LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Fort Creek) & More Rotaryfest Concert Previews!!

Keeping our busy, busy slate of weekend concert previews going, today's post will be devoted primarily to bands playing at Rotaryfest's second and third nights, so here's what you should know about most of the remaining action at Clergue Park, plus a linked SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!

Local southern hard rock quintet Fort Creek will return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced via the venue's Facebook event page on Wednesday. Last seen opening for Sandman this past weekend, TOMORROW'S show will be Fort Creek's first at the Dennis Street nightclub in three months, and is a one nighter due to or resulting in TONIGHT's also short notice Handsome Sandwich show there. However, this will be Fort Creek's second show TOMORROW, following their previously announced Rotaryfest Stage 1 debut at 3:00 PM at Clergue Park (preview ahead), so to account for the busier schedule, the Shooters show will take place an hour later at 9:00 PM. Otherwise, this is a normal date with a 19+ age limit, no cover charge, and yes, another merchandise giveaway.

Fort Creek are ones to stay busy, as TOMORROW'S double booking shows us, and with their own rising profile and solid hard rock sound, they should deliver at Shooters to end the night! Hopefully they can successfully pull in a strong crowd opposite Queen Flash and Bone Yard way down Bay Street. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Fort Creek live!

Next up, let's look at night #2 of Rotaryfest's Stage 1 entertainment beside the Centennial Library, as TONIGHT's six band lineup includes a couple of heavier-leaning acts! Headlining tonight at 10:00 PM are veteran classic rock quartet Angry Joe & The Growlers in their festival debut, while Stage 1 mainstays Mustang Heart will hit the stage at 9:00 PM, having only missed the festival once (in 2019) since debuting at Rotaryfest back in 2004. Mustang Heart do have some heavier covers in their back pocket, so don't write them off! Prolific local/Thompson, Manitoba alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith will make his Stage 1 debut at 8:00 PM in the long delayed full-band show he's been hyping since the pandemic began, with A Dire Setback's Chris Nielsen & Matt Quinn and ex-Din drummer Brandan Glew backing him up on cuts from his newest solo albums. This'll be a big one, don't bypass Mike's big homecoming tomorrow evening, and plugged-in too!

Fresh off of the Downtown Street Party, classic/hard rock quartet Obsession (with guest musician Jessica Amadio) will play their twelfth Rotaryfest set since 2008 at 7:00 PM, so they should have a strong block of hard rocking covers then! Classic rock quartet RPM will play their second Stage 1 set at 6:00 PM, while Obsession frontwoman Valerie Powley's classic rock/R&B side project Ladies Sing The Blues will make their festival debut at 5:00 PM. Definitely a stacked and diverse lineup as usual, with a heavier middle for SMS diehards, and this is FREE & ALL AGES once again, with 9&10 News calling for partly cloudy weather from 18-24°. See above for more details, and here's Mike & crew jamming!

Before we move on to Saturday, just a reminder that the returning original-focused Stage 2 beside the Art Gallery of Algoma will kick off tonight with Friday Night Blues sponsored by the Sault Blues Society! This is the only stage lineup this year with no hard rock or punk acts, but blues fans can enjoy Rusty McCarthy, Smokehouse, Big Wheel & The Spokes, and The Swamp Cats from 5:30 PM onward, and with Rusty and The Spokes involved, it especially feels like Second Stages of yore! See above for full details on tonight's Stage 2 action, again free and all ages!

As for TOMORROW'S Stage 1 lineup, it is the longest as usual, with ten scheduled acts playing all day long, and the night ends (as it did last year) with southern hard rock band Bone Yard at 10:30 PM, and their slimmed down trio lineup should end things with a bang via their classic cover set! After not bringing in featured touring bands last year, Rotaryfest will welcome Montreal-based Queen tribute band Queen Flash to Stage 1 at 8:30 PM, just two months after Queen: It's A Kinda Magic played here at the former Kiwanis Theater. Queen Flash are a distinct and also very talented tribute that will deliver the goods for Queen fans, so don't bypass them tomorrow! Local classic rock notables Mid Life Crysis will make their ninth Stage 1 appearance at 7:10 PM, following a set by former Staggered Crossing frontman Julian Taylor, whose Toronto-based Juno nominated roots & folk music will be sure to turn heads at 6:00 PM!

Country musician Brendan Hodgson will play Rotaryfest for the second straight year in the 5:00 PM timeslot, while Stage 1 musical director KT Antler and Machines Dream guitarist Keith Conway will play a special duo set at 4:00 PM, replacing The Sidekicks. The aforementioned Fort Creek will make their Rotaryfest debut at 3:00 PM, and while I can't confirm another merch giveaway, their upward trajectory and hard rocking covers should find an audience before they head to Shooters! New classic rock/blues cover trio All The Tired Horses (featuring Treble Charger & Id Iota alumni) will also play Stage 1 for the first time at 2:00 PM, as will classic country duo The Jeff & Jeff Show at 1:00 PM. Lastly, 1970s nine-piece classic rock group Pegasus will reunite again to kick things off at 12:00 PM with their horn laden cover set, as you may have seen here in 2018 for the Rotaryfest Rewind schedule.

Another stacked lineup of bands to end Rotaryfest with tomorrow night, with a little something for everyone and some hard rock sprinkled throughout! Again, this is free & all ages, the Take Your Pick drawing will take place after Bone Yard's set, and 9&10 News is calling for very similar weather as tonight, but it will peak higher at 26°. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Queen Flash live!

That's all for today, but our weekend concert preview crush continues tomorrow morning with Rotaryfest Stage 2 on Sunday, plus extra shows taking place Saturday and Sunday outside of the festival, so stay tuned for them then! Thanks everyone!