Friday, June 28, 2024

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Poutine Feast!!)

Live music will return to this year's fourth annual Poutine Feast this weekend, including hard rock-leaning bands TOMORROW & SUNDAY! Apologies for the short notice all around, lineup information from some bands trickled out on their own on social media in recent weeks but I was waiting for the full lineup reveal, which only arrived on social media on Tuesday (the full lineup can also be seen via the city of Sault Ste. Marie's website). This year, Poutine Feast relocates from the Ermatinger Clergue National Historic Site to the brand new Downtown Plaza at 526 Bay Street (behind Tim Hortons and beside Soo Market at the corner of Queen & Brock), marking our first ever concerts covered there. The plaza alone was a touchy subject for many, but it does look nice and hopefully it's getting continued and increased usage for special events like this. The Poutine Feast would definitely make use of the space!

While there will be four days of visiting food trucks serving up poutine & other edible wares alongside family activities and whatnot (see above for more on the non-musical aspects), there will be live music for the first three days, omitting Monday, possibly to avoid conflicting with the live music at the Roberta Bondar Pavilion for their Canada Day program? Tonight's limited program only includes pop rock cover quartet Lime and folk singer/guitarist Matthew James, but on the weekend proper, five acts take the stage nightly. TOMORROW NIGHT, two SMS-amenable bands close the program, namely alt-hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich (jokingly renaming themselves "Attractive Poutine" for the occasion) at 5:45 PM, preceded by guitarist Jesse Cook's funk/hard rock cover sextet The Wyld Stallyns at 4:30 PM, in their third straight year at the Poutine Feast (and first with this lineup) after headlining night #1 last year. 

Handsome Sandwich will be fresh off of their Sudbury gig tonight during the NOMFA ceremony weekend, so they should have momentum on their side, and kudos to Jesse for pulling double duty! While ending heavier, the earlier acts include folk/country solo musician Brian Tremblay (also back from last year) at 3:15 PM, Wawa house DJ Shrugby (who dropped out of The Bear Hunters' private reunion concert in Leeburn last July) at 2:15 PM, and rising young folk duo Distich opening at 12:00 PM. Attendance is FREE (what you buy at food trucks aside) & absolutely open to all ages, and the Feast proper is open from 11:00 AM-9:00 PM nightly from Friday-Sunday (they close up shop at 6:00 PM Monday). As this is outdoors, be advised that The Weather Channel is calling for showers in the afternoon, but not for most of the day, and with temperatures from 16-20°.

If you are at all concerned about any potential rain TOMORROW that could affect the Poutine Feast and/or the live music program, check your preferred local weather source and event organizers closer to showtime for any updates on the weather & festival proper. See above for more on TOMORROW'S music program, and here's Handsome Sandwich live!



Finally, the SUNDAY program will feature alternative/punk cover sextet BookcluB smack dab in the middle at 3:15 PM! No stranger to outdoor festivals and community events, this will be their first concert since last week's teddy bear picnic at Thomson Farms, which went off successfully despite threats of rain. Hopefully Mikey and crew deliver a strong set of scarcely seen covers for attendees on SUNDAY afternoon! Way Backs frontman Jeffrey Wright will headline with a country set at 6:30 PM, preceded by Handsome Sandwich's new sister band, folk/bluegrass quartet The Golden Scoundrels at 5:30 PM. Preceding BookcluB, local folk/standards duo Just The Two Of Us (seen here at Tazzi's for Oktoberfest) take the stage at 2:25 PM, while the aforementioned Jeffrey Wright will bookend Poutine Feast day #3 with a duo set alongside Meggy Lee to lead off at 12:00 PM.

Once again, the SUNDAY program is FREE & ALL AGES (not counting what is bought from food trucks) with an 11:00 AM-9:00 PM runtime for the festival proper. 9&10 News is currently forecasting a partly cloudy day with a high temperature of 16°, so a little cooler but no chance of rain at the moment. Visit the above links for much more on Poutine Feast IV in the Soo, and for a preview, here's BookcluB live!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this weekend! Thanks everyone!

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