Friday Concert Previews, A Concert Cancellation, And Much More!

Good afternoon, metalheads! Lots to get to today, including a quite packed concert schedule for tomorrow night, so let us begin with that! Here are your local concert previews for this weekend! (Stay tuned after for news on a concert cancellation, plus Woods of Ypres and Kiss ticket updates!)

First of all, we'll head across the river, where FINALLY, we have a hard rock/metal concert in Sault Michigan in December! And it comes courtesy of rising young stars Free Refill, who will be among the performers at a talent show at Sault Area High School! Not sure on when during the day this is, but knowing past talent shows and assemblies I experienced, I'd put my money on it being during school hours. This (I think) is Free Refill's first concert as a four piece, as guitarist Tyler Wall left the band a while back. Well, it's great seeing Free Refill back playing shows, even if it is something that might not completely count as a "concert". But hey, I bet there's readers who are Sault Area High students, so keep this in mind, there will be some good music! Talented young band, hopefully they'll put in a good performace tomorrow night! I'd link you guys with a video for a preview, but the band has deleted the clips they had on their MySpace page. Trust me though, they play some good covers!

Next we'll head downtown for two concerts, the first of which is in...Station Mall?! That's right, the center of it all will play host to a metal show of sorts tomorrow evening, when Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison will perform an acoustic solo set outside of Zoo Zoo, which for you non-mall goers, is near Scotiabank and 4 Seasons Collectibles! Very interesting, I've never heard of any act that's remotely hard rock playing at the mall! Admission is obviously free, just go to the mall. Tym will be performing from 6:00-8:00 PM, so if you're in a shopping mood tomorrow, you'll get some live music too! And if you miss that set, no worries, the Tym Morrison solo experience will be back that same night when he returns to The Big Cheese in Heyden, which is just outside of town! Tym will be playing there from 10:00 PM on through the night!

So if you're in the mood for some great acoustic covers of your favourite metal (and some non-metal) songs, you know where to go! For more information, confirm your attendance at this location for the Station Mall show, or click here for the Big Cheese show! No videos to show, but click here to visit Tym's official website and check out clips from his solo album and some old Caveman Morrison shows!

Next, The Rockstar Bar will play host to a unique concert event called "Rock of Ages" tomorrow night, where the music from the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s will take center stage! Playing the 1950s are The Money Shots, and The Suspects will play 1960s and 1970s music, so if you wanna hear covers of classic songs from those eras, they should do the trick! But the reason I'm mentioning this on the SMS is for the 1980s band, Skid Crue, who just happen to be a hair metal cover band! The band features Inner City Surfers frontman Dustin Jones, guitarist Dave Bahun, and bassist Brad "Example" Lacell! Curiously, drummer Mikey Hawdon (also from Lion Ride and Detroit) isn't part of Skid Crue, but from some searching, I learned that Money Shots drummer Francis McCormick will be behind the drumkit for this performance! They don't have a page, but if you love 80s hair metal, this should be right up your alley! Tickets are $5 in advance from The Algonquin Hotel, CD Plus, or The Rad Zone, or they're $7 at the door! It's an 8:00 concert, so make sure you're there early for a good night of music of all types from all eras! Click here to visit the official Facebook event page!

And finally, the metal concert I believe will be getting the most press, partly because it's the grand re-opening of Foggy Notions! That's right, 21 long months after the famous local bar shut it's doors, it's came under new ownership, been renovated (yes, the bathrooms were too), and went through months of hype, anticipation, and false starts, but now it's officially back for real! And headlining it's return are local hard rockers Sense of Truth! This will be their first live appearance since their Kiss Battle of the Bands finals performance, and their first full concert since Halloween at Top Hat Billiards! Joining them: Local punk rockers The Scary Uncles (featuring former SIGHdEFECT frontman Justin Langlois & ex-Fitswitch bassist Andrew McDonald), who always put on a great show! One of my favourite non-metal bands in town! The given start time is 7:00 PM, so make sure you're there early to drink in Foggies' return! Admission is just $5 for what should be a great first chapter in the return of Foggy Notions to the local scene!

Aside from the excitement of the re-opening, this should be a good concert too! Sense of Truth always impress, and should deliver their same brand of catchy hard rock and some solid covers tomorrow night! Check out their Facebook group for more stuff from the band! For a preview, check out this clip of the band covering the Tool song "Stinkfist"!



Sadly, I'll be in Detroit tomorrow, so I'll miss the concerts. If I was in town, I'd definitely go check out Tym Morrison at the mall, then head to the Foggy Notions re-opening (I haven't seen a full Sense of Truth concert in forever!) I wish I could be in town, but I'll get more opportunities to be at Foggies for a show, Boxing Day with Garden of Bedlam seems likely!

Speaking of Boxing Day, we have a cancellation. Due to circumstances beyond their control, Half Past have postponed their planned concert for December 26th at The Rockstar Bar. No word on the specific reason, but it's still disappointing! And yes, the band confirmed it on their Facebook page, so there's my source. Hopefully they'll be back for a show in early 2010! I haven't seen them live since 2008 when they were still called Fingerbone! However, if you still need something to do on Boxing Day, Garden of Bedlam at Foggy Notions is likely on that night too, so you're not completely out of luck for a concert!

And now, Kiss concert cancellation news! You knew this wouldn't be gone for good, did you? The Sault Star has two new articles up concerning it, the first of which is a general article discussing the cancellation and ticket refund info. Nothing new to speak of there. The second is an editorial piece by Frank Rupnik, who gives his take on the postponement. He recommends that the band and The Essar Center keep fans up to date sooner rather than later about when the rescheduled show will take place, and keep us informed to make everything fair. He also expresses that a summer date is better than a winter show because there's more likelihood that it will be a bigger event. Check out the two Sault Star articles by clicking the links in this paragraph! I completely agree with Frank, we have to know these things, and the sooner we find out, the sooner we can make plans! As for ticket refunds, remember, your old December tickets WILL BE HONOURED AT THE MAKEUP DATE! So if you don't want to resell, you can hang on to the seats you have! It's what I'm doing!

And finally for today, a few Woods of Ypres updates! First of all, "Woods IV: The Green Album" is officially available on iTunes! I'm not an iTunes user, so I don't know the exact details on how to purchase it, but searching for Woods of Ypres with it's search function should locate it easily! And if you want a physical copy, it is NOW IN STORES, so head to CD Plus today to pick it up! My source for this is a topic on the band's official forum. Also, the band announced that the new CD is the #2 best seller of this past week on The End Records' website, which is awesome! And, this should be exciting: The band have begun the budgeting process for "Woods V", which frontman David Gold hints will be the band's second CD based on the summer season (after "Pursuit of the Sun/Allure of the Earth") and will be "another exciting shift in Woods of Ypres theme and sound"! Source for this info: Another forum topic, and the band's Facebook page! All sounds awesome, can't wait to hear what Woods of Ypres has in store for us next!

That's all for today! But I should add, today is the LAST DAY TO VOTE IN THIS MONTH'S POLL! I will replace it with a new poll after midnight, and I will update everyone on the results, and what the new question is, so stay tuned for that! Thanks everyone, have fun at tomorrow's concerts, I wish I could be there too!