LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Soundcheck), Weekend Concert Previews, And More!!

A relatively quiet concert weekend lies ahead in the Twin Saults, albeit the calm before the Halloween weekend storm. Still, I am holding one big event for tomorrow's post, namely the semifinals of The Soo's Got Talent, as I was waiting for as much public video from round #2 to turn up, but did it? Stay tuned then, but now let's dive into traditional hard rock concerts this weekend, and some details on a major local development that may have SMS ties in time, but first, here's SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return to Jay's Piston Broke Pub for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the band only announced the dates via their Facebook event page yesterday, but at least they made one for them! The guys (sans Cameron) will also be hosting jam night there tonight as usual, and while we don't consider jam/open mic nights as "concerts" due to their in-built unpredictability, Soundcheck are calling this their "triple decker weekend" at Jay's. This should be a fine weekend for fans of Soundcheck's classic and hard rock cover attack, so don't miss out on all of the action TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT, perhaps also including jam night tonight if you don't mind seeing mystery guests join in for mystery covers! These are 19+ events at 9:30 PM with no cover charge. See above for details, and here's Soundcheck live!

Next up, here's some shows that had prior notice, starting with local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard returning to Shooters Downstairs Lounge for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! This will be Bone Yard's first gig at the Dennis Street nightclub in two months, and is a one-nighter as usual for this venue this season due to Shooters hosting DJs on most Saturdays. If you'd enjoy seeing Greg, Alex, and Warren unleash some hard rocking classic and southern rock hits, you know where to be tomorrow! Note that Bone Yard have confirmed that they will return to Toystock at The Grand Gardens North on Sunday, November 26th, as per their updated Facebook concert calendar pictured here, but I'm waiting for the full lineup announcement before going into details on the SMS. Tomorrow's Shooters show is at 9:00 PM with a 19+ age limit and no cover. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Bone Yard live at Shooters in the summer!

Also this weekend, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations will return to The Esquire Club for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Postponed a week due to the band trading weekends there with The Steeltown Playboys, fans of their first few months together will especially want to take notice of tomorrow's show, as drummer Tony Santoro revealed on their Facebook group yesterday that original guitarist Brandon Ruch will return to fill in for an absent Tony Kajnar. This is a one-night-only switch (the band didn't say why Tony K. will be unavailable), but it'll be neat to see Brandon back! Both Tonys will be present on Saturday. Just to clarify scheduling, it does look like singer Valerie Powley will be 100% available on Saturday too, as The Soo's Got Talent's semifinals (where she is judging) begin at 6:30 PM at Soo Blaster and are projected to wrap up in time for her to get down to the west end. Stay tuned tomorrow for our belated round 2 coverage & semifinal preview for The Soo's Got Talent!

Generations' classic and hard rock covers can be enjoyed at The Esquire Club tomorrow and/or Saturday night at 9:30 PM, these are 19+ events, and there's no cover charge. See above for more details, and for a preview, here's a new video of Generations! This was shared to their Facebook group by Mario Naccarato, and it features the Jus' Chillin successors covering Alannah Myles' "Love Is" at Reggie's this past weekend. Rare when you Alannah covered locally, especially when it's not "Black Velvet", but Valerie is more than up to the vocal task! Alas, the vertical camera angle is not ideal, and Tony S. is completely blocked from view from where Mario was filming. Give it a look for yourselves below!

Let's close today with a topic that I have completely resisted talking about on the SMS for the longest time, namely the downtown plaza. Many will have followed the plans, delays, agreements, and construction of the plaza beside the new Soo Market at the corner of Queen Street East and Brock Street, and while a concert stage was teased as part of it since early on, I've opted not to cover the plaza on the SMS because it's not really relevant until it is. It has to get heavier bookings first, let alone open successfully, which seemed up in the air for a time as things got delayed. Local news outlets have kept fans abreast of the plaza's progress, but we got some finite plans re: concerts there, as SooToday parent company Village Media have donated $50,000 towards construction of a stage & video screen, and $100,000 towards maintenance & advertising over the next 10 years on what will be called the Village Media Stage (click here for SooToday's coverage).

The stage isn't ready yet, but the plaza will be officially opened to the public on Saturday, October 28th at 10:00 AM, and will be used in its current state as part of Halloween festivities downtown as well as Bon Soo events to be identified. I don't suspect that concerts will be on the docket until the stage is 100% complete (not to mention once winter is over), so look to the spring of 2024 at the earliest for possible concerts. I hope the plaza is a successful investment for the downtown core and for the Soo at large, and we'll let you know as SMS-relevant details come in! That's all for today, but stay tuned for The Soo's Got Talent coverage next! Thanks everyone!