LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Josey Scott's Saliva & Generations)!!

(Updated at 4:09 PM) Two topic post on this Monday afternoon, devoted to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS on two fronts, including expected weekend cover action and some unexpected attractions at a relatively underutilized locale, so with all of that said, here's what you should know!

New local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations have announced their third and fourth public concert weekends, which will take place on Friday, May 19th & Saturday, May 20th at Reggie's Place over the Victoria Day long weekend, and then on May 26th-27th at The Esquire Club! The Jus' Chillin successors were last seen at The Esquire Club in late April (with guest Michael Yurich subbing in for Brandon on a few songs), and while I'm a little surprised that it took this long to book new gigs, hopefully their next shows are even better! Remember that this is the new band from ex-Obsession singer Valerie Powley, but unlike their last Esquire Club gigs, the Memorial Day weekend is not one that Obsession announced for their scuttled 2023 concert slate last year. All four of Generations' May shows have 9:30 PM-ish start times, no cover charges, and 19+ age limits. Visit their Facebook group for more details on Generations' upcoming live dates!

Next up, a very surprising show was announced this morning for The Machine Shop (well, outside of it, weather permitting) on Saturday, June 24th, as Memphis hard rock band Saliva will return to our area for a headlining concert on that night... kind of! While the version of the band that we saw at Muddfest at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino in November 2019 plans to live on after the death of guitarist Wayne Swinny earlier this year, we are instead getting Josey Scott's Saliva, a new alternate version of the band led by their original frontman, who left Saliva in 2013 and was not at Muddfest. Last month, Josey began announcing a tour under the Josey Scott's Saliva name (I'm not sure if this is the same band as his recently announced Shade Violet or a separate act), so while no one from Muddfest will perform with this version of Saliva next month, the original voice will be here doing hits like "Click Click Boom" & "Always"!

Note that in the above tour poster, the show is listed to be taking place at The Rankin Arena on Batchewana Street, which would be interesting, but the Facebook event page confirms that it'll be at The Machine Shop. Two more touring bands will make their way north for this show, including Detroit hard rock quintet Sponge (best known from their mid-1990s hits "Plowed" and "Molly [16 Candles Down The Drain]") and Louisville, Kentucky post-grunge quartet Tantric (of "Breakdown" fame), who did play at Muddfest. A lot of hard rock radio favourites are in store from those three bands, so don't miss their Sault Ontario debuts next month! Local support will come from two bands, including local/Barrie crossover thrash quintet Spades GT in their first show in Sault Ste. Marie city limits since the former Jack Spades' last pre-pandemic gigs in late 2019, and their first local show since The Northern Vibe Festival last year!

This will also be your first local chance to see them with new bassist James Roy Daley and since Jay Sarrazin moved to guitar, and of course, it'll be their first local date since the expected release of their "Sewer City Radio" album later this month, so how's this for a return? Remember, Spades GT are not playing Northern Vibe this year. Local southern hard rock quintet Fort Creek will open the proceedings, and given their studio work and their own rising profile, they'll set the tone well next month! This event marks the post-pandemic return to hard rock concert promotion by Sault Michigan-based promoters Superior Entertainment, who are not completely new to cross-border bookings, having presented the Dokken/Firehouse concert at GFL Memorial Gardens in 2017. The show will be moved inside The Machine Shop at 83 Huron Street if weather permits, but it'll ideally be outdoors.

Ticket prices are not out for this all ages concert yet, but Superior Entertainment head Robin Cook said on the Facebook event page that "I'm keeping prices as low as possible". Definitely a surprising announcement on multiple fronts, and hopefully it's a huge show for Sault Ontario hard rock fans, especially with this intriguing lineup, so visit the above links for continuing updates, and we'll have more on "Sewer City Radio" on the site shortly, and more news and notes tomorrow! Thanks everyone!