LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Spun & Sunspot) And More On The Return Of Weekly Concerts At Kewadin Casino!!

As we started to get into in Sunday's post, Kewadin Casino is finally bringing back their normal weekly concert schedules at The Rapids Lounge at their Sault Ste. Marie branch and The Northern Pines Lounge at their St. Ignace location, with live music resuming there this weekend! Of course, a return to normalcy in this late stage of the pandemic is further along in Michigan than it is in Ontario, hence why we're seeing new short-term concert announcements in the E.U.P., but there is optimism that once Stage 2 of the Ontario re-opening begins tomorrow, we'll start to see a few show dates turn up on this side of the border, even if they still have restrictions for now. The Kewadin lounges' links above list steady live dates through year's end for both prior Kewadin regulars and relative newcomers alike, including new shows from touring acts like Lansing classic rock band Showdown, Columbus, Ohio R&B outfit NuCorp, Traverse City dance rockers Risque, Detroit blues musician Chris Canas...

...Farwell classic rock quartet Detour, St. John's country outfit The Louie Longoria Band, Marquette rock trio Uncle Ugly, Traverse City electronic/jam rock septet Biomassive, and a few hard rock bands that we will be getting into shortly. Locals hitting Kewadin by year's end include hard rock trio Tarnished (whose shows we covered here on Sunday), classic rock group The American Band, former Insipid Brutality guitarist Tyler Dettloff's solo blues project, country duo Perry/Hatch, rock cover trio Paradise Excuse, and Sault Ontario classic rock veterans Touch of Class, who are one of the very few bands on this side of the border bands to regularly play Sault Michigan gigs in this millennium. Touch of Class aren't booked for Kewadin dates until December, theoretically leaving lots of time to get the border opened... right?! As well, there are two bands playing this weekend that are not listed above, one of which we'll be discussing on the site on Thursday in their own feature, so check back in a couple of days.

The other band is named Frybird, who are scheduled to play The Northern Pines Lounge this Friday & Saturday, with two further weekends booked this summer, but I cannot find anything out about this band. If we hear anything, especially if they happen to play heavier music, we'll let you know!

As for those hard rock concerts, let's start by noting the apparent local concert debut of Madison, Wisconsin hard rock trio Sunspot, who will be playing at The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino on Friday, August 27th & 28th! NuCorp & Touch of Class aside, you tend to only hear about Michigan bands playing at Kewadin lounges, but Sunspot are here on a big weekend, as they'll be musical entertainment during this year's Michigan Paranormal Convention, returning to Kewadin Casino that weekend after not taking place in person last year for obvious reasons. I'm not a big paranormal follower, but the Michigan Paracon is a big deal if you are, and they've got some strong guests coming north this year, so visit their Facebook page for fill convention details. Sunspot's songs are all themed around science fiction, the paranormal, and mythical creatures, so they're a perfect fit!

Musically, Sunspot are a hard rock/power pop act, and they have a fun sound and a relatively unique hook to their music (you wouldn't expect a band of this genre to be singing about these topics), so they should draw a solid crowd of convention-goers and general fans alike! As best as I can tell, Sunspot's Rapids Lounge concerts are not explicitly tied to MiParacon tickets (again, see above for details), so general admission for just the band should still be free for 21+ers with a 9:00 PM start time, and of course, please follow any extant public health guidelines and recommendations if needed.

We'll close today's post by noting the long awaited return of Marquette hard rock quartet Spun to the E.U.P., as they will hit The Rapids Lounge one week later on Friday, September 3rd & Saturday, September 4th before heading to The Northern Pines Lounge in St. Ignace three months later on December 3rd & 4th! In case you need a refresher, Spun were the successors to long-time touring favourites Nudge. with that band's final lineup (minus Danzo) forming Spun in time for a run of well received local dates at The Satisfied Frog in 2017 & 2018. Spun had announced shows at the St. Ignace Kewadin this past August (obviously never taking place), so after a surprising three year break, it'll be nice to welcome Spun back to a local stage later this year! Their fan friendly hard rock covers should go over well with attendees, and as usual, these are 21+ events with no cover and a 9:00 PM start time, but be cognizant of potential public health guidelines.

We do have more from Kewadin Casino to address on the site on Thursday, both via a band playing this weekend and two very familiar touring acts making their regional returns later this year, so look for those and much more in the coming days! Thanks everyone!