LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Cory Marks, Rust, Half Past, And The Nameless!!)

Today's post is 100% devoted to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, one on SHORT NOTICE, and we're going into the fall for some of these dates, so here's what you should know in chronological order!

Sault Michigan hard rock quartet The Nameless will return to The Merchants Bar for one night only TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the band did announce the show on Tuesday, May 28th via its Facebook event page, but it completely slipped me by last week when I could have covered it in a timelier fashion. Last seen live with shows in Cedarville and at The Merch in February (unless they had an unadvertised gig in the interim), TONIGHT's show should prove to be a solid night of hard rocking covers from this talented (if not regularly seen) local band, so keep it in mind if you want some heavier tunes in the E.U.P. this weekend! Everything goes down at 108 West Spruce Street TONIGHT at 9:00 PM, there is no announced cover charge, and you must be 21 or older to attend. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, click here to watch their (unembeddable) full debut concert stream!

Next up, here's some more new concerts taking place later this year (all in Sault Ontario), starting with reunited local hard rock quartet Half Past's return to the stage, when they make their Reggie's Place debuts on Friday, July 5th & Saturday, July 6th! If you'd told me that Fingerbone/Half Past (during their original 2008-2011 run) had booked gigs at the then-country only Reggie's, I'd have been very surprised, but a lot has changed in the decade+ since! The shows next month will be Half Past's second and third since their 2021 reunion, finally returning at Shooters in February for a one-nighter that also saw the debut of Skeyes Of Seven/Cherry Crush alum Johnny Amendola behind the drumkit. After a five month wait, hopefully this talented veteran hard rock group delivers a strong selection of tunes to fans at Reggie's next month! These are 19+ events with no cover charge and 9:30 PM start times. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Now to the fall for a pair of big show announcements, starting with North Bay country/hard rock musician Cory Marks' return to Sault Ste. Marie on Friday, September 6th when he headlines at The Machine Shop once again! Cory made his local debut at the same venue this past July, with his show in September coming exactly 60 weeks later. With a planned full length album in the works and continued momentum on both country and rock radio from hit songs like "Outlaws & Outsiders" and some high profile guest appearances by and tour dates opening for hard rock and metal stars, Cory should draw another solid crowd of cross-genre fans this fall, so don't bypass this show in three months! A local opener is to be announced, but for reference, the then-debuting Silent 9 did the honours in July (they are booked at The Esquire Club that night, so it likely wouldn't be them again.)

Tickets for this all ages & 8:00 PM concert run for $35 (identical to last year) at this link and likely at the door. With country/hard rock crossover musicians like Jelly Roll and Hardy picking up a lot of attention in recent years, Cory's coming along at the right time, and it is very neat to see a Northern Ontario musician getting such mainstream attention, so hopefully his Soo encore this fall is another success! Read the SooToday press release for more information on Cory's show this fall!

Finally for this post, we'll head to Soo Blaster on Saturday, November 2nd, when Sudbury's Rust: A Tribute To Rush will make their local concert debut! If you recall the Rush tribute band that played at Reggie's in July 2022, that was Crush: The Ultimate Rush Experience out of Toronto, so if you made it to that show, you can compare and contrast tributes to the Toronto progressive hard rock legends. In the case of Rust, this band features Alex & Erik Kuthy on vocals and drums, who you may recall from the Def Leppard tribute band Just Leppard, who played here multiple times from 2019-2022. Rust debuted in 2022, and while they don't have a ton of official public videos, this fan-shot video from two weeks ago points to a faithful sounding and looking tribute that Rush fans should enjoy, and while there's a bit of a sonic leap from Def Leppard, I do greatly prefer Rush, so I appreciate that side of things!

This 19+ concert has an advertised 8:30 PM start time, and tickets run for $25 (this is lower than when we last saw Just Leppard here, but their last two attempted local dates had two touring bands). You can buy tickets online at this link and presumably at the door. Rush fans should definitely circle this date on their calendar, and while pricier than the Crush show in 2022, the bigger venue and Saturday night scheduling should help Rust's case, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details on the action this fall, and stay tuned for lots more news and notes on the site next week! Thanks everyone!