LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Bone Yard, Bookclub, And Tarnished), Plus New Spades GT Videos!!

You know the summer is on the horizon when we're starting to get more LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, and not necessarily traditional ones, so some new shows make up most of today's post! Rounding things out are some new videos, so here's what you should know on this Saturday afternoon!

Online page-less local indie rock/punk supergroup Bookclub and funk/hard rock cover sextet The Wyld Stallyns will be among the musical entertainment at the 10th anniversary installment of the Sault Ste. Marie Festival of Beer, taking place on Saturday, May 6th at the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre! The idea of both bands playing at a beer-heavy event is not a new one, as they were both at Outspoken Brewing's Oktoberfest last year, followed by a LopLops Lounge gig in December, and as luck would have it, LopLops put on the Festival of Beer, so that's a natural move!  Music is not entirely new to the Festival of Beer (White Cowbell Oklahoma headlined a kickoff event for it last year), but this time, bands will be playing during the event, not unlike pre-pandemic, with Bookclub and the Stallyns also joined by young local indie rock band The Hollow Heads here. This SooToday article details much about the Festival of Beer in 2023, including what craft breweries are taking part and this year's goals.

Timeslots for the bands are not out, at least not that I have seen publically, but the festival runs from 1:00-7:00 PM at the Bushplane Museum on May 6th. Expect a 19+ age limit (obviously), and tickets run for $35 apiece ($38.15 with processing fees and such) at this link. This is more for the beer aficionado than a concertgoer, I'd imagine, but this eclectic group of live musicians should provide a fun soundtrack in three weeks, so do visit the above links for current details on the Festival of Beer!

Next up, Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Tarnished will return to The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino on Friday, May 26th & Saturday, May 27th! The band has yet to confirm these dates on their Facebook page (late notice announcements there are not unheard of), but Kewadin's entertainment page has confirmed the gigs as part of their Rapids Lounge dates through the end of next month. These will be Tarnished's first shows at the Soo Kewadin since early March, and will mark their first announced local dates since their Savoy Bar encore three weeks ago. Of course, these are also over the Memorial Day long weekend, so keep that angle in mind too, but Tarnished's hard hitting covers and originals should be a solid soundtrack to end May 2023 with no matter what! If you're up for a road trip, Tarnished will also be downstate in Grand Rapids next Sunday, which you can get details about here.

That show will see them open for Southbound Beretta and Card Reader at Turnstiles, so good to see them spreading their wings, H.L.T.C.-style! They'll also return to the Grand Marais Music Festival in the central U.P. on August 11th, which will be much closer than Grand Rapids if you're up for it, so click here for full lineup details! As for next month's Rapids Lounge dates, expect them to be 21+ affairs with no cover charges and 9:00 PM start times. Visit the above links for more on Tarnished's mid-2022 plans!

Back to Sault Ontario now for another downtown community event, as local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard will return to the Queen Street Cruise for concerts on Friday, June 16th & Saturday, June 17th! Recently taking a break from the stage while working on original material, these will be Bone Yard's fourth straight appearances at the Cruise, which debuted in 2016 and has been held annually since, barring 2020 & 2021 due to the pandemic. However, things will not be as you're used to, as the cruise will actually not be down Queen Street and ending at GFL Memorial Gardens this year. Planned construction work on Queen has led organizers to have the event based at the Roberta Bondar Pavilon with vehicles shown off along Foster Drive, though the final route for the classic car cruise proper (possibly still including part of Queen Street) is to be unveiled. This Sault Star article by Brian Kelly will fill in details about changes to expect this year.

As best as I can tell, Bone Yard will now be playing on the stage at the Pavilion, so they're at least protected from the elements under the tent this way! Like last year, their Friday show will be the nightcap at 6:30 PM during that night's actual cruise. while the Saturday gig will be a 12:30 PM matinee during the car show. Attendees can also expect a swap meet, the Sault Area Hospital 5 car draw, vendors, and more as usual. Unless registering for the car show, the Queen Street Cruise is a free & all ages event, and if you love cars and some family friendly entertainment, this should do the job, so visit the above links for continuing details!

Let's close with some new videos from local/Barrie crossover thrash quintet Spades GT, including some new "Reels" on their Facebook page! Alas, I'm not a fan of these short, vertical, and unembeddable videos, let alone ones that won't play in a different browser tab, but if you detect me being dismissive or snarky about them, it's all on Facebook for the conceit, not the bands for using what's offered on the platform. This "Reel" from Thursday features drummer Tyler "Jeeb" Reiner at an unidentified concert (no beer mishaps like in J.D.'s earlier one), while this "Reel" posted yesterday features guitartist Daniel Horton playing a solo live, and today's "Reel" has bassist James Roy Daley (a.k.a. KillRoy) playing mid-song, albeit with very muffled audio and a stippled dot filter. If the plan is to post one "Reel" per band member per day, then expect one of guitarist Jay Sarrazin tomorrow.

Is it bad that I wish these were full videos of the song(s) in question? I digress. We do have a full performance video of Spades GT to check out though, featuring the guys playing their newer original "Hands" at the Road To Lockdown Fest at The Rockpile in Toronto on April 7th! Filmed by attendee Jake Disman for his YouTube channel, the video is heavily filtered into what kind of looks like the thermal camera vision from the Predator movies, but darker and exclusively using warm colours. The audio quality is very rough too, with J.D. almost inaudible under the music, so while this isn't an ideal way to see or hear Spades GT, at least it's a full embeddable video that you can watch below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes in the days ahead! Thanks everyone!