LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Go North Music Festival) & The Silent 9 Concert Previews!!

As promised, we're rounding out this weekend's concert previews today, but most of this post is devoted to a huge LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for this summer, so here's what you should know!

The lineup for the sixth annual Go North Music Festival in Richards Landing on St. Joseph Island has been announced, and they've got their biggest touring headliners yet, as Nova Scotia hard rock quintet The Trews will make their long awaited return to the Algoma District on Saturday, July 27th! Last seen in our coverage range when they opened for Marianas Trench at GFL Memorial Gardens in November 2022, this will be The Trews' first local headlining concert in fifteen years, and first that isn't acoustic since 2008. This Juno Award nominated band will remain familiar to Canadian rock fans from hits like "Yearning", "Paranoid Freak", and "So She's Leaving", and as a fan of multiple Trews singles, it's great to see them back in the area this summer! Co-headlining the festival this year is Orillia garage/pop rock band Bleeker, who long-time readers may recognize under their old name Bleeker Ridge!

If you saw the Airbourne concert at The Canadian Nightclub in August 2013, you'll have already seen Bleeker Ridge, who played a more hard rock-centric sound then, but have moved to more accessible and varied styles since dropping "Ridge" from their name in the mid-2010s. Still cool to see Bleeker (Ridge) back after over a decade away from our region! Two more touring acts will make their way to St. Joseph Island in July, including Welland progressive/indie rock project Daniel Romano's Outfit (led by the Juno nominated musician & visual artist) and Hamilton folk/blues solo musician Terra Lightfoot, so definitely give both a listen to see what they bring to the table! Three local bands will play this year, including local alternative/hard rock band Handsome Sandwich and indie rock quartet The Hollow Heads in their festival debuts, so definitely don't miss these Lopstock and Rotaryfest alums in four months!

This is the first announced Handsome Sandwich gig since they added guitarist Brandon Ruch to their lineup (who he replaced, if anyone, is still unclear). As well, Central Algoma Secondary School student band CASS FM (not unlike Mustang Sally) are this year's only returning band, last seen at Go North in 2022. All of this goes down at Centennial Grounds at 1511 Richards Street in Richards Landing (the old Cornfest site) on what is actually the final day of the festival this year. A separate concert at the Richards Landing Town Hall from Juno-winning Elphin, Ontario folk musician David Francey takes place on Thursday, July 25th, while local pop rock cover band Lime will play a free concert at Centennial Grounds on Friday the 25th as part of this year's Richards Lsnding Community Night, which is timed with Go North this year. Read the press release for more details on the Thursday and Friday festivities!

As for the Saturday, this is an all ages event with gates opening at 3:30 PM, and $55 early bird tickets go on sale on Tuesday at this link with the promo code TREWSGONORTH. Once those 200 tickets sell, prices jump to $60 for Saturday attendees, though kids 12 and under are free, and teenagers/young adults with valid student ID will get a discount rate. Expect lots of vendors, and camping will also be available on Friday night and Saturday if so inclined, with the fireside jams returning, though no word on if the kids zone stage will be back. Go North VI sounds absolutely stacked this year, so if you're up for the hour's drive to St. Joseph Island, visit the above links for full details on this year's festival!

Finally, let's round out this weekend's hard rock concert previews by looking at newer local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9's return to The Esquire Club TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! Just their fourth and fifth public concerts of 2024, fans will have last seen Jess, Ryan, Paul, and Steve at the same venue at about this time last month. Hopefully their fan friendly and often heavy slate of covers find another strong audience in the west end tonight and tomorrow, and if you can't make it, Silent 9 will be back at The Esquire Club in four weeks! These concerts have 9:30 PM start times, 19+ age limits, and no cover charges. Visit the above links for more details for more details, and for a preview, here's a new video of Silent 9 live at The Esquire Club last month, courtesy of their Facebook page! I'm unsure whether this was filmed on the Friday or Saturday, but the 90 seconds-long video features (as Soundcheck would say) "snippets" from the show.

In order, you'll see Silent 9 covering The Offspring's "Why Don't You Get A Job?", Cee Lo Green's "Fuck You", Alanis Morrisette's "You Oughta Know", Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It", and Robert Palmer's "Bad Case Of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)". Alas, these were all shot vertically, and I'd rather hear full songs, but Silent 9 sound good and lively with a strong audience command on these clips, and the filmer got some nicely varied angles, so check it out for yourselves below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!