More Concert Cancellations, SooToday's COVID-19 Benefit Concert, And More!!

For your Friday reading, we have some new at-home concerts, one from a prolific local mainstay, and the other featuring over a dozen local entertainers joining forces for great and relevant cause. However, we're leading off with some news on more upcoming concerts getting called off for sadly predictable reasons, so here's what you hould know!

This was inevitable the way things are going, but we have some more concert cancellations to take note of today, mostly related to Michigan's stay-at-home order, as Governor Gretchen Whitmer extended it to May 15th this morning, and click here or visit your preferred Michigan news outlets for more details. While some of the restrictions were loosened at the same time, concert venues and restaurants are still closed during this time, so don't look for any concerts there in the near future. The new May 15th cutoff will definitely cancel Highway 63's concerts at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino on May 1st & 2nd, plus 415E's Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin shows the following week. All that's left for our Sault Michigan-area hard rock concert calendar in May are a pair of hard rock concert weekends at the Kewadin branches at the end of the month, and we will let you know when/if anything is firmly stated about them. At this time, the Sault Ontario shutdowns have not been similarly extended.

From what I have seen, neither the Numbing nor Anti-Queens concerts in May have been visibly cancelled or postponed by local promoters or the headliners, but their status is precarious as best, especially as Numbing's would have been cancelled by the Michigan government today had it been across the river. It's also worth noting that the Downtown Association has cancelled all events through the end of July (source here), but none of those had regularly established concerts. We'll keep you guys posted!

Next up, local news website SooToday hosted their own YouTube concert event yesterday, entitled Come Together Sault Ste. Marie, featuring 17 musical and entertainment acts performing from home. Of course, this was organized as a coronavirus pandemic benefit event, and viewers are encouraged to donate money to the Algoma COVID-19 Response Fund and the Sault Area Hospital Emergency Fund. Wonderful causes at this time of need, so definitely consider donating to one or both! This event seemed to come together quickly, but a wide swath of talented local artists took part, and while the roster does not primarily feature hard rock or punk acts, there are a handful of familiar faces for long-time readers. Some of the artists performing yesterday included the rap collective Sound Syndrome featuring Conika, folk musician/promoter Jackson Reed, the always prolific Jay Case featuring Frank Deresti & Sheldon Jaaskelainen, and veteran local rock musician Tracey Hilderley with Steve Cardiff, among many others.

The 93 minute run time limited musicians to a song each, and introductions by host Jasmyn Rowley & remarks from local dignitaries were also included, but give the whole thing a watch to see some great local talent coming together, if from afar, at this really strange time! There was one punk act on the bill yesterday, they being local Celtic punk quintet Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide (in Sheldon's first of two appearances in Come Together Sault Ste. Marie), so what should you know here? The Tide are actually the second entertainment act on yesterday's bill (after The Musical Comedy Guild), and due to social distancing, the guys perform remotely in each other's homes, with the five miniature videos arranged together in the frame. I'm surprised more musicians aren't doing that locally! Dustin and company performed "Lost & Found", the first single from their forthcoming fourth studio album, and while audio variance is inevitable due to the different camera setups, everyone sounds great!

I have no idea how the pandemic has affected the album recording and release plans, but it's good to see The Rising Tide in fine form here, and hopefully everyone's safe and healthy in their camp and families! Visit the above links to go directly to their performance (or go to 11:04 in the video below), but don't bypass the rest of Come Together Sault Ste. Marie!



Finally for today, here's all of the latest on local hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison's seventh live-streamed concert from his YouTube channel last night! This time, his 2 hour set begins about 18 minutes into the video, and Tym starts off with his regular Spanish guitar instrumental. He dives into covers after that, and in order, they include The Steve Miller Band's "Abracadabra", Billy Joel's "She's Always A Woman", The Proclaimers' "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)", Tommy Tutone's "867-5309/Jenny", Kim Mitchell's "Patio Lanterns", Eric Carmen's "All By Myself", Aerosmith's "Dream On", Peter Cetera's "Glory of Love", Toto's "Africa", Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time", Abba's "The Winner Takes It All", Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill", Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline", The Beatles' "Something", Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues", The Scorpions' "Rock You Like A Hurricane", The Who's "Behind Blue Eyes", Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me", Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean"...

...Journey's "Open Arms", Starship's "We Built This City", The Bangles' "Eternal Flame", The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Fishin' In The Dark", Bryan Adams' "Summer of '69", Amanda Marshall's "Trust Me (This Is Love)", and The Beatles' "Here Comes The Sun". Nice selection of classic rock-leaning covers here, including a handful of new songs for his live-streamed series, and his performances remain as solid as ever, so give Tym's newest show a watch, and look for more next week, one presumes!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!