The ninth (and final?) Northern Vibe Festival goes down this weekend, and as has been the case annually post-pandemic, the full band schedule was not made available before the week of the festivities, so here are some SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS re: this year's Forest Stage lineups! Apologies for the short notice, I wish organizers would publicize the schedule much earlier than they do, even if the idea is for attendees to come and camp out for the whole weekend. As of this writing, the band-centric Forest Stage lineup has not been posted publically, but kudos to Mike Haggith for sending me a tentative schedule that he had received in conversations with organizers, so we know who is playing and when! If there are late variances, I'll edit this post to address them if they come up prior. Of course, Northern Vibe returns to the former Hempfest site on Poplardale Road in Ophir (just outside of Bruce Mines) this weekend.
Along with the camping in the forest just outside of town, attendees can expect vendors, food trucks, outdoor activities, and loads of DJs on the Roost River Stage on site. There will even be (paid) wifi this year! Be sure to visit the official website and the Northern Vibe Facebook page for complete non-musical details, and a complete schedule for the River Stage is on the latter if you want party with the EDM musicians playing there. Like in the past three years, Spades GT frontman and former local concert promoter J.D. Pearce will come back home to curate this year's Forest Stage, and bands will again play TOMORROW NIGHT & SATURDAY, with Sunday being a camping/closedown day with no live bands. The band lineup begins TOMORROW NIGHT, and will be headlined at 10:00 PM by new local folk/bluegrass quartet The Golden Scoundrels. They also closed Rotaryfest Stage 2 last month, so they're getting huge endorsements already!
The rest of TOMORROW's lineup is hard rock/punk-themed, including local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith and his backing Big Finish Band co-headlining at 9:00 PM in their return to Ophir. Mike & crew are fresh off of a successful Rotaryfest set last month themselves, and Mike's got a much better knee than he played through at Northern Vibe last year! Alt-punk trio A Dire Setback will play Northern Vibe for their fourth straight year when they hit the stage at 8:00 PM, while Cornwall hard rock trio Don't Tell Sarah will open TOMORROW'S proceedings at 7:00 PM in their local debut. Don't Tell Sarah should leave a big impression with their up-tempo and hard hitting originals, so don't miss them! Admission details for the weekend will be at post's end, but we are looking at cloudy 18-21° weather in Ophir according to 9&10 News, with a slight chance of rain early in the band program.
Hopefully the weather holds off TOMORROW, especially as there's more of a chance of rain on SATURDAY, but Northern Vibe goes on rain or shine (the Forest Stage has a roof), so bring any protective gear you need in the event that the sky starts crying! Visit the above links for more on TOMORROW'S band lineup, and for a preview, here's Mike Haggith and his band's complete multi-camera set in Ophir last year!
As for SATURDAY's Forest Stage band lineup, the longer six band program will be headlined by Montreal ska punk band K-Man & The 45s in their ninth local concert since 2013 and their second straight year as the closing band outright, and they are slotted for 9:45 PM. Fans of horn-infused ska punk and Ramones covers should be well used to K-Man and crew from their Soo dates, and hopefully their Ophir encore is well received on SATURDAY! Alt-hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich (featuring Golden Scoundrels bandmates Brandon Ruch & Johnny Belanger) will play Northern Vibe for a fourth straight year at 8:00 PM, while Sudbury psychedelic hard rock trio The Dirty Mystics slot in at 7:00 PM for their first ever concert appearance (somehow we got a truly non-local band's live debut!). Local funk/hard rock cover quintet The Wyld Stallyns (the Friday headliners last year) are blocked at 6:00 PM on SATURDAY in what would be their fourth year too.
Now, The Stallyns have not been up to much publically this summer, with singer/guitarist Rob Speers picking up the slack with unplugged solo gigs. The band and/or Rob (who doesn't have a public social media page devoted to his solo project) have not publically acknowledged Northern Vibe on social media in recent weeks, so I don't know what format their scheduled set will take, but we'll let you know if we hear anything! Local folk/country solo artist Brian Tremblay (a late addition like The Dirty Mystics) will play Northern Vibe for the first/only time at 5:00 PM, and the day's program begins at 4:00 PM with a set by local rap collective Fvksxvad. They'll be a good bridge for fans coming over from the River Stage, so don't miss these familiar MCs! Weather-wise, the current forecast has 20-24° temperatures, and while there are currently showers projected for the first couple of bands, clouds are expected to go away as night draws near.
With this being the official lineup, we can confirm that Cornwall speed metal band Hellrager, Spades GT bassist James Roy Daley, and North Bay electronic rock band Medussah have all dropped out of the festival. Reasons for the three touring acts' withdrawals were not announced, but none have been credited in Facebook promotional materials since July 4th, and none have gotten the individual images there to plug their sets. Hopefully all is well with the three groups, especially after Hellrager and James' past local appearances! Also, note that local magician Ryan McFarling (who had a formal Forest Stage set last year) will be back in Ophir as an on-site special guest, but does not have a scheduled set on either stage, so keep an eye out for him! Online ticket sales for Northern Vibe have closed, but if you haven't already bought passes, they are on sale at the gate. Admission on site cost around $150 (full weekend) & $85 (Saturday only) last year.
Note that organizers haven't clearly specified if that price held steady for 2024 or not. Click here for all of the ground rules and directions you could ask for! While not hinted at in recent social media postings, organizers said on Facebook last month that this "will (likely) be the last" festival due to concerns about not being able to make Northern Vibe better each year, and thusly being "time to take a break and re-evaluate". Whether this is the last installment or not, come out to Poplardale Road TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT to enjoy all of the action! Visit the above links for full public details, and for a preview of SATURDAY's bill, here's K-Man & The 45s live!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for our previews of this weekend's two ARCH benefit motorcycle rallies and Wax Mannequin's return next as we wrap up these previews! Thanks everyone!
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