For phase #2 of our weekend concert previews, let's head south to Sault Michigan and area, as there are some hard rock concerts happening there this weekend too! Yes, I am well aware of Saturday night's Ace Frehley-headlined concert in St. Ignace, the plan is to preview that one alongside the Sunday concerts in Sault Ontario in a post hitting the site by Saturday morning. Otherwise, here's what you should know!
We'll lead off today in Sault Ste. Marie, where local hard rock band Exit 808 will make their Kewadin Casino debuts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT at The Rapids Lounge! Their first ever double booking of Friday & Saturday nighters on one weekend at one venue, these shows will reportedly see the debut of their new permanent bassist, only credited as "Myke". We'll let you know when more is revealed on his identity, but he won't be playing all weekend, as recent regular fill-in Blaze Beairl will also be handling the low end in some capacity (the band's Facebook post yesterday said that they'd be "sharing the stage"). Also, Exit 808 will welcome Project 906 guitarist Joe Jenkins as a guest for this weekend's shows, likely filling in for Will Robbins given that Alex Zimmerman is tagged in the Facebook post. Joe is a solid and established name, so hopefully he adds well to Exit 808's double vocalist-led hard rock sound!
These Rapids Lounge dates are 9:00 PM affairs with 21+ age limits (Blaze performing aside) and no cover charges. See above for more details, and for a preview, we have two new Facebook videos of Exit 808 to share from their show at The Merchants Bar on June 29th! Both filmed by Kishketog Lynn Mary of the Marquette-based Kish Productions, one is of them covering Drowning Pool's "Bodies" (with Dillion Semasky on lead vocals), though it's short and primarily focuses on Blaze, who did perform at least partially that night. Embedded below is a longer 1:44 clip of them covering Skid Row's "18 & Life" with Dillion and Amy Beach trading off on verses and sharing choruses, and Spun's Bob Libick guesting on bass. Not bad at all, and good way of balancing the two vocalists amongst a solid crowd of attendees at The Merch, so check it out for yourself below!
Next up, let's head further south to the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino, where their busy concert weekend begins indoors via Sault Ste. Marie classic metal/hard rock trio Tarnished's return TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT at The Northern Pines Lounge! Surprisingly, these will be Tarnished's first shows at the St. Ignace Kewadin since 2022, so if you've missed them there or want a relative change of scenery, keep their hard hitting originals and covers in mind! The band's promotional imagery only shows their current core lineup (Alex, Josh, and Parker), implying that they'll be in trio mode here with no guests, but we'll let you know if that's publically contradicted. Of course, Saturday's concert goes down the same night as the Ace Frehley show, so how does timing look? The '80s hair metal invasion begins outside the St. Ignace casino at 6:00 PM on Saturday night, whereas Tarnished take the stage indoors at 9:00 PM (21+, no cover).
With five acts there, it's doubtful that Ace will finish up before Tarnished, so if you want to keep the good times going, just head indoors to The Northern Pines Lounge afterwards! It's a wonder why Tarnished weren't booked as local openers when they play similar music and will already be there. Visit the above links for more details on Tarnished's St. Ignace shows this weekend, and for a preview, we have three videos to share from Tarnished's set during the Fourth of July parade in the Soo two weeks ago! Two were unfortunately uploaded to their Facebook page as "Reels" (pillarboxed, at that), and they include covers of AC/DC's "Highway To Hell" and Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band's "Old Time Rock & Roll" filmed behind their float. Rhythm & Brews bandmates Chris Leask & Ron Suchey guested here on bass and drums, and neither was credited as playing with Tarnished at the parade in advance on social media (Parker played guitar here.)
Possibly owing to space limitations, Alex Traynor (vocals only) and Josh Fair (lead guitar) performed while walking alongside the float, which would be a neat way to experience the set for them and the audience! The other video is a 1:41-long livestream shot by Alex where Tarnished, Chris, and Ron covered AC/DC's "T.N.T.". Alex mostly filmed this in vertical selfie mode, but he did pan around to show parade viewers and some of the Independence Day scenery, and I'm glad the weather held out! The video is choppy with some laggy dropped-out audio, which is unfortunate, but it's the only one of the three that I can embed here, so check it out below, and don't miss Tarnished stationary in St. Ignace this weekend!
That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Rotaryfest Stage 2 preview (and more) on the site next! Thanks everyone!
Very established group of musicians
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