LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Oh!NO 2017 Music Festival & Curtis McKenzie), Plus More Concert Previews!!

As promised, let's round out this weekend's currently announced hard rock concert previews today, focusing on Saturday-only events, but to lead off, we have some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, one of a huge scale, the other on SHORT NOTICE, so here's what you should know!

Eclipse frontman Curtis McKenzie will return to The Vape Escape on MacDonald Avenue for another solo concert TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the show was only announced via it's official Facebook event page on Tuesday, and it was held for our second preview post due to it's relatively later scheduling among shows over this stretch. This will be Curt's fourth solo appearance at the new e-cigarette/vaping lounge behind Tim-Br Mart, and first in over a month, though he has played a pair of solo concerts elsewhere in the interim. That said, this show will be different from his prior Vape Escape sets, as he'll have a special guest on hand, namely former Haggith bandmate Caleb Cachagee, who is advertised to be playing a set on bass. It's not 100% clear whether Caleb is opening for Curt or is backing him up for one set, but it's great to see them back on stage together, so come out TOMORROW to see how this shapes up!

Like his prior Vape Escape shows, TOMORROW's event is a 7:30 PM affair with no announced cover charge, and you must be 18 or older to attend. Curtis' resurgent solo project has been impressing fans all over again locally, and it's clear that The Vape Escape has been a favourite venue for his solo sets in recent months, so definitely consider attending this one for some solo hard rock cover action! See above for more details, and here's Curt live!



Next up, here's one more huge show before our Destroyer preview, as Six, Two, Oh. are hosting the Oh!NO 2017 Music Festival on Saturday, September 9th! We waited to plug this on the site, as the venue was originally somewhat ambiguous, but we can now confirm it's taking place in Leeburn, Ontario (near the Bruce Mines town limits) at Robbie's Church near the Highway 638 & Center Line Road turnoff, though I don't know if this is a formal active church or just the name given to it. Sort of a distant spiritual successor to Das Bunkerfest, this concert will see twelve musical acts playing all day, including 5 out of town attractions, so who all can you expect? In no particular order, the touring bands will include Sudbury punk trio Lightmares, Barrie all-female punk quartet Beaver Slap (fresh off of their Rockstar Bar show last month), Toronto country/indie rock quartet Run Coyote, Hamilton garage punk rockers Artificial Dissemination (who opened for K-Man & The 45s here last fall), and Thunder Bay "desert rock" quintet The Franquilizers (who opened for 1971 here last summer.)

The roster of local bands at the Oh!NO Festival will include punk/metal quintet Jack Spades, doom metal trio (and Six, Two, Oh.'s own) AlgomA, a debuting local band named Slumshine (no word on their lineup, sound, or online pages at press time), alt-punk quartet A Dire Setback, reunited extreme metal quartet Winkstinger (in their first public concert in well over a year), new local indie/hard rock trio Vol. (featuring Pixo Control and Aldous alumni), and a solo set by Treble Charger guitarist Bill Priddle. How's all of that for a stacked lineup? I admittedly can't find any details yet on Slumshine, but it's great to see Winkstinger back on stage after a lengthy hiatus (they're back in our active band links), and it'll be interesting to hear how each band sounds! Also, just for clarification, Run Coyote no longer feature ex-Caddy Street Avenue drummer Andrew Dal Cin in their lineup, in case you saw the name and assumed he'd be back home for this event.

Six, Two, Oh. will be filming bands at the Oh!No Festival, which takes place at 11:00 AM until 2:00 AM with no stated age limit, and admission is $25, though this includes pick-up & drop-off at The Station Mall parking lot in a rented bus (a'la 2013's Big Loonie Bus Show), so if you'd rather not drive an hour, you have an alternative! Camping, a bonfire, and food vendors will be available on site, and tickets are now available at The Rad Zone, Case's Music, Northland Music, Coch's Corner, Big Guns Barbershop, and maybe The Gore Street Cafe. This concert is shaping up to be a huge event to help ring in the fall, so visit the official Facebook event page for current & upcoming details!

Finally for today, we'll wrap up this weekend's currently known hard rock concert previews, as Windsor-based Kiss tribute band Destroyer will make their long awaited return to Sault Ontario with a headlining gig at The Rockstar Bar TOMORROW NIGHT! Making their fourth local concert appearance on record tomorrow, this will be Destroyer's first trip north to the Soo in over two years, and for fans clamoring for Kiss classics on a a local stage again, this tribute should deliver the visual and auditory goods! You wanted the best, so here's the next best thing to the best! Unlike their May 2015 show here (opened by the now-inactive Griphook), Destroyer have no advertised local acts kicking off the evening tomorrow. This 19+ event has a 10:00 PM start time, and while official sources oddly aren't publicizing prices for tickets (available at The Algonquin Hotel's front desk), 2015's show saw $12 advance ticket sales that jumped to $16 at the door. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Destroyer live!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news either tonight or tomorrow morning! Thanks everyone!