More Weekend Concert Previews, Plus A New Halfway Loaded Video!!

Now, let's round out this weekend's concert previews with the remaining hard rock concerts that we couldn't fit into yesterday's post! To fill out the post, there's also a new video from a new local band to check out, but here's what you should know for remaining hard rock concerts this weekend in loose chronological order!

We'll start this preview post at The Northern Pines Lounge at the Kewadin Shores Casino in St. Ignace, where Sault Michigan classic/hard rock cover quartet Highway 63 will return for a pair of shows TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! Fresh off of their De Tour Village gig this past weekend, this will be the Monkey's Uncle successors' first concert weekend within an hour of the Soo since April at the St. Ignace Kewadin, having taken the last two months off "to update some music and find some new music to keep interest alive in the band", as per their Facebook page in May. If this lines up with projections, expect some new setlist selections at The Northern Pines Lounge this weekend, and hopefully Highway 63 deliver strongly in their return from their spring break! As usual for Highway 63's Kewadin stops, expect 21+ age limits, no announced cover charges, and 9:00 PM start times. See above for more details, and here's Highway 63 live!



Next up, let's head back to Sault Ontario for a LopLops Lounge concert taking place TOMORROW NIGHT, wherein local alternative hard rock groups The Din and Bizotic will open for Hamilton space rock quartet SIANspheric in their local debut! The first of four July shows from The Din during their "Summer of Din", this will be their first LopLops stop since their short-handed (and short notice) acoustic gig last month, while this will be Bizotic's first LopLops stop in around 4 months, and the second show in as many nights for the Sounds From The Green Room successors, having also opened for Vaultry tonight at The Canadian. Solid and fast-rising bands, so don't miss out on either tomorrow at LopLops! As for SIANspheric, while I wouldn't consider them a "hard rock" band, they have been making waves with their ambient drone & experimental originals over the past two decades, and they should be a unique attraction for fans at LopLops tomorrow, so don't overlook them!

Note that The Din teased the launch of their new "Dinsider" mailing list for exclusive offers, early media access, and news on the Facebook event page (you can be among the first to sign up tomorrow), while the band may be debuting one or two new songs with this set, so keep these nuggets in mind! A $5 cover charge is in effect tomorrow night for this 19+ concert, which has a 9:00 PM start time. Whether you want creative space rock or new alt-hard rock originals, you have options tomorrow at LopLops, so see above for more details, and here's The Din live!

Lastly for this weekend's concert previews (barring something on extremely short notice), we'll head to The New American Pub, where Windsor grindcore quartet Uncle Ray will make their local concert debut THIS SUNDAY NIGHT! Bringing their live-tested brand of "grinding power violence" to the Soo, Uncle Ray's fast and ferocious originals should deliver nicely for fans craving some extreme metal action this weekend, so give them a listen in advance of Sunday's concert! Local doom/sludge metal trio AlgomA will co-headline in their second show of the summer and first New A stop in over 3 months, and fans will surely be out for their crushing and slow blend of heavy metal on Sunday! Opening the show are local grind/punk duo Them in their first public concert appearance of the year, and hopefully Tyler & Anthony can set the tone nicely in a rare set of theirs!

Promoted by Six, Two, Oh., this concert has a $7 cover charge, 19+ age limit, and 9:00 PM start time. In a busy concert weekend, this is (pound for pound) the heaviest show of all in the Soo, so don't miss out on the brutality at The New A on Sunday night, visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Uncle Ray live!



Finally, here's a new cover video from newer local hard rock quintet Halfway Loaded! After almost a month off from public updates, this new video of the guys covering Pop Evil's "100 in a 55" was posted to their Facebook page on Tuesday, so what should you know? An acoustic rendition sans bassist Justin Gottwald & drummer Dylan Newman, the sub-2 minute clip isn't badly done, and has a nice casual feel, almost as if you'd expect a campfire betweem them. Justin's melodic singing fits well, and Shane & Ryan have the guitar down nicely, so give this new Halfway Loaded video a look below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates over the weekend! Thanks everyone!