The June Jam Concert Review!!

After a long day of video uploading errors and personal commitments, here's our review of Friday night's June Jam concert at The Rockstar Bar! Live705 had a good setup for their first local concert of 2018, including merchandise from half of the lineup and tickets for next month's Rivers of Nihil concert, but attendance was medium, surprising given the Friday night placement. Fan responses were positive though, and by the end of the night, there was a decent crowd on the floor for the headliners!

Your openers on Friday were local heavy rock quintet Re:Born in just their second live concert appearance, though for their first song and a half, they performed as a quartet, as bassist Fred Dunn was running late. Once he was tuned in and set up, the guys were in full gear again! This set was the most different yet from their predecessors Project 421, with only that band's originals surviving in their set, which featured covers of everyone from Megadeth to Judas Priest to Thin Lizzy. The guys definitely improved on their debut earlier this year, with singer Robert Nevitt performing in a more natural style, and what banter existed between him and Blair Burch sounded promising! He and Frank were solid as usual on guitar, and Brandan Glew's drum work was on point! Notably, Re:Born welcomed guest backing singer Elly McWatters for their Edguy and Kissing Dyanamite covers, similar in vein to her advertised guest spot with The Band Camp Rejects early last year.

Elly fit in fine for these songs, which have to be new for any band to play live in Sault Ontario, and it was a neat moment to see an attending fan celebrate her 70th birthday by coming the dance on the floor during this part of the set! Re:Born are moving up nicely, if Friday's performance was any indication, and I'm curious to hear how their set sounds next time!

Next up on Friday was local punk trio Stegadeth (replacing Skeyes of Seven), who were channeling their inner Corey Hart with sunglasses on everyone to start, though only drummer Johnny Belanger maintained them from bell to bell. The guys knocked out an entertaining set of scattered originals (including a new one named "Tragedy" about American gun violence), with covers of The Presidents of the United States of America, Bad Religion, and The Rebel Spell also on hand for attending fans. Muffled vocals were the biggest drawback of their otherwise entertaining set, as I could barely make out words during Stegadeth's set, and bassist Bill Bennett was completely inaudible at one point, but the rest was entertaining! Tiffany Stocco and Bill were solid on guitar and bass, and Johnny was his usual proficient & energetic self on drums! Hopefully Stegadeth pick up where they left off the next time out!

Third up was local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback in their second local concert of the year, who had an entertaining set of their well established original material on Friday night! Though the guys surprisingly made no blatant mentions of their debut album recording sessions, their performances of songs like "Kicking & Screaming", "Wasting Away", and "Faded" spoke loudly of their talents and their building confidence as a trio. Chris Nielsen has acclimated very fast to lead vocal duties, and while I think Matt Quinn toned down his backing vocals from the last time I saw A.D.S. live, he's a good match! Nick Kainula's drumming was steady and focused, and the overall energy and enthusiasm was clear on Friday, with their songs coming through very well from start to finish! Hopefully A Dire Setback keep on this upward trajectory, and hopefully their Timmins show went well last night!

And finally, your headliners on Friday were Timmins punk quartet All The Wasted Years in their local debut, and they had a fun set laid out for local fans, including the only sustained crowd on the floor that night! Playing songs from their new CD "High Blood Pressure" like "626" and "Secrets & Lies", to even a cover of The Killers' "Mr. Brightside", A.T.W.Y. had a lively, energetic brand of punk that was easy to sing along with (once you knew the words), and they knew how to engage with and banter with the crowd effectively! Vocals weren't always clear through the speakers from where I was, but Nathan Radey and Darcy Larouche have good chemistry on guitar, Eric Fortin effectively provided the low end on bass, and Steph Gaudet looked and sounded the part with his drumming on Friday! I wish there was a larger crowd, but All The Wasted Years had a hard hitting, melodic set of punk originals for gathered patrons, and here's hoping they roll back west soon!

Overall, this was a solid way to help celebrate turning 29 the previous day, and all four bands delivered solid sets, whether you wanted the punk main course or a classic metal appetizer! You can check out our photos from last night at this link or on our Facebook page, and while there are more videos to come in an upcoming post, here's our footage from Friday night, including Re:Born & Elly covering Kissing Dynamite's "Sex Is War", Stegadeth playing their original "Kingdom of Ashes", A Dire Setback playing "Catastrophe", and All The Wasted Years playing "Love At First Mosh"!









That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post on the site next! Thanks everyone!