Our Preview Of The Sixth Annual Northern Vibe Festival!!

The sixth annual Northern Vibe Festival returns to the old Hempfest grounds on Poplardale Road in nearby Ophir TOMORROW, SATURDAY, and SUNDAY, so here's our extended preview! After skipping 2020 due to the pandemic, things have progressed to a point where the festival can return to near normality (helped by it being in a wide open outdoor locale), and you can expect lots of musical entertainment & local vendors for food, art, and more, so be sure to check the official Facebook page, event page, and website for full public details on Northern Vibe VI! I stress, public, as organizers still have not released a schedule for the musical performers on any stage, either forgetting (there's a lot of ground to cover) or opting to go with a "you had to be there" approach. I do know the day some acts are performing, so consider this a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, which I do apologize for, but again, there has been no schedule release yet.

As usual, The Northern Vibe Festival will feature two stages of live music this weekend, including The River Stage for DJs and The Forest Stage for musicians, the latter curated by Jack Spades/Frightlight frontman J.D. Pearce in his first promotional role since the pandemic began. This means that the band lineup in 2021 is much heavier than we ever saw in the 2010s, which is great to see.... but who's playing when? First off, take the poster above with a grain of salt, as it hasn't been updated to reflect two lineup withdrawals (including Forest Stage performer DJ Fuels), let alone new additions. As best as I can tell, there will only be live music tomorrow and Saturday (the Sunday aspect is primarily for campers' benefit), so let's go through the bands like this: I'll start with bands that I know are playing on a given day, then we'll move to bands who haven't publically stated when their set is.

The only band that I have actually heard confirm a Friday set is local funk/hard rock quintet The Wyld Stallyns, as per guitarist/vocalist Rob Speers in a Facebook conversation (thanks Rob!) No word on a timeslot, but he did say that the Friday set was due to the availability of a special guest on that day, so keep that in mind if you'll be in Ophir tomorrow! As far as I know, three bands have confirmed that they're playing on Saturday, including instrumental surf rock band The Dynowaves at some point that evening (source: their Facebook page), and two bands back from extended hiatuses with new lineups, namely no-genre quintet Handsome Sandwich at 4:00 PM (source: drummer Johnny Belanger's personal Facebook page), and Foo Fighters tribute quartet The Soo Fighters at an unstated time (source: their Facebook page). For what it's worth, bands allegedly begin at 3:00 PM.

Nice to see The Stallyns staying busy, and if you've missed the three known Saturday bands during the pandemic, get ready for some surf rock action, and welcome Taylor & Mitch to Handsome Sandwich, plus Arthur & Chris to The Soo Fighters! At press time, the other seven River Stage acts have not publically stated what day or time they're playing, but keep tabs on their social media accounts, plus Northern Vibe pages for further updates, and I'll try and let everyone know if I hear anything. Three of the seven are touring acts from Sudbury, including new "northern soul rock n' roll" supergroup Harvey King & The Grindstone (who are promoted highly in advertising), alternative/world solo musician Matt Foy (replacing pre-pandemic touring favourites Dany Laj & The Looks), and funk rock one-man-band Dr. Bong, so it'll be nice to see some out-of-town attractions again after a long break!

The remaining four local bands playing in Ophir this weekend are horror punk quintet Frightlight in their first show in almost two years (they are likely to be in a nighttime timeslot), alt-punk trio A Dire Setback in their first concert since releasing their debut CD, the second live concert appearance from new (and online page-less) local punk/folk supergroup Jonesy Land, and the debut of new local rock quintet Lockdown, featuring 3/4ths of The Soo Fighters covering many other bands. Nice to see so many familiar faces back for a normal-ish concert, let alone of this scale, and it sounds like there will be something for everyone, even if I don't know when everyone is playing! Sadly, ticket sales for the Northern Vibe Festival closed this morning, but they were $100 for the full weekend experience or $60 for Saturday, and nothing was offered for Friday or Sunday alone. Yes, this is a 19+ event.

Click here for event ground rules, including directions to Poplardale Road in Ophir (an hour east of the Soo), what to bring and what not to bring, and so forth. Remember, this is an outdoor event, and the weather forecasts are calling for rain off and on all weekend, especially tomorrow, so be prepared for the elements. Of course, please use common sense re: the pandemic, and wear a face mask when seeing vendors or when not socially distancing (there will also be sanitization stations set up). Hopefully Northern Vibe VI is a huge success as they get back to bringing live music to the outskirts of Bruce Mines once again, and there's a stacked lineup playing this weekend to boot! I just hope everyone has a safe time, both regarding the pandemic and just in terms of respecting the environment, and that it doesn't rain too much. Visit the above links for current and continuing details on the festival, here's Frightlight live, and stay tuned for more weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!