LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (A Dire Setback) And Friday Night Concert Previews!!

Before we begin this post, just a heads up that the advertised Fort Creek concert at Shooters Downstairs Lounge on Saturday has indeed been cancelled. This may not be shocking if you saw the local southern hard rock quintet's announcement on their Facebook page last month that they were taking a break until "late fall", but Shooters had posted a Facebook event page for the show previously, so there was a chance that the band forgot about the booking and could still honour it. The event page has since been deleted, so clearly their break forced Saturday's gig to be scrapped. Hopefully Fort Creek do indeed come back later this year!

Now, today's post is half focused on weekend concert previews (Soundcheck's and Slumshine's will be covered in an upcoming post, don't worry!), but let's lead off with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback will play just their third pandemic-era concert when they take part in another charity benefit show for late Manitoulin Island rapper Zachary "$onny Vybe$" Cywink on Friday, September 23rd, this time at the Johnson Township Community Center in nearby Desbarats! Last seen at the Northern Vibe Festival in Ophir, A Dire Setback will again head east of the Soo for this gig, another mixed-genre affair like the ones at The Rockstar Bar that Handsome Sandwich played at. No word on if that nightclub's live band hiatus since May played a part in the atypical venue, but hosting this in Desbarats would be a little more accessible to $onny Vybe$' family and friends who aren't local.

For the record, another $onny Vybe$ benefit (albeit with no rock acts) was held at the Sault Ste. Marie Museum last month, so that makes five benefits in his name for his Soo-area friends and fans since his untimely passing (I missed one, evidently, my count was four). Either way, not bad for a non-local performer, Zach clearly made an impact! Like at the Rockstar Bar shows, the mixed genre aspect basically means one rock band (A Dire Setback this time) alongside area hip hop artists, this time including Rick E, Bold Noize, Oh Zee, James Stuart, and DJ AngelAzura. Presented by Sooicide Records, this all ages concert has a 7:00 PM start time next Friday and a $5 admission fee, with all proceeds going to to the Ngwaagan Gamig Recovery Centre in Wikwemikong on Manitoulin Island. A canned food drive will also take place for Harvest Algoma, so consider bringing non-perishable food for the cause also!

As for the venue, the Johnson Township Community Center is the hockey arena in Desbarats at 1 Cameron Road, and is a scant 2 minute drive from Central Algoma Secondary School (Desbarats proper is a 40 minute drive from the Soo, roughly between Laird & Bruce Mines). Should be a fun time for rap and punk fans alike to support some great causes, and even after all these benefit shows, hopefully the Cywink family and Zach's friends continue to enjoy the support and recognition in the Soo and Central Algoma! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and stay tuned for more from A Dire Setback soon!

Now let's dive into a pair of weekend concert previews for TOMORROW NIGHT, both mercifully with advance notice, and we'll start with southern hard rock trio Bone Yard, who will break from their recent run of private gigs for a publically attendable show at Shooters Downstairs Lounge! A one-nighter due to or resulting in their acoustic side project The Bearded Lounge playing at the OLG Casino on Saturday (remember, Fort Creek are not playing Shooters that night), this will be Bone Yard's first show on a public stage since rocking the Dennis Street venue three weeks ago. While Bone Yard sound happy with how their run of private gigs has been going, it will be nice to see Greg, Alex, and Warren play a normal concert again, and hopefully a solid crowd comes out for their hard rocking cover attack tomorrow! As teased in this short "reel" video, they will be giving away band logo stickers as well tomorrow, so keep that in mind.

As usual for Shooters gigs, this concert will have a 9:00 PM start time, no cover charge, and a 19+ age limit. No word on when we'll see Bone Yard next, so with more private gigs teased, get it while the getting's good tomorrow night at Shooters! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Bone Yard live!

Lastly for today, local funk/hard rock cover band The Wyld Stallyns will return to their most frequent stomping grounds TOMORROW NIGHT, namely The Whisky Barrel on Gore Street! This will be their first show of the fall season after a busy summer of normal gigs and community events alike, and miraculously, the band did indeed plug the show on Facebook, so fans who don't frequent the venue's Facebook page will have heard about it! Last seen at the downtown Scottish-themed nightclub in July, fans will have last seen The Stallyns at The Northern Vibe Festival three weeks ago. Note that the band's own post about tomorrow's concert specifically says that the "full band (will be) crammed in the Whisky", implying that bassist Alex White will be on hand (remember that their shows at this venue have tended to be acoustic and have historically not had a bassist). As usual, this 8:00 PM concert has a 19+ age limit and no cover charge.

The Wyld Stallyns' crowd-friendly and often hard-edged batch of covers should go over well at The Whisky Barrel once again tomorrow night, so don't miss out on all of the action then, see above for more details, and here are The Stallyns live earlier this summer!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our Soundcheck and Slumshine previews (and more) tomorrow! Thanks everyone!