After a Labour Day off, we're back with a new news post on this Tuesday morning, including coverage of a big recent punk show before and after the fact, but let's lead off with newly found concert videos from Sault Ste. Marie's annual summer festival!
As it turns out, we're not quite done with live concert videos from Rotaryfest in July! These come from the YouTube channel Camera Travel (a.k.a. tours5571), which is devoted to video footage of local tourism and road travel in Sault Ontario and surrounding areas, so you may want to give it a look on that basis. They did attend Rotaryfest across Friday and Saturday, July 14th-15th, and had cameras rolling at Clergue Park for thirteen videos, nine of which coming from the Buskerville performances there, especially of fire breathers. Camera Travel filmed two bands on Stage 1, interestingly on different days, including Winnipeg-based Bon Jovi tribute band Bed Of Roses on the Saturday playing (as embedded below) "Livin' On A Prayer" as well as the very tail end of their set, song unclear. These are short and relatively distant from the stage, but from what we hear of Bed Of Roses, they have the Bon Jovi sound down well!
Worth noting too that Bed Of Roses' set happened at dusk, so things were getting darker as their set wore on, and it is a neat visual compared to most other bands that played this year, especially ones who got filmed for public videos. Check out Bed Of Roses' videos from July 15th above and below!
Next up, Camera Travel's other Rotaryfest Stage 1 videos come from Friday, July 14th, specifically of classic rock quartet RPM's set, where they filmed guitarists Dino Mazzuca & Marcel Rizzo, bassist Rob Gilmar, and drummer Joseph Bertrand covering Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" and, as embedded below, AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long". Good to see RPM tackle a heavier song, and while still distant from the stage, the audio quality isn't bad, and Camera Travel filmed longer videos of RPM than they did of Bed & Roses. Check everything out for yourselves above and below!
Finally, I hope to have videos to cover from the show in an upcoming post, but let's look at some recent SooToday coverage of Friday night's Ripcordz-headlined concert at The Loft! Apologies for being so late to the party on the first of them, but Alex Flood penned this article on August 13th looking at the show ahead, where he erroneously noted that this was The Ripcordz' first local date since 2016 (they played at The Rockstar Bar in 2017 & 2019). The article features interview remarks from frontman Paul Gott about the fancier and relatively unique venue for this local date, his enjoyment of playing dates in the Soo, and his passion for punk rock. Solid article for Ripcordz fans, so give it a look at above! For what it's worth, while he didn't note the post-2016 dates of their shows in the article, Alex said there that The Rockstar Bar is "now closed", which sadly remains accurate for The Algonquin Hotel's upstairs nightclub as of this writing.
The Rockstar Bar has been closed since mid-2022, but as per a comment reply at this link, there were once hopes to re-open in the spring of 2023. I know that the pandemic hit them hard, but hopefully we haven't absolutely heard the last from The Rockstar Bar, which was a quality venue throughout the 2010s! In terms of actual coverage from that night, veteran SooToday journalist Donna Hopper was in attendance on Friday for this article, and it's great seeing her back reviewing a local concert of this kind! The upscale venue upstairs at the Algoma Conservatory of Music was heavily the theme of Donna's review compared to past Ripcordz venues here, including a note that there was less moshing than normal, perhaps in deference to the locale. Things appeared to go over well regardless, though no word on if promoter Matt Waples' $500 raffle if online tickets sold out went through.
Donna did take photos at the show, including five of The Ripcordz, three each of local openers A Dire Setback and Far From Fine, and one of fans, and the quality is as high as you'll recall from her pre-pandemic concert reviews! Worth noting from Far From Fine's pictures that Blair St. John was back behind the drumkit (no word on if he is their permanent drummer now or still just filling in), while an unidentified child (possibly Mike's son?) is seen guesting on vocals on at least one song, 19+ age limit for the show acknowledged. Get more about Friday's festivities at The Loft above, and stay tuned for much more on the site this week! Thanks everyone!
After managing to dodge most of the rain in the weather forecast, Rotaryfest is in the books for 2023, and there is a fair amount out about the Soo's summer festival from its music stages! We'll start with Stage 1 bands at Clergue Park on Saturday night, and while a featured touring band hasn't closed the main stage since 2016, it does make sense on paper to start with Winnipeg-based Bon Jovi tribute band Bed of Roses, who had pictures taken by an uncredited Sault Star photographer that you can see at this link, There are also photos by Ron Jokelainen from First Local News, which is the rebranded and relaunched SaultOnline, whose website was abruptly taken down on June 12th despite posting new articles just two days prior, as well as videos of new local cover band Bourbon Blue on their Facebook page. While site staff were vague on the reason for the change, issues with the prior domain host may have been a factor.
Losing years of site content is not ideal whatsoever, and a little transparency in that regard may have been ideal for SaultOnline readers, but First Local News has improved in the ensuing weeks, and hopefully they can pick things up reasonably well! New name's not especially "local" to the Soo though. As for Ron's Bed of Roses coverage, the photos are not on the same quality as The Sault Star's, but you do get more of a write-up of their set, so click here to see everything of his! The only other Rotaryfest coverage there to touch on the music was this article featuring a photo of The Wyld Stallyns' set on Saturday, coincidentally also the Stage 1 band performing in three photos from Alex Flood's coverage on SooToday (he also got one of Stage 2 performers Distich's set). One more news coverage note, as Renegade/Bed of Roses frontman Darryl Clayton was interviewed by The Sault Star!
In advance of Rotaryfest's kickoff, this article by The Sault Star's Brian Kelly went up on Wednesday where Darryl talked about the differences in paying tribute to both Bon Jovi and Styx, what it was like playing live in front of Bon Jovi bassist Hugh McDonald, and how he first got into covering Styx, among other related topics. Good read for fans, and apologies for being late to the party in addressing it here! As far as videos go, we do have some public footage to check out of the closing bands on Saturday, as the ever-prolific Christopher Paci was back at Rotaryfest to film a few bands this year for his packed YouTube channel, including two clips of Bed of Roses' sister band Renegade in their headline set on Friday. I wouldn't say Styx are a "hard rock" band, but you can check out their faithful renditions of "Come Sail Away" and "Mr. Roboto" by clicking there or above, and they had a good turnout!
As for Bed of Roses, Chris filmed three videos of them tackling the Bon Jovi classics "Wanted Dead Or Alive", "It's My Life", and as embedded below, "Living On A Prayer". Chris was nowhere near the stage (a possible consequence of arriving for just the later sets), but he got a good central vantage point and made optimal use of the zoom function. Bed of Roses delivered a solid sound for Bon Jovi fans, especially compared to how the real thing sounded in concert last year, and the crowd was very receptive and eager to sing along, which you love to see! Check out Chris' videos above & below, and stay tuned for more from him soon!
We'll close today with the one-off headlining reunion of local classic/hard rock cover quintet That's Chester (yes, their recent Facebook rehearsal video is also coming soon), as Chris filmed them covering Judas Priest's "Breaking The Law" and as embedded below, AC/DC's "Let There Be Rock". Of course, this set was fronted by original singer Richard Fullerton rather than Greg Simpson, so mid-2000s That's Chester fans were definitely excited. Everyone performs strongly in both clips, and the Chesters get lots of time to rock out and show off during the AC/DC cover, with guitarist Gabe Tessaro (nice to see pause his retirement for a night) even pulling off some Angus Young moves and a nice extended guitar solo! Whether you prefer Ritch or Greg (or even Jim) is a matter of personal preference, but Ritch had strong enthuasiasm and vocals to match on these covers, so check everything for yourselves out above & below!
That's all for now, but look for more from Rotaryfest and elsewhere on the site this week! Thanks everyone!
The Sault's Summer Festival returns to Clergue Park this weekend, as Rotaryfest is (according to promotional material) "celebrating 100 years" this year! The first Community Day parade was held in 1922, and if you omit the parade-less 2020, this will be the 100th year since, so I think that's how they got to that milestone count. This year's Rotaryfest is even more a return to normalcy than last year (proof: the midway is back), so visit the official website or read the program that came in the mail last week for full non-musical details about this year's community events downtown! We'll start by looking at the covers-focused Stage 1, which returns to its usual outpost beside the Centennial Library, with Valerie Pluss as stage manager and Andrew Stuetz as the M.C. between bands. Band names below are linked to their Facebook event page from Rotaryfest, who made one up for (almost) each set once again.
Musically, things begin TOMORROW NIGHT when local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith returns home for the second straight Rotaryfest when he opens Stage 1 at 6:00 PM! Coinciding with the release of his brand new album "All The Best In All You Do" (more on that when able), expect to hear cuts from that and other recent albums during this full band set, with Mike joined by returning local bandmates Chris Nielsen (A Dire Setback) on guitar and Brandan Glew (ex-The Din) on drums. Now on bass is Sainte-Marie/Bad Chug alum Jacob Quarrell (replacing A Dire Setback's Matt Quinn), who ironically was supposed to be Mike's guitarist for his pandemic-cancelled album release show here in 2020. Should be a big way to kick off Rotaryfest, so don't miss out tomorrow! The other three bands include local Abba tribute band Abba Soo at 9:30 PM, ...
... blues/jazz sextet The Hustle Brothers at 8:00 PM (both in their festival debut), and The Northern Jazz Ensemble at 7:00 PM in their fourteenth Stage 1 set (and fifth straight) since the modern format was established in 2001. As always, Stage 1 entertainment is FREE and ALL AGES, and while 9&10 News is calling for a high temperature of 21° tomorrow with partly cloudy skies, they also have a 20% chance of rain in the forecast (yes, Stage 1 has a roof). There is a little something for everyone tomorrow at Rotaryfest, and Mike's high profile album release set will be quite a kickoff, so visit the above links for more details, and here's Mike live last year!
Six bands take on Stage 1 on FRIDAY NIGHT, with two newer bands that cross our genre radar playing Stage 1 that day, including punk/alternative cover quintet Bookclub at 9:00 PM and classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down at 8:00 PM. The former's unpredictable trumpet-infused covers and Surfers-majority lineup will definitely turn heads, while Double Down's talented & familiar lineup will be right at home on this big stage, so don't miss them on Friday! In a change from past norms, there will be a touring headliner on Friday AND Saturday, with Friday's being Renegade: The Ultimate Tribute To Styx, a Winnipeg-based tribute to the 1970s-80s classic rock/AOR icons, and if you like Styx, their 10:20 PM set will do them justice! The opening three bands on Friday include classic rock cover quartet RPM (in their third Stage 1 appearance) at 7:00 PM, new country/classic rock cover group The Way Backs at 6:00 PM, ...
...and classic rock trio The Sidekicks (debuting at Rotaryfest here after dropping out of Stage 1 last year) opening at 6:00 PM. Once again FREE & ALL AGES, 9&10 News is calling for warmer and cloudier weather with a high of 23° on Friday, but the chance of rain (including thunderstorms) moves up to 50%. Hopefully the weather cooperates for the bands this weekend, including new and familiar faces alike on Friday, so visit the above links for more on that day's bands, and here's Bookclub live!
As usual, the SATURDAY lineup is the longest of all, and the closing band this year will be a one-off reunion of local classic/hard rock cover quartet That's Chester! Making their eleventh Rotaryfest appearance, we haven't seen That's Chester (who oddly didn't get a Facebook event page from Rotaryfest) since playing this festival in 2018. For this year, Gabe, Aubrey, and Ric will be joined by original singer Richard Fullerton rather than Greg Simpson for the whole set, while Dan Belanger will return in place of late guitarist Eugene Orlando once again. The program erroneously says that their last show was their involvement in The Who's Tommy in 2015 despite playing two Rotaryfests since, but it will be neat to see them back again, especially if you were a fan of mid-2000s That's Chester with Ritch on the mic! Their set is at 10:30 PM on Saturday, ahead of the featured touring headliners, as usual for Rotaryfest.
This year's touring Saturday attraction is Winnipeg's Bed Of Roses: The World's Best Bon Jovi Tribute, whose lineup is made up of the members of Renegade from Friday night, hence why two are playing this year. 11 years removed from hybrid Bon Jovi/Journey tribute band Bon Journey's Stage 1 set, Bed Of Roses will bring just Bon Jovi classics (their hair metal era chief among them) back to Rotaryfest on Saturday at 8:30 PM, so don't miss out then! Classic rock veterans Mustang Heart are scheduled for 7:15 PM in their record eighteenth Stage 1 set under the modern format, while hard rock fans can check out new classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations at 6:15 PM in their festival debut, preceded by local funk/hard rock sextet The Wyld Stallyns in their third straight Stage 1 set at 5:15 PM before their Shooters gig that night. The opening bands on Saturday include country musician Brendan Hodgson (also back for a third year) at 4:15 PM, ...
...classic rock veterans Dorian Grey in their Stage 1 debut at 3:15 PM, new local bluegrass.country band Lands & Forest at 2:15 PM, classic rock sextet Ladies Sing The Blues in their second Rotaryfest set (third if you count Lady Sings The Blues) at 1:15 PM, and classic/party rock cover band Encore in their third Stage 1 set to kick things off at 12:00 PM. Expect FREE & ALL AGES entertainment to cap off Rotaryfest with on Saturday, and 9&10 News is calling for similar weather as on Friday, but the chance of rain drops slightly to 40%. If you are at all concerned about the weather forecast, keep tabs on your preferred local forecast in the leadup. It is worth noting that one more touring tribute band is playing at
Rotaryfest this year, namely the Toronto-based Abraxas: The Ultimate Santana Tribute, who will be performing on Friday outside of The Machine Shop (no idea if they'll be at The Rink) as part of this year's
Wheels On The Water car show.
How's that for an extra pull to come down to Mill Square? Click here for more details on that event, and as for Saturday, there's a stacked lineup of local bands plus some Bon Jovi classics to take in, with familiar faces and new bands alike for your delectation, hopefully with no weather-induced complications! It will be weird not seeing Bone Yard, Mid Life Crysis, and the now-defunct Obsession playing this year though, the first in-person Stage 1 that they have all missed since 2018. Visit the above links for much more on Rotaryfest's Stage 1 lineup for 2023, stay tuned for our Stage 2 preview and more next, and here's That's Chester live!
That's all for today, but more weekend concert previews are on the way tomorrow! Thanks everyone!
Single topic post today, as the full lineup for Rotaryfest's music stages was announced via their official website and this SooToday press release earlier today, so what should you know there? This year's festival is considered to be "the 100th year" of Rotaryfest, which evolved from the first Community Day parade in 1922, and while I think you have to omit a year (likely the parade-less 2020) to get to the milestone number, this is still a neat accomplishment! Everything is the status quo from last year music-wise, with the covers-leaning Stage 1 at its usual spot at Clergue Park beside the Centennial Library, while the originals-focused Stage 2 returns for its 16th installment and second post-pandemic year beside the Art Gallery of Algoma. We'll discuss the Stage 2 lineup in an upcoming post, but click here for the details if you want to jump the gun. Sponsored by the Ontario Lottery & Gaming Corporation once again, who can you expect to see on Stage 1 in July?
As usual, there are three days of live music starting on Thursday, July 14th, and the very first act this year will be that night's only hard rock performer, namely local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith! Making his second local appearance of 2023 (following tonight's Face To Face event at The Art Hub on Spring), this will presumably be a repeat of his Stage 1 set last year, featuring Mike and a band of locals doing his original material (including cuts from "All The Best In All You Do"), so be there nice and early to see Mike in full form to kick off this year's music at 6:00 PM! The Thursday headliners at 9:30 PM will be local Abba tribute band Abba Soo in their Rotaryfest debut, while local roots rock band The Hustle Brothers will also hit Stage 1 for the first time at 8:00 PM. Festival regulars The Northern Jazz Ensemble have the 7:00 PM slot in their fifth straight Stage 1 appearance and 14th since the current format was introduced.
As always, the music on Thursday the 14th is FREE & ALL AGES, as will be the case on Friday, July 15th, which has six bands this year, equal to 2022. Two of them are hard rock/punk acts, including online page-less alt-punk cover quintet Bookclub in their festival debut at 9:00 PM and classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down at 8:00 PM. Good to see some newer acts on tap this year, and with lots of familiar faces, so don't miss their sets on the Friday! Befitting a 100th anniversary, organizers are going big with a touring tribute band on Friday and Saturday, the first time that they've ever booked a Friday headliner of this scale since the modern format's launch. The band in question is Renegade: The Ultimate Tribute To Styx, a Winnipeg-based tribute to the classic rock/AOR staples of the 1970s and 1980s. Styx could dip into heavier waters at times, and from what I've heard, Styx fans will be impressed!
Renegade are scheduled at the oddly specific time of 10:20 PM. Thursday's opening three bands are classic rock cover quartet RPM (in their third Stage 1 set) at 7:00 PM, newer local country trio The Way Backs (fronted by local musician Jeffrey Wright) at 6:00 PM, and local classic rock trio The Sidekicks (featuring ex-Griphook bassist Dan Beaupre) at 5:00 PM, one year after dropping out of their planned Stage 1 debut. Good to see them get a second chance! Not a bad lineup for classic rock fans in particular, so see above for more details on all six Friday acts!
As for the Saturday, July 15th lineup, that day is the biggest and longest as ever, and in one of this year's biggest surprises, defunct local classic/hard rock cover quintet That's Chester will close Rotaryfest in a one-off set at 10:30 PM! This will be their eleventh Stage 1 appearance (a number that only four other bands have hit since 2001), and their first since reuniting for the Rotaryfest Rewind theme year in 2018. Assuming Gabe Tessaro's retirement from live music will be paused for one night, it'll be good to see him, Greg, Aubrey, and Ric (and Dan?) back, so don't miss them on the Saturday night! As has been routine since 2015, the featured touring band is the second-to-last band (counting 2023, a Greg Simpson-fronted band has had the closing honours in five of the last six installments), and this year, the honours go to Bed of Roses: The World's Best Bon Jovi Tribute out of Winnipeg!
Rotaryfest is not new to having a Bon Jovi tribute here (the hybrid Bon Jovi/Journey tribute Bon Journey headlined in 2012), but Bed of Roses are solely tackling Bon Jovi... at least on Saturday. Members of this band also perform in Renegade, the Styx tribute on Friday, so why not make use of both guises on a big stage like this on the same weekend! Hair metal fans will surely get a kick out of Bed of Roses on July 16th, especially compared to how Jon Bon Jovi himself sounded on tour last year! Their set is at 8:30 PM, with classic rock veterans Mustang Heart playing their eighteenth Stage 1 set beforehand at 7:15 PM, a record in the post-2000 format of the festival. New local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations will make their festival debut at 6:15 PM (surprisingly, Jus' Chillin never played Stage 1 previously), while local funk/hard rock cover sextet The Wyld Stallyns will play the main stage for a third straight year at 5:15 PM, surely one of many summer gigs from them.
Solid block of classic and hard rock to close the Saturday program via the above bands, so keep them in mind for your schedule planning! In the first half of the day, the 4:15 performer is local country musician Brendan Hodgson (also playing Stage 1 for the third consecutive year), while veteran classic rock band Dorian Grey will play at 3:15 in their own Rotaryfest debut. A mystery band named Land & Forest are scheduled at 2:15 PM, and with the schedule going live without Facebook event pages for each individual band (at least not yet), I truly know nothing about them at press time. We'll let you know when more comes out! Generations frontwoman Valerie Powley's classic rock/R&B side hustle Ladies Sing The Blues will return for a second year at 1:15 PM, and party rock cover quintet Encore will play Stage 1 for the third time as the 12:00 PM openers. Once again, the Saturday lineup is FREE & ALL AGES!
This is a strong lineup of covers-leaning bands, especially for classic rock fans, and while complaints about the lineup are common annually, note that half of the 18 local bands this year are Stage 1 newcomers, and only three of them have played more than thrice previously. Three bands who played the last three years are absent too (Bone Yard, Mid Life Crysis, and the now-defunct Obsession), though of course, Greg from Bone Yard is instead focusing on the That's Chester reunion set this year. Be sure to visit the above links for much more on Stage 1 at the Soo's summer festival in 2023, and stay tuned for the Stage 2 lineup reveal soon! Thanks everyone!
After a post-free holiday, it's back to work on this Tuesday morning at the SMS, so here's what's in store! Today, we've got a new trailer video for an upcoming local release, a new video from a major 2011 hard rock concert, and leading things off, some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the next couple of weeks in the Sault Ontario area, so here's what you need to know!
Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison is returning to Bossy's Pub N' Grub on Saturday for an eighth straight week, but not for his usual 2:00 PM matinee show. Rather, Tym confirmed on this concert's Facebook event page that this weekend's Bossy's gig will be at the usual 10:00 PM start time for his other solo & Caveman concerts, so if you're more used to going out on Saturday nights than Saturday afternoons, this should work out better for you! I don't know whether this is the new time for his Bossy's arrangement or just a one week change, but I have heard about some low attendances from some recent Bossy's matinee shows that Tym played, so if this is permanent, it should be better on paper for attendance. As stated above, Tym will be on at 10:00 PM on Saturday, there shouldn't be a cover charge, and given the timeslot, I'd assume this is a 19+ event. For more details, check the above links! It'll definitely be more familiar to see Tym rocking the stage at night with his acoustic hard rock covers, and hopefully a good crowd turns out on Saturday to take in the music! Stay tuned later in the week for more on this concert!
Also in new concerts, The Canadian Nightclub are bringing another hard rock tribute band to Sault Ontario next month, and if you like Guns N' Roses, you should like this! Toronto-based GNR tribute band Dust N' Bones (no relation to the Sault Michigan band featuring End of Existence & NoXcape alumni) are scheduled to roll through The Canadian for a full weekend of classic Guns N' Roses hits on March 2nd & 3rd! I don't know much on this band specifically as I honestly can't find an online page beyond a YouTube channel for them (though there are many similarly named GNR tributes elsewhere.) They appear to be relatively new, but the videos I've seen are very promising with a good Guns N' Roses sound & look, and I believe they share a drummer with popular Motley Crue tribute band Crued, so I have faith they'll rock the house next weekend! Both the Friday & Saturday shows next weekend have 10:00 PM start times and 19+ age limits, and I'd expect a cover charge of around $5 both nights. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! From what I can detect, Dust N' Bones should satisfy local Guns N' Roses cravings next month, and even if you're a loyalist for Gunz N' FN' Rosez, I say give DNB a shot and check them out on YouTube in advance of what should be a solid weekend of music! Stay tuned for any possible updates if they come in!
We'll close this post with some new Sault Michigan-related videos, starting with a brand new video from Joan Jett & The Blackhearts' headlining concert at The Dreammaker's Theater at Kewadin Casino from last October! YouTube user Shannon Grehan uploaded this video onto her YouTube channel on Sunday, and though it's one of four Joan Jett videos on her channel, it's the only one from the local concert. It's of the then-brand new original song "T.M.I." (or "Too Much Info"), and though we've seen video of this exact performance already (and in full), it's nice to get another angle! Shannon was to Joan's right and fairly close to the stage, which helps the view, but the audio's fairly scratchy, and she didn't capture the full song. Still, this is a solid video, and kudos to Shannon for finally posting it online, so check out Joan Jett rocking her song "T.M.I." at Kewadin Casino last year below!
And finally for today, here's the third trailer/teaser video for Sault Michigan/Grand Rapids metal quintet End of Existence's planned debut album! Posted to the band's YouTube channel yesterday, it's the longest of the three trailers so far (extending past 2 minutes), but it's initially similar to the second video with it's effects-layered band member photo, only this time of singer Bob Helsten, followed by the band's globe logo with information scrolling across it. Nothing new is revealed here (like a track listing, specific release details, price, or so forth), but it gives some nice previews of two songs from the album, and definitely check it out in advance of the album's scheduled release next Wednesday below!
That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news very soon, along with our Candle Hour YouTube Channel Profile TOMORROW and much more to come! Thanks everyone!
