LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Project 906!!)

Sault Michigan blues/hard rock quartet Project 906 have announced their summer concert slate via their Facebook page, which is the sole topic today! No word on where they've been since their last date in February, but they have multiple dates around the E.U.P. scheduled in July and August, while also announcing solo dates from frontman Billy Bernier in Mackinac Island (which is outside of our coverage range) and at The Islander Bar in Hessel tomorrow night. I'm not sure if Billy's solo show is basically Project 906 unplugged or if he explores less hard rock in his sets, so I won't cover that show on here just in case, but keep it in mind if you're in Hessel! If you want to see the full splendour with Joe, Dustin, and Jason too, they have two private bookings next month, but their first public date in five months will see them rock the aforementioned Islander Bar on Friday, July 5th with a return planned for Saturday, August 10th!

The former show is a normal affair, but the latter will be a special matinee set during the Les Cheneaux Islands Antique Wooden Boat Show, an event that 906 did play last year as well, albeit at a normal nighttime timeslot then. It's too soon yet to know what possible changes could be in store on August 10th, but last year, The Islander Bar had four nights of live music from different nightly acts the week of the boat show. Stay tuned for any updates! On Saturday, July 13th, Project 906 will return to The Well Diggers Watering Hole & Feed Lot in nearby Kinross for an outdoor concert, and their first show at this venue since last summer. Should be a good time in a relatively unique setting, so keep their Well Diggers return in mind also! Then on Friday, July 26th, the guys will return to the Soo for a concert at The Merchant's Bar alongside "special guests" The City Lines, so who are they?

As best as I can tell, 906 are actually opening for The City Lines, a power pop trio from Ann Arbor whose frontman is Sault Ste. Marie native and Sault Tribe member Patrick Deneau. Not the heaviest band going, but fans of indie rock and midwest emo (let alone more recent material by The Northwest) will take to The City Lines, and it's cool to see Patrick play a show at home like this, let alone the rare sight of Project 906 opening for a touring band! Moving ahead to August for another festival set, Project 906 will make their debut at Pickford Hay Days on Friday, August 2nd, and while they didn't specify the locale beyond saying that it'd be outdoors, the festival's Facebook event page confirms that they're playing at Pickford Township Park (no word on extra bands). Click here for full non-musical details on Hay Days, but food trucks will be nearby for festival and/or concert attendees, and you are encouraged to bring lawn chairs.

The last of the newly announced Project 906 shows will see them play in Cedarville on Saturday, August 3rd for this year's tenth annual Government Bay Barge Bash, which I am pretty sure is returning to its literal location on a floating barge in Government Bay in front of Bumpas at 74 East Hodeck Street. Promotion for this year's Barge Bash has not begun that I've seen, but this event has featured multiple bands in recent years, and how unique is it to see bands playing literally on the water? Note that one of the bands that played last year's Barge Bash (which didn't have known-to-me hard rock bands at the time) was Dirty Musky, a new band featuring 415E alumni Dave Menard and Brett Blackwood alongside Brett's dad Fran (of Clownsack fame). Despite that lineup, Dirty Musky have given no indication of their set/sound on social media, so I won't rush them into our coverage, but keep them in mind!

Most of these shows have 8:00 PM start times, but the Pickford show is at 7:00 PM, the Cedarville show is to be announced (remember, multiple bands play that), and the Hessel boat show gig in August is a 4:00 PM matinee. The Islander Bar, Well Diggers, and Merch shows are all 21+ while the rest are all ages, and while none have a stated cover charge, do inquire within as far as the annual festivals go. It's great to see Project 906 back (even without Strongs Tavern returns booked, surprisingly), so look for their hard rocking cover slate at multiple E.U.P. venues in the coming months, and stay tuned for more news on the site in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tarnished, Soundcheck, Rhythm & Brews, And Bone Yard!!)

Before we commence a massive weekend concert preview schedule, here's an all-LOCAL CONCERT ALERT post to get some upcoming shows on both sides of the border out of the way before things get hectic around here. With that said, here's what you should know in chronological order!

Local southern hard rock cover trio Bone Yard will return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge for one night only on Friday, July 22nd! This will be Bone Yard's first announced concert following their Rotaryfest-closing set on Stage 1 this Saturday (preview coming in the next day or two), and will be their first Shooters gig in almost three weeks.  This hard working & frequently seen trio should have another solid night of southern fried classic and hard rock covers in store next Friday, so don't miss out on all of the action then! A one-nighter due to or resulting in the show coming up next, Bone Yard's concert on Friday the 22nd has an 8:00 PM start time, no cover charge, and a 19+ age limit, as usual for the Dennis Street nightclub. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Next up, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will also return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge for one night only, that being the very next night, on Saturday, July 23rd! Like Bone Yard, Soundcheck are also returning to Shooters next weekend for the first time since Canada Day weekend, but unlike Bone Yard, they're not playing Rotaryfest this year (they had previously in 2017 and 2019, for the record). No word yet on if they'll be playing somewhere this weekend or not (their own online show advertising is usually on short notice), but good thing Shooters launched a Facebook event page for this show too to get the word out! Terry, Cameron, Paul (or Rob), and Glen will deliver their often hard rocking covers on Saturday the 23rd at 8:00 PM with a 19+ age limit and no cover charge once again. See above for more details, and we'll tell you about this weekend's late notice Shooters gigs in the coming days!

We'll close this post by heading south to Sault Michigan & area, starting with local hard rock quartet Tarnished, who will play a rare heavier concert at The Merchants Bar (or just The Merch) on Friday, July 29th! This was actually added to their Facebook page's schedule post after the fact, which is why we didn't mention it in our all-Tarnished post last week, so good thing they plugged it separately! While The Merch (at 108 West Spruce Street) used to be a relatively common venue for local hard rock shows, I couldn't find much about it hosting heavier events since around 2013, so it's great to see Tarnished there near the end of the month, and hopefully their hard rocking originals & covers find another solid audience! This concert has a 21+ age limit, no cover charge, and an 8:00 PM start time, but that's not all from Tarnished, as one more date has been added to their calendar!

On Saturday, August 6th, both Tarnished and fellow local hard rock quartet Rhythm & Brews will head south to Cedarville to take part in the Government Bay Barge Bash! Hosted by Cedarville nightclub Bumpas at 74 East Hodeck Street, the Barge Bash is an outdoor concert festival held since 2017 in Cedarville (except 2020 for obvious reasons), after originating in nearby Hessel on Liberty Bay at The Islander Bar there. Details on this year's Cedarville Barge Bash are forthcoming, but both Tarnished and Rhythm & Brews confirmed their involvement on their respective Facebook pages, and if past years are anything to go by, the lineup will likely have just those two bands, maybe a third at most. Yes, the festival's name is apt, as bands will be playing on an actual barge floating in Government Bay, so how's that for some unique optics? Yes, the bay will be unsalted and shark free.

From what I can gather, the Barge Bash is an all ages, free event with matinee run-times from 11:00 AM-5:00 PM, though I'm unsure when the band timeslots are. Given the setting, boaters seem to be welcome too. Definitely a unique event for SMS purposes, but the setting and (hopefully) the weather should make this a can't miss event if you're in the area! Visit the above links for continuing details, and stay tuned for a LOT of weekend concert previews starting tomorrow! Thanks everyone!