Thursday, May 27, 2010

Local Concert Previews For This Weekend!!

Hey there, metalheads, today's post is devoted to the topic of previewing this weekend's metal concerts! Five, to be exact, three in Sault Ontario, two in Sault Michigan, and all have a certain appeal higher than normal! There's a major tribute band, a battle of the bands at a popular underused concert venue, a long awaited return to the area, and a hyped debut performance at a venue finally taking notice of "rock music"! So here are your local concert previews for this weekend, but first, a cancellation.

The planned Phatstick concert for tomorrow night at Foggy Notions has been cancelled. This has been confirmed by bassist Keith Gillam in a status update on his Facebook page. I was first alerted to this by a wall posting on the Facebook event page by Kelly Taillefer (a relative of frontman Jason Taillefer), but I wanted to wait for additional confirmation, which I now have. No reason has been publicly advertised, though it should be noted that Foggy's recently closed temporarily for some pre-summer fix-ups (as posted in a status update on their Facebook page), so that could be the reason. Either way, it doesn't appear to be the fault of the band itself, nothing I've read has pointed to them calling it off themselves. I bet a number of you are disappointed, as am I, cause this would have been my first chance to see them live! No worries though, there's another metal band at a local bar tomorrow night at the same time, details of which are coming after our first concert we're previewing below!

First off, it's the second battle of the bands of 2010, as The Sault Youth Association presents Downtown Showdown tomorrow night! Four young local bands will hit The Oddfellows Hall to compete for "mad prizes", and this includes two metal/hard rock bands! Local death metal quintet Bring The Fallen hit the stage for their first performance since backing up Doom Cannon last Tuesday, and their first show at The Oddfellows Hall since October! Can Bring The Fallen continue their battle of the bands success and win their third battle in four tries? The other SMS-covered band on the lineup is local experimental hard rockers SBD, featuring two thirds of No Arrow and Shane Triplett from The Chintzy Slicks! In just their second live performance ever, how will they do in this battle? Though they're the newest of the four competing bands, don't count them out! The lineup is rounded out by The Fury, the local guitar and genre-less rock band featuring ex-members of Out Of The Mouth Of Babes and Devastation Of The Heavens, and local indie rockers The Tenagens! Both bands are quite popular and should have lots of their devoted fans out tomorrow for the battle! Click on all of the above links to check out the involved bands!

"Downtown Showdown" will take place at The Oddfellows Hall, which (believe it or not) hasn't hosted a metal/hard rock show since October's Upheaval of an Exorcist/Garden of Bedlam concert! I wonder why concerts are getting so rare there lately? Well, take notice of Downtown Showdown, cause who knows when good bands will be back. Oh, did I mention admission is FREE?! AND, it's ALL AGES! Yes, The Sault Youth Association is doing some awfully generous things to get people to come out, and they'll also be selling refreshments (chips, pizza, pop, et cetera) for $1 each, and there will be a free draw for a $100 Future Shop gift certificate! And all of this begins at 7:00 PM tomorrow night, so make sure you're there early! A battle of the bands featuring four talented young bands at The Oddfellows Hall, all ages AND free, what more do you guys want? Confirm your attendance at the Facebook event page, and I will see you guys there! A review, photo album, and videos of SBD and Bring The Fallen will be posted Saturday afternoon! And for a video preview, here's one of Bring The Fallen, their performance of "Defiling Despondence" from Algoma Hope4Haiti!



So when you consider that the battle starts at 7:00 and features just four bands, you'd be under the impression that it will end early, right? Well, if you need something to do with your evening, and you have nothing to do thanks to Phatstick's cancellation, here's something that just might work! Hells Bells, Canada's #1 Tribute To AC/DC will be at The Canadian Nightclub tomorrow night at 10:00 PM! The acclaimed Barrie-based group will bring another authentic AC/DC sound to Sault Ontario, just months after Who Made Who rocked Nite-Life Dance Club in February! Don't expect this to be "just another tribute band" though, Hells Bells bring an extremely authentic AC/DC sound to their live show, with over 2,000 concerts on their resume, and an extensive playlist of AC/DC classics new and old! From what I've heard, I'm impressed! They have loads of information, photos, samples, and more at their official website, so check it out! The show is at 10:00 PM tomorrow at The Canadian with a $5 cover, you must be 19 to get in, and there will be some new specials on bomb shots and alcohol tomorrow as well! Confirm your attendance by clicking here!

I'm glad I found out about this show, as now, I have a backup plan thanks to the Phatstick cancellation! I will be at The Canadian tomorrow night, and will have a review, photo album, and video on Saturday along with the ones I take/write up from Downtown Showdown! Yes, two concert reviews, two photo albums, and three new videos on Saturday, you'll wanna be here for all that! For a video preview, here's a live performance of Hells Bells playing the AC/DC song they're named after in Orillia!



Quick detour to Sault Michigan for the next two shows, as Muskegon hard rockers Orange October make their long awaited return to the area! I don't think they've been here since late last year, so it's been a long time coming! They're back at The Satisfied Frog tomorrow night & Saturday night at 10:00 PM both nights, there is no advertised cover charge, and you must be 21 to get in! Should be fun to see Orange October, they have a nice heavy radio hard rock sound, accessible but it has some bite! This is actually the last weekend where I can't go to Sault Michigan shows on account of age, so in the future, if I can't make a Sault Michigan show, it will likely be because of failure to get a ride there! Back to Orange October, they're a pretty good band, and if you want some heavy live music this weekend, you can't go wrong! Check them out on MySpace, and for a preview, here's a video of the band opening for Poison at a show in August 2007!



Finally for concerts this weekend, local hard rock cover band Turner Up return to the stage for their first ever show at a venue not previously known for rock bands of any type! The band will play just one concert there this weekend too, unlike most weekends when they pull double duty. They'll be at The Royal Canadian Legion on Saturday night for the first time for them, and the first time that I can remember that they're hosting a hard rock band (not counting the seemingly-permanent postponing of last year's all ages Garden of Bedlam show.) There's an 8:30 PM start time on Saturday with no announced cover, I don't know if the show is all ages. No Facebook event page, the band haven't made any since the shows at the beginning of the month. Should be a good show, nice to see The Legion booking something heavier for a change, hopefully this isn't the last we'll see! I'd like to go, but the early start time makes it conflict with Sault Area Wrestling: Rise To The Top, so I can't make it, but hopefully you guys can! Got nothing else to do on Saturday, do you? For a video preview, here's a clip of Turner Up covering Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music", and remember, they have heavier metal stuff in their last set!



So those are your weekend previews! I might have a post tomorrow before I head downtown for my double concert Friday, and believe it or not, this will be the first time I've ever attended two separate concerts at two different venues in the same day! It won't be the most time I've ever spent at local concerts in one day (the Rock 2 Roll skatepark fundraiser has tomorrow topped), but this will be a fun concert marathon, and I hope to see you guys at either The Oddfellows Hall or The Canadian tomorrow night, or both! Reviews on Saturday too, so keep an eye out!