Proof positive that our news backlog (combined with new stuff) was large: it took almost two weeks for our third Rotaryfest fallout post for 2026! When we last left off with the Sault's summer festival at Clergue Park almost two weeks ago, we had the last four bands on Stage 1 on the Saturday to look for videos of, plus all of the Saturday bands on Stage 2. I couldn't find official or public videos from Just J&M or BookcluB's sets, so we next flash forward to this year's featured Saturday touring headliners, namely London-based Led Zeppelin tribute band Zed, who I found a video of from local professional photography company Soo Lens' Facebook page. Note that the pinned photos at the top of their feed are from last year's Rotaryfest, but I do have to add some videos from here to our backlog. Now, while some of Soo Lens' past concert videos have actual video footage, this is primarily a highlight reel of photos.
The audio is a clip from "Million Cash" by rappers Connor Price & Armani White, albeit slightly pitched up, which may explain why Facebook didn't content match it. Soo Lens' owner's musical preferences aside, this is a peculiar song choice for a Led Zeppelin video, but you get some really nice photos of singer Shaun Sanders here (albeit not the rest of the band), plus the unique angle of seeing video of their arm holding the camera taking photos mid-set. I wonder if they actually filmed anything substantial with the separate video camera? We'll have more from Soo Lens hopefully soon, but give their compilation of Zed/Shaun photos a look below!
Next up, barring some really belated or well hidden public videos, our Stage 1 videos conclude with Seldom Seen SSM's last video from the festival, which was of closing Saturday band The Sidekicks! As I noted when I rolled them into our full coverage, The Sidekicks are historically cagey when it comes to hinting at what they play in concert (be it live media or hints at their setlist range), but Seldom Seen SSM's administrator had a front row spot on the lawn for their cover of The Tragically Hip's "Little Bones", which singer/drummer Tracey Hilderley noted was "a tribute to a tribute". This is presumably a reference to local Hip tribute band The Luxury, who dropped out of their planned closing set on Rotaryfest Saturday for publically unannounced reasons (hence why The Sidekicks were promoted from the Friday evening lineup). Even without a rhythm guitarist, Tracey, Steve, and Dan had a good handle on this song, and Tracey's vocal range adjusted well!
The big issue with this video is that it's tiny, as Seldom Seen SSM did the thing where a horizontal video is uploaded in vertical dimensions with severe letterboxing, which also affected their video of The Jay Scali Band covering Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" during the Friday Night Blues program on Stage 2. Apologies for missing that two weeks ago, but it's an interesting take that really accentuates the blues part of its name! Just a shame about the rain here, the skies weren't Rotaryfest's friend this year in multiple ways. Give Seldom Seen SSM's Sidekicks video a look below, and click here for photos of the above two bands, Zed, and Mellowship Slinky last month!
We now enter the home stretch of our Rotaryfest 2026 fallout, namely the Second Stage beside the Art Gallery of Algoma! The Reeves and Brendan Hodgson didn't post any public videos from their sets on social media that I know of, but I did find one video of Brendan and his band live, even if they weren't the focus. While their 3:30 PM set was ongoing, Eden Plague drummer Johnny Belanger starred in this vertical update video for the former Bear Hunters' Facebook page, where he noted the uncertainty over if anyone would even be playing that day due to the lingering air quality concerns, but confirmed that they would still be on at 6:30 PM as scheduled, while also showing off the crowd levels at this point in the day. Between Johnny talking and my limited country music knowledge, I couldn't make out what Brendan and the gang were playing, but give this unique teaser a watch below!
While curiously not credited as being filmed at Rotaryfest, local folk singer/guitarist M.D. Dunn did post a video from his set onto his Facebook page, which sees him playing his mid-1990s original "Got War (If You Want It)", which he no doubt dusted off given the political climate. Good energy and strong yet melodic vocals that fans of Mark's will enjoy, so don't bypass this one! We'll close this Rotaryfest fallout post with a video shared to new local blues/hard rock trio Stones & Crows' Facebook page, which captures their jam of the end of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird", which was the outro to their cover of The Steve Miller Band's "The Joker". While this was a combined 9+ minute song, I had to leave during the "Freebird" jam due to juggling seeing a half hour each of all bands on both stages, so does this video show the ending that I missed? Nope, but Spencer & Nicholas are rocking out for all its worth, and you love to see it!
Personally, I'd have filmed more of this jam, even if you still clipped out "The Joker", but a selling point of the 2:28-long video may be the vantage point, as Stones & Crows' camera was mounted on the stage behind an amp, pointed at the audience (and Spencer's back). While you can't see Anthony at all, this angle really shows off the waterfront views that Stage 2 bands in the "Redirected" era have, and luckily, the Saturday bands could enjoy it without severe forest fire smoke or rain getting in the way! Check out Stones & Crows' video from Stage 2 below, and stay tuned for our preview of their late notice (to me) concert on Saturday!
Barring belated or undiscovered public videos from Stage 1 or early Stage 2, we just have three bands left to address from Rotaryfest 2026 on the Second Stage, so look for all of that hopefully before the month is up, and stay tuned for much more news and notes on the SMS this week! Thanks everyone!
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