LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tarnished & Heavy Lies The Crown), This Weekend's Concert Previews, And More!!

Before we begin our weekend concert previews, we have a cancellation to take note of, as reunited Sault Ontario hard rock band Half Past are apparently not playing at Shooters Downstairs Lounge tomorrow night. The Facebook event page for that show was quietly deleted by the venue, and the band never acknowledged the concert on their own Facebook page. No reason was given for the cancellation, but for their first gig in almost 12 years, the lack of promotion was definitely suspect. When they are ready to return, expect lots of hype! Now, here's what you should know for announced hard rock shows in the area this weekend, starting with LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, one on SHORT NOTICE!

St. Ignace, Michigan metalcore band Heavy Lies The Crown will play a public event in their hometown THIS SATURDAY NIGHT, namely the 2nd Street Music Festival! Apologies for the short notice, the band first announced this on their Facebook page last Wednesday, but I wanted to get more information just in case. As you may know, H.L.T.C. almost exclusively play concerts downstate due to a lack of available opportunities in the E.U.P. (they also can't easily enter Canada), so their few gigs in this peninsula have tended to be private outdoor affairs. Not on SATURDAY, with this concert seeing them actually playing on a proper outdoor stage that is open to the public at 376 North 2nd Street, which is a bit south of Chain Lake. Like their past private events in St. Ignace, this is a multi-genre affair, as they'll be joined by local classic rock cover band Aisle8, acoustic rock musician Austin "Grayham" Graham (who has played some heavier covers live), and cover band Just Jammin'.

This all goes down on SATURDAY at 5:00 PM, there's no advertised cover charge, and this should be all ages. If you're coming from the Soo, the ideal exit off of the I-75 would be exit 345, and 9&10 News is calling for mostly cloudy weather in St. Ignace with a high of 79° (26° Celsius). As best as I can tell, Heavy Lies The Crown are headlining the 2nd Street Music Festival, so it'll build to their brutal original metal nicely! It'll be nice for E.U.P. fans to be able to not have to drive 2+ hours and pay bridge fare twice to see H.L.T.C. in concert, and it'll be a solid showcase for St. Ignace musical talent, so definitely visit the official Facebook event page for details, and here's Heavy Lives The Crown! See what I did there?

Next up, local metal/hard rock quartet Tarnished will return to The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT, but in terms of a new confirmation, they will return to nearby Rudyard on Saturday, August 19th at Huck's Pub & Grill... or rather, outside of it! While the former Joe's Bar is no stranger to hosting live bands inside, they do have an outdoor stage that they'll use on occasion in the summer, and Tarnished will get to rock out there in two weeks, weather permitting! Should be a fun time for fans of their hard rocking covers and solid originals, so don't miss out then! One assumes that they'll just move indoors if rain occurs. That show has a 9:00 PM start time, 21+ age limit, and no cover, but before that, remember that their previously announced Rapids Lounge dates in the Soo are this weekend, so if you're further north or prefer the casino, keep tomorrow & Saturday's Soo Kewadin dates in mind!

While fans in Sault Ste. Marie just saw Tarnished live at The Merch two weeks ago, these will be their first Kewadin dates in town since the Memorial Day long weekend. Like in Rudyard later this month, expect no cover, 21+ age limits, and 9:00 PM start times tomorrow and Saturday night. Visit the above links for more details on all of Tarnished's announced August dates in our area, and here they are live!

Now let's head north to Sault Ontario for some linked shows, starting with local acoustic classic/hard rock musician Tym Morrison's next concert in his weekly seasonal run at The Mike Case Memorial Stage outside of The Trading Post TOMORROW! This is stop #5 in this year's regular arrangement at the outdoor stage way down Great Northern Road, which runs at least through the end of the month, and it should prove to be a fun way for fans to check out his rock cover favourites! For a third straight week, Tym is double booked tomorrow, as he'll be zipping downtown for a full band concert tomorrow night that we'll be previewing in a second, so it'll be a bit of a trek if you want to pull the double. This all ages concert has a 7:00 PM start time and no cover charge, while 9&10 News is calling for sunny weather in the 22° range. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Tym live!

When Tym finishes up at The Trading Post, he'll make his way downtown to join his Nostalgic Band bandmates Randy "Dutch" Vanderploeg and Chet Dziergas for shows at Reggie's Place TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Again, this will be the third straight week where Tym is playing solo and with his band on the same night, but unlike the last two weeks, they are definitely doubling up for public gigs this weekend. so you have options if Friday doesn't work for you, or if you just want to spread things out. Tomorrow and Saturday's concerts have 9:30 PM start times, no cover charges, and 19+ age limits. For more details on the festivities at Reggie's this weekend, visit the official Facebook event page, and for a preview, here's a new live video from The Nostalgic Band's Facebook group! Dutch posted this on Monday, and it comes from a private gig that they played this past weekend.

The video has The Nostalgic Band tackling Deep Purple's "Highway Star", and everyone sounds good on this strongly performed cover! That's beneficial given the muddy and dark video quality, though post-production zooms are attempted. Give it a watch below, and don't miss The Nostalgic Band's classic metal and hard rock attack at Reggie's this weekend!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site soon! Thanks everyone!