More COVID-19 Concert Cancellations & Updates, Plus A Concert Preview!?

In what's fast becoming a new normal for The Sault Metal Scene (sigh), we might as well look at the latest on the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and it's effects on the local hard rock/punk concert calendar. The big news that broke today is that Kewadin Casino has postponed the Candlebox-headlined concert at The Dreammakers Theatre in Sault Michigan on April 18th, as per their Facebook page (the Little Texas show was also postponed.) As with the Black Label Society concert, you can hold already-purchased tickets to be honoured when the Candlebox show here is rescheduled, but refunds are available from Kewadin at point of purchase. This is definitely disappointing, but alas, it's not entirely unexpected, especially with the recent news that Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has issued an executive order to close all bars, nightclubs, and restaurants in the state through the end of March, as they work to contain the coronavirus (click here for details.)

Now, in terms of our concert calendar in the Eastern Upper Peninsula, this surprisingly doesn't affect that too much, as we didn't have any nightclub shows from local or touring hard rock bands listed there anymore, but this theoretically would interrupt local hard rock band Tarnished's "every Thursday" matinee run at Biggby Coffee, where they were expected to play at 12:00 PM this and next Thursday. I will tentatively remove those dates from our calendar too, but if Tarnished or Biggby confirm otherwise, I will add them back. I suppose they/Alex could play just for people picking up to-go/take-out orders (which will still be allowed in Michigan)... stranger things have happened! Also, I will leave Traverse City hard rock trio Scarkazm's April 10th weekend concerts at the St. Ignace Kewadin in our concert listings for now, as they take place after the March ban ends, but this situation is fluid and could get far more volatile, so stay tuned for updates on those and other April events as they roll in.

Over in Sault Ontario, the provincial government was not issuing a ban for restaurants and nightclubs at this time, as the evidence does not support doing so right now, but Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams is now strongly recommending that they close. Click here & here for more on this subject. In any event. Gliss Restaurant on Spring Street have announced on Facebook that they are closing their regular business hours as of today due to COVID-19, but they will re-open for reservations booked there and will bring in staff accordingly. They did not give a timeline for when they'll be back in full, but this would appear to interrupt Tym Morrison's weekly matinees there on Fridays & Saturdays. Again, I suppose he could be brought in to play for reserved guests, but that's not truly a "public" concert, so I'll also de-list his March gigs there until otherwise stated. Unless given reason otherwise, his March 27th gig at The Roadhouse Bar & Grill will remain in our calendar for now.

Also, The Rockstar Bar's Martin Fiser noted on their Facebook group today that they will be closed through this weekend due to the coronavirus, and they may have to cancel events into April pending how the pandemic unfolds. SMS-wise, this would primarily impact next month's Just Heart & Lycanthro concerts, but it is too soon to make judgments on them.

The last surviving hard rock or punk concert left on our calendar for this weekend was The Sick Sons & Slumshine at LopLops Lounge on Friday, and that show has also been cancelled, as per it's Facebook event page. No word on if this will be rescheduled, but both bands are local, so watch their social media accounts for details either way.  As well, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck have announced on Facebook that their planned Wawa road trip in two weeks (to play at a women's curling event that they were a part of before) has been cancelled, and they are "officially off for a few weeks", with updates pertaining to scheduled gigs to be announced. Soundcheck have only plugged their concerts on short notice (if at all) in 2020 so far, and accordingly, they were not listed in our current concert calendar anyway, but any heads-up to fans is welcomed! With all of this said, we surprisingly still have a concert to preview, so what should you know there?

The aforementioned Slumshine are still advertised to play their "Story Time With Slumshine" concert at Home Bakehouse Bed & Breakfast at 168 March Street THIS WEDNESDAY! The relatively unfamiliar venue has been gaining fans in recent months with their homemade baking and their requisite B&B operations, and they have confirmed that they are staying open to help serve the community, as of 3:09 PM (they don't have a real dine-in operation anyway.) Slumshine's planned acoustic punk originals will be joined by Brent telling short stories about them, VH1 Storytellers style, and he hinted that more "Story Time" shows are in the works. This special Wednesday evening concert has a 7:00 PM start time, a "pay what you can" entry model, and no age limit. Assuming this show isn't called off amid the coronavirus fears, this should be a unique but entertaining event at Home (2 minutes north of Gliss), and Slumshine's established unplugged punk attack should make and keep lots of fans!

If you're craving live punk music, this could be one of very few chances to see it for a while, assuming it goes on as scheduled, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, here's Slumshine live, and if we hear anything regarding this show's status, we'll let you know!



Unless a short notice concert pops up that boldly tries to go on amidst the COVID-19 panic, we will have no concert previews this weekend, which is bizarre, but isolating and keeping the coronavirus contained is essential, and we can only hope that things improve in the near future for everyone's health and safety. That's what's important, concerts can wait until we figure things out. Stay safe, everyone, and we'll have more news on the site this week!