Ambeault too, who appeared to have provided the "Fall in, fall out" vocals in the last chorus. This is a strong rendition of one of The Foo Fighters' fastest and heaviest singles, and fans definitely seem into the song, so give it a listen below!

Finally, here's a video of local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback live on Friday evening, as shared on their Facebook page from frontman Chris Nielsen's personal Facebook page, having previously been filmed by attendee Celeste Maurer. In a bit of a surprise, this video is actually of a cover song that I don't recall A Dire Setback playing pre-pandemic, namely Anti-Flag's "The Press Corpse", which is definitely a faster and angrier song than fans of A.D.S.' originals will be used to! Solidly done though with good energy, and Celeste was much closer to the stage, whose tented set-up has a very "WWF In Your House" feel, if that's fair to say. Celeste also filmed an original from their set, but that hasn't been publically shared as of this writing, though we'll let you know if it does, and give A Dire Setback's Anti-Flag cover a watch below!

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