With the Rotaryfest weekend concert preview barrage finally over, we can start clearing out our news and video backlog (if slowly), so let's start on the right foot with three LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for big touring bands at the same venue in the coming months! Rounding things out is an admittedly overdue plug for a contest that a few familiar local faces have entered, so here's what you should know!
Toronto metal legends
Anvil will return to
Soo Blaster
for their fifth modern era concert appearance in Sault Ste. Marie on
Saturday, August 27th! Fans will have seen the "Metal On Metal" pioneers
and documentary stars at different venues in 2012, 2014, and 2015,
before rocking Soo Blaster in June 2019, so it'll be great to see Lips,
Chris, and Robb play established songs and material from their new CD
"Impact Is Imminent" next month! Opening bands have not been announced
at press time, but for reference, Jack Spades (now
Spades GT)
opened for Anvil at their last three local dates, and their current
drummer just so happens to be Anvil drummer Robb Reiner's son Tyler.
Also, keep in mind that Spades GT will return to town that same weekend
for
the Northern Vibe Festival in Ophir, so yeah, coincidence or not, the timing is noted! We'll keep you posted when/if opening bands are clarified either way.
Tickets will cost $20 in advance or $25 at the door (which is on par from 2019), and they will be on sale at this link, but at press time, they were not on sale online yet. Yes, I saw the No Hits show
coming up this weekend, and I wish the local openers had said something before
now, but look for more on that soon. This is a 19+ show, and
doors open at 7:00 PM. Should be a good time for fans of old school metal, especially given Anvil's fun nature and influence on bigger bands in their wake, so don't miss out on their latest Soo stop next month, and see above for more details!
Next up, Oshawa hard rock icons
The Killer Dwarfs will return to Soo Blaster themselves on Tuesday, September 13th! Announced just last week via
this image (the show has since been moved a day ahead to accommodate a White River booking the previous night), this will be The Dwarfs' first local appearance since headlining at Soo Blaster in April 2019, a show that got a great reception at the time for their fun-loving old school sound, built on hits like "Dirty Weapons" and "Keep the Spirit Alive", and it'll be great to see them back in town this fall after three+ years! No word on a possible opening band yet, but note that the now-defunct Re:Born opened the 2019 show. Like then, this concert is presented by Ernest Skinner of
Border City Rock Talk, so you might see some advance interviews with the band there in due course, knowing the big gets he often talks to there (he even interviewed
Randy Rhoads' siblings in his newest video!)
This stop on The Killer Dwarfs' 40 Years Still Standing Tall Tour has a 19+ age limit, and doors open at 7:00 PM. Tickets currently cost $22.23 at this link, with a $319 VIP package also available, but note that the above-linked image for the old September 12th date lists a presumably in-person-only advance fee of $19.50 that jumps to $30 on September 1st. There is no such advertised price jump on that date on Eventbrite, so keep that in mind just in case. More good times ahead for classic metal fans in the Soo, so see above for more details, but that's not quite all!
There's more hard rock tribute action hitting Soo Blaster this fall, as Sudbury-based Def Leppard tribute band
Just Leppard will return to town on Saturday, November 12th, but this time, they aren't coming alone, as
The AC/DC Show will also be joining them in their own local debut! Both are relatively new tribute bands, though Just Leppard have played here at The Canadian and The Rockstar Bar in 2019 & last year, and their faithful take on Def Leppard's hair metal classics should find an audience once again! Guitarist Gino del Sole is in both bands, and while Sault Ste. Marie is no stranger to AC/DC tributes (Who Made Who and Hells Bells have each played here multiple times in the last 15 years), The AC/DC Show deliver a similarly fitting version of their high voltage rock 'n roll, so don't bypass either band if you're fans of the real thing! Not every day that two tribute bands play the same show here, after all.
Tickets for this 19+, 7:00 PM show are not on sale yet, but head to this link for updates on that front, and also keep tabs on the Facebook event page. Note that both of Just Leppard's prior local dates had $15 advance tickets and a $20 door charge, but neither of those had a second band, so it could well be higher. This should be a fun time for 1980s hard rock fans, and it'll be interesting to compare and contrast The AC/DC Show from prior AC/DC tributes that have played here, so stay tuned for updates!
To close today's post, let's
finally address something that fans of these two bands have been getting steady reminders about as of late, as local party metal duo
The Apocalypse Afterparty and punk/alternative quintet
These Magnificent Tentacles have both entered
The Opening Act, an Audacy-hosted contest to find a band to open at the ninth annual
We Can Survive, a massive charity concert at The Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California for suicide prevention causes this fall. Given the distance and the lack of a sonic link to either band for genres (none of the 2021 We Can Survive acts would normally be covered on the SMS), this seems like a long shot, but as a wise woman once said, "Shoot your shot!" Both bands, along with local indie/pop rock musician
Jesse Merineau, have entered The Opening Act, and while I don't know how Audacy is separating the acts by "group", Jesse is currently second place in
his group!
The Afterparty are sixth in their group at press time, and the Tentacles are thirteenth in theirs. The winner of The Opening Act also gets $10,000 USD, so stakes are high, and you can cast daily votes (with verification) via the band names linked above, or cast "Together Votes" by donating to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (each $1 donated = a vote). SooToday's Chris Belsito covered the contest (sans The A.A.) at this link, featuring remarks from Jesse and Tentacles guitarist Steve Edwards about why they entered and their recent activity, so don't bypass it either! Vote if you can for all three, and we'll see what happens, as only the top 20 bands advance when this round closes on Thursday!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for a couple of mid-week concert previews and new videos on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!
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