LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Generations), Weekend Concert Previews, And Some Cancellations!!

Before we begin this weekend's concert previews, just a heads up that local classic metal trio The Nostalgic Band have cancelled all of their upcoming concerts, as per their respective Facebook event pages (or deletions thereof) in the past week. Affected dates include tomorrow, November 3rd-4th, and December 8th-9th at Jay's Piston Broke Pub, October 13th & December 22nd at Shooters Downstairs Lounge, October 20th & 21st at Reggie's Place, and the recently announced continuation of their Thursday jam night hosting duties at Reggie's, whose (deleted) Facebook page had them blocked there into 2024. Reasons for the mass cancellations weren't announced, but hopefully things aren't as serious as all of these dates being rapidly called off may suggest. Fingers crossed that we see The Nostalgic Band back on stage when the time is right, as they are a talented group!

Otherwise, let's dive into this weekend's hard rock concert previews, in a relatively quiet weekend that primarily sees cover-centric bands taking the stage on both sides of the border, so here's what you should know!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations will return to the stage at Reggie's Place TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, these shows were announced on the band's Facebook group on the 11th but completely slipped us by at the time.  After taking two weekends off (with singer Valerie Powley resuming her judging duties at The Soo's Got Talent in the interim), these will be the Jus' Chillin successors' first shows at Reggie's in three months, which is kind of surprising! They also dropped out of dates there in July due to a scheduling conflict. As such, these will be their first gigs at this Queen Street staple with new guitarist Tony Kajnar. and hopefully he, Valerie, Pierre, and Tony S. deliver a solid weekend of classic and hard rock hits for fans there TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Expect 9:00 PM start times, 19+ age limits, and no cover. See above for more details, and here's Generations live!

Next up, let's head down the road to Shooters Downstairs Lounge, where newer local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9 will make their debut at this Dennis Street nightclub TOMORROW NIGHT! Last seen two weeks ago at The Water Tower Pub, this will be the first solo headlining date for the Obsession successors at a downtown locale, and following a positive reception to their prior public and private sets, hopefully Jess, Ryan, Paul, and Steve keep the good vibes going with their eclectic but often heavy setlist tomorrow! A one-nighter due to Shooters' reported move to having a DJ on Saturdays this fall instead, tomorrow's concert has an 8:00 PM start time, no cover charge, and a 19+ age limit. Visit the band's Facebook page for more details, and for a preview, here's a new video from a recent private gig of theirs! Well, maybe not "private", but given the nature of it, I didn't want to treat it like anyone could go see it.

On September 9th, Silent 9 served as musical entertainment at the postponed Family Fun Day at (well, outside of) Algoma Steel, which was really not intended for the general public, just plant employees and their families, hence my reticence to cover it here. We can get a glimpse of the festivities via this 90 seconds-long Facebook video of Silent 9 covering Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead Or Alive" on an outdoor stage, which sounds good with strong vocals and guitar work in particular! The square Instagram dimensions are preferable to a vertical cell phone aspect ratio (watermark acknowledged), but the placement of the filmer doesn't help us see drummer Steve Porco very well. Give it a look for yourself below!

Now let's head south to Sault Michigan, where local hard rock quintet The Nameless will play their first ever (publically announced) headlining concert TOMORROW NIGHT at The Merchants Bar! Last seen at the Sugar Island Music Festival last month (apologies again for missing that on the site), this will be their first concert in city limits since opening for Scotty Austin at The Savoy Bar back in March. The Nameless don't play live all that often, but they do have a talented lineup and have shared the stage on a handful of big multi-band events, so hopefully they leave a good impression at The Merch tomorrow! Everything goes down at 108 West Spruce Street tomorrow at 9:00 PM with a 21+ age limit and no cover charge. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, click here to watch their full debut concert set last year! I can't embed it here due to copyrighted music over the P.A. at the start of the video.

Finally for today, let's head even further south to St. Ignace, where Manistique hard rock cover duo Fyrbird will return to The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! While seen more often in the E.U.P. if you count dates in Luce County and western Chippewa & Mackinac County that are over an hour's drive from the Soo, these will be their first gigs at the St. Ignace Kewadin since May. Not having played closer in the interim, this should be worth attending for fans of Jamie and Rikk's minimalistic but hard hitting brand of hard rock and classic rock covers! These are 9:00 PM events with no announced cover charge, and you must be 21 or older to attend, and if you can't make it to these dates, Fyrbird will be at the Sault Kewadin in two weeks. See above for more details, and here's Fyrbird live!

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