LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Double Down & The Wyld Stallyns), Weekend Concert Previews, And New Videos!!

With the Labour Day weekend in the books, the fall concert season is definitely upon us, and things will definitely quiet down as such, but there are still big shows ahead! One (Tuesday's Sparrow Blue-headlined concert at Soo Blaster) will be previewed early next week, in case you were wondering on timing. There's a lot of heavier-leaning cover action to look for, so let's lead off with SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!

Local funk/hard rock cover sextet The Wyld Stallyns will return to the stage TOMORROW NIGHT at The Water Tower Pub! Apologies for the short notice, the band only announced this show via their Facebook event page yesterday, but at least they acknowledged it, as the band has not always done so online. Unless something took place there that we completely missed since, this will be The Stallyns' first show at The Water Tower Pub since March of last year, with a gig there in May 2022 being cancelled on late notice.  Fresh off of their Friday headlining duties at last month's Northern Vibe Festival, hopefully the Speers' and company deliver a fun night of hard rock-leaning covers for central fans TOMORROW! Be advised that when originally promoting this concert on Facebook, this image was used of a recent gig without saxophonist Josh Norling, but an image with him was used for the Facebook event page instead.

Whether one or the other is indicative of him playing TOMORROW, I can't say, but he has has missed Wyld Stallyns gigs before. A one-nighter due to Silent 9's show there on Saturday (preview coming in a second), TOMORROW'S festivities are at 8:00 PM with a 19+ age limit and no cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, and here's The Stallyns live!

Next up, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down will return to the stage by heading to Reggie's Place for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Again, apologies for the short notice, these shows were only announced on the band's Facebook page on Sunday. Last seen at Rotaryfest in July, the band strongly implied that they took a summer break after that set, but Joel, Adam, Brad, and Ric are back for the fall season, with TOMORROW & SATURDAY's shows joined by next week's previously announced shows at The Esquire Club, with more presumably to come. Double Down's skilled and well tested brand of rock should attract a good audience at Reggie's this weekend, so if you've missed them there over the past three months, you know where to be TOMORROW & SATURDAY! These too are 19+ events with no cover charge and 9:00 PM start times. See above for more details, and here's a new video of them live earlier this year!

Shot at their Jay's Piston Broke Pub show on July 7th by attendee Michael Alexander, and publically shared on the band's Facebook page after the fact, this sees the guys covering Lonnie & Ed Young's "Chevrolet" with Joel Syrette on lead vocals, and this is clearly a common choice to be filmed, as a take of it at Jay's the previous month was already posted online. Michael had better recording quality and a (thankfully) horizontal camera angle to work with here, but unfortunately, Michael's upload settings for the video don't allow external embedding. Check it out above, and for a preview, here's the June take of "Chevrolet" shot at Jay's by Beej Syrette!

Moving to shows that had more than five days' notice, we'll next look at fellow local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck's return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! Last seen this past weekend at Jay's Piston Broke Pub, this will be Soundcheck's first gig at the Dennis Street nightclub since playing a full weekend there in July. This time, it is just a one-nighter, as all of their September band bookings are, and while Shooters proper have not elaborated as to why, drummer Glen Thomas noted on his personal Facebook page that the venue is hosting a DJ on Saturdays this month. Time will tell if that is the new normal there or just trying something different, but if you want to see (most of) Soundcheck on a second night this week, you can catch them back at Jay's tonight as their usual jam night hosts. Their varied blend of classic and hard rock hits, and even some country, will pull a crowd tomorrow night!

Tomorrow's Shooters concert has a 19+ age limit, 9:00 PM start time, and no cover charge. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details on this event, and for a preview, here's Soundcheck live!

Finally for this weekend's known hard rock concert previews, you can see ex-Soundcheck bassist Paul Belair's new band Silent 9 make their solo headlining debut THIS SATURDAY NIGHT when they rock The Water Tower Pub! Private gigs aside, this will be your first chance to see Silent 9 live since they opened for Cory Marks in July, and fans of drummer Steve Porco's old band Obsession will remember that band playing at this venue on occasion (though they never played there during singer Jess Amadio's 2022-2023 run). While The Water Tower Pub hosts different bands on Fridays & Saturdays by design, starting with a one-nighter will be a good way for Silent 9 to show what they've got as they fully enter the weekend cover circuit, so don't miss out on Great Northern Road on Saturday! Like above, expect this 19+ show to have no cover charge and an 8:00 PM start time. See above for more details, and here's a new live video of Silent 9!

As hinted above, Silent 9 have been playing private events in the past month, and they posted a video from another one onto their Facebook page last week, this time covering Bruno Mars' "Locked Out Of Heaven" outside of a house. Definitely a surprise cover, but their setlist does have a few poppier/more modern cuts, and it is done in suitably upbeat fashion! While the video runs for just 27 seconds, it uniquely has the camera pulling away from the stage on a boat from the waterfront like with their prior "Crazy Train" video from a different private outdoor gig. Points for originality, though I'd be very surprised if someone gets a similar video on Saturday! Give it a look for yourself below!

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