LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Rotaryfest) And What You Should Know About This Year's Format!!

After moving to a virtual format for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rotaryfest is back in person in 2021 from Thursday, July 15th-Saturday, July 17th, but with big (and presumably one time only) changes! With public health guidelines still in effect next month (time will tell if we're in Stage 2 or 3 at that point), Rotaryfest will move from Clergue Park to the parking lot of the K-Mart/Zellers/Lowe's Plaza at the corner of Great Northern Road and Northern Avenue, with a primarily drive-in experience for attendees to help minimize contact. No midway this year, it looks like the primary attractions (50/50 draw aside) will be live music and RibFest, each setting up shop in the Lowe's Plaza parking lot facing Pennington's, each taking up about a quarter of the entire lot (the half closer to Metro & Value Village will be separate from Rotaryfest.) Click here for information on how to attend and what the layout will be. Social distancing measures are being enforced, so make sure to mask up and use common sense when leaving your vehicle.

For this year, there will only be one stage (sponsored by SooToday), but it will feature some original acts, so you could consider this a hybrid in lieu of having a Stage 1 and Stage 2. Presumably out of deference to noise concerns and the drive-in attendance, music will be fed through an FM transmitter rather than typical speakers, similar to what you would find at a drive-in movie, so you'll find out what normally unused FM station frequency to tune into upon entry (and make sure you have a working FM radio!) This year's band lineup is smaller than normal, partially because they're slotting more time between bands to sanitize the stage, so you'll only be seeing 15 bands across the three nights this year. That said, if you consider this to be "Stage 1", nine of this year's acts are newcomers, so if you've ever craved some variety on Rotaryfest's live music stage, you'll certainly have it this year!

Now, who is playing? Starting on Thursday, July 15th, four bands will take the stage, with local acoustic hard rock cover quartet The Wyld Stallyns headlining at 10:00 PM in their Rotaryfest debut and first concert in almost a year, though members played Stage 2 with The Elements in 2018. Nice to see the Speers' and company after a long hiatus, they should have a fun set in store! Local progressive rock veterans Machines Dream will debut their new six-piece lineup at 8:30 PM, marking their festival return after their record-tying five Stage 2 appearances between 2010 (as The Craig West Band) and 2018. Their sister blues rock band Blues Harvest (themselves three time Stage 2 performers) will reunite for their first in-person concert in eight years when they hit the stage at 7:00 PM, while blues/rockabilly quartet The Steeltown Playboys (featuring The Rising Tide's Marshall Jaaskelainen) will open at 5:30 PM in their first ever Rotaryfest set on any stage. 

Intriguing lineup featuring a lot of common talent & a heavy (if unplugged) ending, so Rotaryfest is off to a good start this year! Friday the 16th's lineup does not feature any primarily hard rock acts, but you will be able to see veteran classic rock bands & regular Stage 1 performers Mid Life Crysis and Mustang Heart at 10:00 PM & 8:30 PM, both of whom do cover some hard rock tunes in their vast setlists! The first two acts will include Strait Country (a one-off George Strait tribute led by singer Mark Tarantini) at 7:00 PM and, in his Rotaryfest debut, local country musician Brendan Hodgson at 5:30 PM. Genre fans will want to keep both halves of this lineup in mind!

Saturday the 17th's line-up is the longest as usual, and perhaps due to the pandemic's challenges, there will be no touring headliner. The closing band this year at 10:00 PM will be local southern rock cover quartet Bone Yard in their seventh Rotaryfest appearance (eighth if you count 2020's Virtual Rotaryfest, which Mustang Heart also played.) Their set takes place after the 50/50 drawing at 9:45 PM, FYI. Co-headlining at 8:30 PM are classic rock veterans Obsession in their eleventh Rotaryfest set, and both bands do have hard rock covers in their setlists! The 7:00 PM set will belong to the live concert debut of Jonesy Land, a new punk rock project led by prolific local musician/Tidal Records head Dustin Jones! Not counting his personal Instagram page, this band's primary info so far is on Rotaryfest's schedule, and it confirms that the band is essentially a Jaaskelainen-free version of The Rising Tide.

Specifically, their lineup will feature Dustin (vocals/guitar), Liam Seymour (guitar), and Chris Johns (drums) joined by long time Tidal Records artist Frank Deresti on bass, while Dustin's daughter Jett will provide guest vocals for at least a couple of covers. Jonesy Land's set will otherwise primarily be covers of Dustin's songs with The Rising Tide, The Inner City Surfers, and Toronto's The Conspirators. Yes, we will mention Jonesy Land's debut original single in a post soon, but this is definitely an intriguing project for fans of his! Veteran local folk musician Greg MacLachlan will return to Rotaryfest for the first time since playing Stage 2 in 2010 at 5:30 PM, while young local hard rock quartet The Uncanny Valley will play Rotaryfest for the first time at 4:00 PM! After an eight month public hiatus, it's great to see this promising band back in action, hopefully with more originals for their planned album under their belt!

This will also be The Uncanny Valley's debut appearance with their new bassist, as Brendan Bertrand quietly joined the band earlier this year to replace the already departed Adam Fahrer (see him in Brendan Hodgson's backing band on Friday the 15th). I'm not familiar with Brendan Bertrand musically at all, but hopefully he's got the requisite chops! Veteran classic rock duo Spyder's Web will return to Rotaryfest for the first time in seven years in the 2:30 PM timeslot, a surprising gap seeing as they only missed once between 2004 & 2014! Finally, The Northern Jazz Ensemble will open day #3 at 1:00 PM in their third straight live Rotaryfest appearance, the only band who can say that. This year's Rotaryfest is an all ages family event (of course, you have to be 16 to drive your vehicle!), and entry will be by donation to The Rotary Club of Sault Ste. Marie. For full details on how to attend responsibly, please click here!

Despite all of the social distancing-related adjustments this year, it is great to see Rotaryfest back in person for 2021, and while the Soo is relatively late to the party for a drive-in concert like this given what stage we're at in the pandemic, this should be a fun attraction before we hopefully head back to Clergue Park in 2022! Stay tuned to the SMS and Rotaryfest's online channels for any updates as they roll in, but circle the July 16th weekend on your calendars for a concert experience like no other (locally speaking!), and stay tuned for an all-Sault Michigan post on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!