Sunday, July 21, 2024

Rotayfest Stage 1 & 2 Concert Reviews!!

It's been too long, how does a concert review (or two? or three?!) sound? For the first time in three years, I was able to head to Rotaryfest to see live bands yesterday, but as I couldn't stay all day due to prior commitments, I found a way to see as many bands as possible: constantly switch stages! As such, while I saw no one's full set, I was able to see eight acts across the covers-leaning Stage 1 at Clergue Park beside the Centennial Library and the originals-leaning Stage 2 beside the Art Gallery of Algoma in under four hours! Honestly, I'm surprised that more reviewers, journalists, and videographers don't do this, most just stick to one stage or specific bands. My attempts to block out when I'd leave for a certain stage and back were thrown for a loop by scheduling delays on one stage, but the trek from Stage 1 to 2 and back was harmless and you could hear each stage easily without conflict for much of the walk.

The rainy weather was only a minor concern for the opening bands on both stages, and there was not a drop for the 2:00-5:00 PM bands that I was able to see. While I did get to see HeadFirst earlier today (more on that tomorrow), I of course apologize to The Northern Jazz Ensemble and the last four bands on both stages for being AWOL (especially The Gambit), but maybe I can do the double on both stages next year for longer, weather permitting! When I arrived at Clergue Park yesterday afternoon, the band in action was Steel Rock, the new Mustang Sally/Pine Tones-esque student rock band from Superior Heights Collegiate, and it bears repeating: I wish Bawating had a program like this for rock musicians in my day! The lineup for Steel Rock is very modular, with fifteen credited musicians in the program coming and going, sometimes switching roles.

I saw the kids covering songs by The Eagles, Bryan Adams, Jimmy Eat World, and Cheap Trick. Mostly using female singers, Steel Rock showed solid skill for their ages, but of course, there's a long way to go for developing stage presence and whatnot. Myself, I'd have picked some different songs to cover (I'm not a fan of "Hotel California" at all), but it'll be interesting to see how the current members of Steel Rock develop in and out of this band! To ensure that I didn't miss band #2 on Stage 2, I made my exit then to catch Miss Madii, the name given to pop rock cover band Lime for this set of original songs by frontwoman Madii Schomogyi. I missed Lime's opening set at noon on Stage 1, but everyone pulled the double here, including ex-Rising Tide guitarist Liam Seymour and former Id Iota bandmates Dan Linklater & Blair St. John on bass & drums.

Madii and the guys played four original songs when I was present, three entitled "No Man Of Mine", "Drinking To Your Name", and "Clockwork". While Lime do cover the occasional hard rock song, (Miss) Madii's originals lean to more reserved folk/indie rock territory. She does have songwriting talent drawn from real personal experiences, and she did offer some self deprecating humour when introducing them! Given her experienced bandmates, the musical quality here was sound, and while my genre preferences do lean to what Lime play, Madii is going to make some noise as original songwriters in town go! I next headed to Stage 1 to catch the early portion of classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9's debut at Rotaryfest, where I heard them cover songs by Huey Lewis & The News, The Edgar Winter Group, Maroon 5, and Cee-Lo Green, plus Guns N' Roses at set's end when trying to juggle the next two half sets on Stage 2.

Fans of classic and hard rock-leaning cover acts in town will find a lot to like with Silent 9! With a good energetic style and a nicely varied selection of covers (Maroon 5 though?). Yes, it was that Cee-Lo Green song, but it was the radio friendly version given the nature of the festival. Jess Amadio had a great stage presence on vocals and her singing was very adaptable to different genres, and Ryan Robb shone on lead guitar at various points, so if you saw their full set, you will have gotten a quality preview of their regular nightclub gigs resuming this fall! Back on Stage 2, timeslot #3 was split in half, with the first chunk going to Handsome Sandwich guitarist Brandon Ruch in his second of five sets yesterday. This was a solo set previewing songs from his debut solo album, and he was backed up here by the aforementioned Blair St. John on drums alongside Hollow Heads guitarist Ethan Roode and ex-Rising Tide bassist Marshall Jaaskelainen.

Brandon's Bookclub bandmate Josh Norling also took guest turns for this set. I only caught three named songs, one being "I Wouldn't Mind", but Brandon's solo stuff definitely reminded me of Tom Petty, and he doesn't have a bad singing voice! Definitely a musical departure from the more rock-based bands that he is currently in, but I would presume that more of a rootsy style like this is closer to what he likes, and he came off well with solid backing! Brandon's last song ("I Remember") featured guest vocals by singer Juliana Regan, bridging nicely into her half set at 4:00 PM, featuring a very similar backing band. Here, Ethan sat out, Marshall busted out his stand-up bass, Josh was back too, and Liam Seymour returned to play keyboard, so if you liked Brandon's band, you'll have liked Juliana's! I caught three named songs of hers, two called "Pity Party" & "Ghost", with Juliana flipping from indie/folk to jazz in her songs yesterday.

Compared to her far more minimal Lopstock set last summer with just Brandon backing her up, this seemed like a stronger and more fully realized take on her original material across the board, and her strong and confident voice and personal lyrics were well received in the songs that I saw! Partly due to delays on Stage 2, I saw a little more of the next band on Stage 1, that being classic rock trio Flathead Ford, who now feature Bullet Train/ex-Gsis Murphy drummer Anthony Fabiano in place of Jack Stubbington. For their sixth year on the main stage, I saw them cover songs by Nancy Sinatra, The Rolling Stones, Billie Joe Royal, Led Zeppelin, Stealers Wheel, and Grand Funk Railroad, and they did so with a good driving enthusiasm and appreciation for classic rock! Scott Kennedy knew the limits of his voice (hence why "Rock N' Roll" was allegedly if Jerry Lee Lewis had sang it), and he kept things moving nicely!

He and bassist Bill Webb definitely seemed on their game handling these classic rock favourites, and Tony's drumming was on point, so fans of 1960s-70s classic rock will absolutely like Flathead Ford's range of covers! Despite my efforts to schedule my between-stage trips so that I saw chunks of every band without breaks, the Second Stage got very delayed. The planned 4:30 PM set by The Jacob Valois Group didn't start until 5:00 PM, and I'm not 100% sure why. As such, I only saw Jacob and his backing band (Northern Jazz Ensemble members Martin Virta and Jeff Holmes on stand-up bass & keyboard, plus his Convergence bandmate David Peredun on drums) play two songs, though Josh Norling had to bail before "Whitefish" due to the delays running into his Stage 1 set with Bookclub. If you like high quality improvisation-friendly jazz, you'll have liked Jacob and crew's set!

A far cry in sound (not technicality) from what he and David are up to in Convergence, but this all-instrumental group are very talented, and if you are all amenable to the jazz music that used to play on 98.3 FM overnight, you should get a kick out of what Jacob is up to as a bandleader! The last band that I was able to see at Rotaryfest was local alternative/punk cover supergroup Bookclub on Stage 1, though with an unadvertised lineup alteration, as original lead guitarist Dave Bahun returned to fill in for his old Surfers bandmate Dustin Jones on bass. A reason for Dustin's absence was not announced when I was there, but hopefully nothing too serious happened! I saw Bookclub cover songs by Roxette and Cake, plus Dick Dale's version of "Misirlou" that was famously heard in Pulp Fiction. Good stuff with everyone (including Brandon Ruch in Rotaryfest set #3 of 5) clicking well on covers you don't typically hear in the Soo!

Josh Norling and trumpeter Erin Antonello mesh well for the horn section where needed (ska punk, guys, I'm telling you!), and it was good seeing Dave back on stage with Mikey and Allan, but things did seem a tad rushed for their set early on. Good stuff for fans, if a slight departure from Mikey's other local and GTA band work, so they delivered! I did attempt to head back to Stage 2 for 5:30 PM in the event that the previous set was shrunk down to allow veteran punk quintet The Gambit to start on time, but Jacob's band was just tearing down then, so I had no hope of seeing the former Sick Sons before I had to hit the highway. Apologies again, and hopefully they play live again soon! Overall, this was a fun challenge to see as much of the band slate as I could at Rotaryfest, and it seemed like bands and attendees alike had a good time! The weather held out, it wasn't as hot, and audience levels were healthy across both stages. You love to see it!

Will I do the double like this again? I'd like to, but we'll see how scheduling, weather, and format looks for next year, as a lot can happen by then. You can see my photos of the eight bands I saw yesterday intermingled in this folder on our Facebook page, and I did film a video from each act! In order, here's Steel Rock covering Toto's "Hold The Line", Miss Madii playing "Slipping Rib", Silent 9 covering The Talking Heads' "Burning Down The House", Brandon Ruch playing "For Now", Juliana Regan playing "Penny For Your Thoughts", Flathead Ford covering Tom Petty's "Runnin' Down A Dream", The Jacob Valois Group playing "Herding Cats", and Bookclub covering Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer"!


That's all for now, but we'll have another concert preview tomorrow, as I was at today's Loud & Proud family fun day at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion this afternoon, and there, I didn't miss any performers! Look for that and more from Rotaryfest and beyond on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

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