Tuesday, November 26, 2024

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Oz & The Nameless), Plus More From Sault Michigan & The E.U.P.!!

Today's SMS post takes us entirely to Michigan to look at recent news & notes from across the river, including LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (one on SHORT NOTICE), a concert preview sooner than Canadian readers may expect, and some new live videos. Here's what you should know!

Local hard rock quintet The Nameless will return to The Merchants Bar TOMORROW NIGHT for a pre-Thanksgiving party! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced via its Facebook event page this past Thursday. Yes, a rare Wednesday nighter, but it's because Thursday is Thanksgiving in the United States, so everyone will be off for the holiday, and you do hear about the occasional pre-holiday concert to take advantage of it. Another previously announced show TOMORROW is being previewed later in this post! The Nameless were last seen at Bird's Eye Outfitters' Halloween concert last month, while this will be their first gig at The Merch since July. Hopefully The Nameless keep West Spruce Street hopping TOMORROW before everyone settles in for family, food, and football on Thursday proper! TOMORROW'S 21+ concert is at 9:00 PM with no cover. See above for more details, and here's The Nameless live!

Next up, we have a pair of new shows with advance notice to look at before going back to pre-Thanksgiving previews, as Iron Mountain classic/hard rock cover quintet Oz will return to The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino on Friday, December 6th & Saturday, December 7th! Yoopers may recall seeing Oz make their Soo Kewadin debuts back in March, and while it's been a long nine month wait for them to make the pilgrimage this far east again, hopefully their proficient, backing track-free slate of classic and hard rock covers find a strong audience both nights next weekend! As usual for bands playing at Kewadin Casinos' regional lounges, expect next weekend's concerts to have 9:00 PM start times, 21+ age limits, and no cover charges. Oz deliver the goods for 1970s-1980s rock fans, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details on their shows here next month, and we'll preview these next week!

Now to that other pre-Thanksgiving concert preview, as local hard rock quartet Unfortunate Sun will make their debut at The Islander Bar in nearby Hessel TOMORROW NIGHT! Announced well in advance via this concert calendar last month, Unfortunate Sun are new to this nightclub, but of course, their predecessors Fake Chow played at The Islander Bar multiple times, most recently in October of last year. Like with The Nameless in the Soo, the guys are taking advantage of TOMORROW not being a work/school night in Michigan, with Unfortunate Sun calling this a "Drinksgiving Bash". Whatever you do, have fun responsibly at The Islander while rocking out with Unfortunate Sun's melodic and hard rocking slate of covers! Skip, Jody, Tony, and Jason take the stage TOMORROW at 9:00 PM with a 21+ age limit and no cover charge. See above for more details, and for a preview, here's Unfortunate Sun live earlier this summer!

Finally for this all-E.U.P. post, we'll close with new live videos of local hard rock band Exit 808's debut at the Back Bay Grill & Games at Bay Mills Resort & Casino in Brimley this past Saturday night! Three videos from the gig were posted to the band's Facebook page earlier this week, and they feature Exit 808 (plus guest guitarist Bob Libick) covering The Kinks' "You Really Got Me" and Evanescence's "Bring Me To Life", both with Amy Beach on lead vocals with Dillion Semasky backing her up. Notably, Dillion's daughter was in attendance at Bay Mills, marking the first time that she's seen her dad in concert, and she actually joined the band on stage during the Evanescence cover, which had to be a fun moment for the Semasky family! Speaking of which, Amy's son Blaze Beairl was back as a guest(?) bassist, as best seen in the Kinks and Evanescence videos (no word on if regular bassist Myke Young was there or not). 

Embedded below is a new addition to Exit 808's setlist, namely Stone Sour's "Absolute Zero", which has Dillion on lead vocals with Amy backing. Regrettably, all three videos were uploaded sideways despite being shot horizontally, and I have no idea why they didn't flip the videos 90° before posting them. Solid work all around, and the talented lineup gave these covers a good energy, with well balanced vocals given the two singer setup, though the lighting in the Back Bay Grill is very red. Check out Exit 808's new videos above & below, but try to tilt your device or head first!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and feature posts on the site soon! Thanks everyone!

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