Thursday, November 2, 2023

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Generations) & The First Half Of This Weekend's Hard Rock Concert Previews!!

Before we begin this first weekend concert preview post on another busy weekend, just a heads up for fans of 705Live Sound Co. on Facebook that local funk/hard rock cover band The Wyld Stallyns reportedly played at the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre tonight opening for no less than My Son The Hurricane. From what I have gathered from M.S.T.H.'s social media accounts, this was a private event, hence why I never heard about it, let alone covered it here, but kudos to whoever put this event on to get Danno & crew home for a private booking, and hopefully they and The Stallyns had a blast! Now to the first half of this weekend's concert previews, starting with SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations will return to the stage for concerts at Jay's Piston Broke Pub TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, these shows were only announced on their Facebook group on Saturday. After skipping the Halloween weekend, the Jus' Chillin successors will be take stage at the former Reggie's West for their first shows there in almost a month. Hopefully their old school and varied mix of covers find a strong audience at Jay's TOMORROW & SATURDAY! Like with their Esquire Club shows two weeks ago, Generations' concert on SATURDAY NIGHT takes place the same day as The Soo's Got Talent (the finals, in this case), but singer Valerie Powley's judging commitments will not conflict with the concert as the finals begin at 6:30 PM and will end with time for Valerie to drive to the west end for the Generations concert once again, so don't worry!

Look for our Soo's Got Talent finals preview on the site tomorrow! As for Generations' Jay's concerts, they take place TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT at 9:30 PM with 19+ age limits and no cover charges. See above for more details, and here's Generations live!


Next up, let's move to shows that had advance notice, starting with the arguable main event of this weekend, as local punk quartet The Inner City Surfers will reunite for a special concert at Soo Blaster TOMORROW NIGHT! The impetus for this, their first gig in four years, is that drummer Mikey Hawdon and his fiancee Ali Rainone are getting married, with tomorrow's well-hyped concert serving as a public stag & doe of sorts, with the public welcomed to buy tickets to come see what could be the last Surfers gig for a while (Brad living out of town being a key reason why). A reunion this big deserves a big stage like Soo Blaster, and hopefully The Surfers deliver another knockout blow of their classic punk originals tomorrow at 12:00 AM! All three opening bands will feature Mikey on guitar, including co-headlining Toronto-based AC/DC tribute band AMY/DC in their local debut. Great to see Mikey bring them to town at last, hopefully it won't be the only time!

Preceding AMY/DC's female-fronted high voltage rock n' roll, online page-less local alternative/hard rock cover quintet Bookclub (featuring the three local Surfers in mostly shuffled roles) will take the stage at 9:45 PM, and more on their LopLops show next month soon. The openers tomorrow are the one-off reunion of Mikey & AMY/DC singer Amy Zuccheto's early-mid 2010s Toronto-based Ramones/Joan Jett tribute band The Merves, in their first local gig in over eight years. Also featuring Mikey's old Fairmounts bandmates, it will be very neat to see The Merves' two-pronged cover attack back on a local stage, so be there at 9:00 PM for their show-opening set! This 19+ event has a $30 cover charge at the door unless you bought $25 advance tickets at The Rad Zone, Case's Music, Long & McQuade, Soo Blaster, or through Mikey directly (in-person or via e-transfer.)

If you've been a fan of The Inner City Surfers from their 2000s heyday onward, let alone Mikey's eclectic musical career in the Soo and the GTA, this will be a huge concert, and who knows when we'll see most of these bands on a local stage again, so don't miss out on all of the action tomorrow at Soo Blaster! Visit the above links for more details, congratulations to Mikey & Ali on their upcoming nuptials, and for a preview, here's The Inner City Surfers live at their last show to date in 2019!

We'll close this preview post by heading north to The Water Tower Pub, where newer local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9 will take the stage for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! Last seen at The Water Tower Pub two months ago, this should be a fine opportunity to hear their strongly performed and fan friendly brand of covers, so don't miss Jess, Ryan, Paul, and Steve at this central venue tomorrow! Remember that The Water Tower Pub traditionally hosts different acts on Fridays and Saturdays, with the acoustic show from Bone Yard there on Saturday night to be previewed on the SMS tomorrow. Silent 9 take the stage there tomorrow at 8:00 PM with a 19+ age limit and no cover charge. For a preview, here's a brand new video from their Halloween party at The Esquire Club on Saturday night, courtesy of their Facebook page, where they covered Michael Jackson's "Thriller"!

The (mercifully horizontal) video features a well done rocked-up cover that makes good use of Jess Amadio's voice, but it is a shame that the video is only 45 seconds long. The description notes that the band was supposed to be dressed like The Addams Family, and while Jess is clearly Wednesday Addams, the rest of the band's characters are more ambiguous, if not with the theme at all. Good close angle too (if sharp), so check out Silent 9 on Saturday below, and don't miss them out of costume tomorrow!

That's all for now on this busy weekend, but we'll resume our hard rock concert previews next by looking at this weekend's Scarkazm and Bone Yard shows, plus the finals of The Soo's Got Talent! Thanks everyone!

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