Thursday, October 27, 2011

Sault Michigan Halloween Weekend Concert Previews!!

With a typically stacked Halloween weekend for concerts, I've been left no choice but to separate this weekend's concert previews by city, and because I'm waiting for additional confirmation on a pair of dates in Sault Ontario, we'll start the previews with the Sault Michigan metal and hard rock shows over the next two nights! If you want to know where the heaviest Halloween shows are across the river, this should tell you, though a couple of the shows are kinda iffy on their statuses. That said, here's what you need to know for the announced Halloween weekend shows across the river!

First for Halloween weekend metal concerts in Sault Michigan is the return of local hard rock quintet NoXcape to the concert stage tomorrow night and Saturday night! These are the first scheduled concerts for the band featuring the classic Absolute lineup and Krosswalk guitarist Joey Beairl in over a month, but they're listed on band pages to return to The Satisfied Frog for two hard hitting Halloween weekend shows over the next couple nights! I'm slightly concerned though, as band pages have not been updated since September, and there's been no advance promotion for these concerts in recent weeks, so part of me is worried that these bookings are or were in jeopardy. Unless I hear otherwise though, I'll treat these shows as still on, but I'll keep tabs on them! That all said, there's no announced cover charge for either night, you must be 21 to attend, and I imagine they'll be on at 10:00 PM or later for both shows. For more details, check the above links!

Saying that these shows go down as scheduled, I'd expect NoXcape to rock The Frog with some awesome covers and (maybe?) originals, so keep these shows in mind for your Halloween weekend plans! Though there's no videos of NoXcape to my knowledge, get a preview of their sound by clicking here to see old Absolute videos from their heyday!

Next on the weekend schedule across the river, it's two metal bands for the price of one at The Merchant's Bar for their Halloween bash, as local hard rock acts Scofflaw and Powerslug will join forces for two consecutive nights! The two bands, who both share drummer Ivan Schliska, will play their first joint gigs since LemmaFest (when Powerslug was still River Witch) this weekend, and look out for some different but always entertaining varieties of hard rock from both bands over the next two nights! The Merch has Halloween plans for the weekend as well, including a Halloween costume contest for $100 on Saturday and Halloween-themed drink specials, so keep those in mind for if you head there this weekend! There's no announced cover charge, you must be 21 to attend, and though the announced start time is 7:00 PM, I expect the bands wouldn't actually take stage until after 10:00 PM. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! It's nice to see Scofflaw back, and it gave us more and fuller concerts for the holiday weekend to boot, so hopefully their grungier hard rock style and Powerslug's newer covers mesh well this weekend! Go see the two bands rock The Merch if you can, and for a preview, here's Scofflaw playing their song "Love Destroyer"!



The other metal/hard rock Halloween weekend shows that I know of across the river take place just outside of town, but they're certainly not far from Sault Michigan, so keep these shows in mind! Firstly, local hard rock quintet Splitshot will rock The Cozy Corners Tavern & Grill in Barbeau, Michigan tomorrow night & Saturday night! The band featuring Nixxon Dixxon alumni Chris Hubbard, Kyle Beaumont, and Jake LaLonde (along with Dave Menard and Kyle's dad(?) Gary) will play for what could be the first time at the Barbeau restaurant & concert spot this weekend, and yes, there'll be lots of Halloween stuff going on this weekend as well, including a costume contest on Saturday night as part of The Cozy Corners' own Halloween party! And yes, Splitshot are sure to have lots of hard rock covers in store for you hard rockers, so don't forget about the music! There will be a 9:30 PM start time both nights, there's no cover charge, and you must be 21 to attend. Check the above links for more details! Though I still can't tell you much about Splitshot's sound, they'll be sure to rock you guys all weekend long, especially for the Halloween party on Saturday night, so keep these shows in mind as well for your weekend plans!

And finally, Kinross hard rock trio Banned are scheduled to return to The Sundown Lounge in Pickford, Michigan on Saturday night only for that bar's own Halloween festivities! This show was originally scheduled for tomorrow night, but the band confirmed it was moved to Saturday last month, so don't get thrown off! Now, I'm slightly wary of this concert's status too, for a couple of reasons. Banned still haven't announced a replacement for bassist Alex Schrovenwever, who left the group a few weeks ago, and the status that confirmed this show was deleted from their Facebook page. However, other statuses there still reference it, as does the promo video that guitarist Alex Traynor's sister Ashley uploaded two weeks ago, which is still online without changes. Are they playing on Saturday, and if so, who'll be playing bass? I can't say for the latter (former live guest bassists Steve Jacobus or Eric Cairns are good guesses), but with no official retraction of the date, I'll treat this show as on unless I hear otherwise. If they're on, they'll hit the stage at around 10:00 PM, a Halloween costume contest with prizes is planned, you must be 21 to attend, and there's no announced cover charge. Check the above links for more details!

If Banned are indeed rocking The Sundown Lounge this weekend, they'll deliver some great hard rock covers for sure, so head to Pickford on Saturday night if you know they're playing and wanna rock out for the Halloween season! For a preview, here's Banned covering Led Zeppelin's "Rock N' Roll" in Pickford last month!



That's all for now, but our next post should have Sault Ontario weekend concert previews, so stay tuned for all that! Thanks everyone, and have a spooky good weekend of Halloween concerts!

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