More Of This Weekend's Hard Rock Concert Previews!!

Let's continue covering this weekend's hard rock concert slate by looking at most of this weekend's proper concerts, Bone Yard 225 excepted (check the post below this one for details on their Reggie's dates). Remember, as Halloween was last night, some venues and bands are holding belated Halloween events tonight and/or tomorrow night, but others are not visibly doing so. Due to the amount of shows, I'm holding tomorrow's multi-band concert in Brimley, Michigan and the Rust tribute concert in Sault Ontario for our next post, so look for those then! Now, here's what you should know as the weekend continues, starting in Sault Michigan!

Local hard rock sextet Exit 808 will return to the local stage when they headline The Merchants Bar's Halloween party TONIGHT! This will actually be Exit 808's second Halloween concert this year, following a road trip to Bergland (5 hours west of the Soo) for the Bergland Bay Bar's holiday festivities this past Saturday, which appears to have went well for them! Surprisingly, this talented group took October off from local dates, so if you've missed Exit 808 since their Three One Three fundraiser event in late September, don't bypass tonight's Halloween show! It's worth noting that the tags in their most recent Facebook page plug of this event don't include singer Dillion Semasky, guitarist Will Robbins, or bassist Myke Young, rather Drew Collister from the Ishpeming rock band No Expectations, former fill-in bassist Blaze Beairl, and Soundworks Productions owner Warren Woeste.

Drew is indeed filling in for Dillion Semasky on vocals for unannounced reasons, but I can't confirm if Will and Myke will be absent too (note that I haven't seen Will referenced in new Exit 808 social media postings since August, and he doesn't have a personal Facebook page that he can be tagged with). We'll let you know if anything gets clarified, but hopefully Amy, Alex, Jackie, and crew can still deliver a fun night of hard rocking covers tonight at The Merch! There will be a costume contest with prizes tonight, so don't put your costumes away just yet! This show has a 21+ age limit, no cover charge, and a 9:00 PM start time. Visit the above links for more details on this show, and here's Exit 808 live!

Next up, both regional Kewadin Casino branches are having hard rock-leaning bands this weekend, though just to get this out of the way now, neither branch is tying in this weekend's concerts with Halloween. The casinos did their Halloween festivities at all locations this past weekend, so expect the status quo as we enter November. At The Rapids Lounge in Sault Ste. Marie, attendees TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT will be seeing local hard rock quartet Rhythm & Brews, who will be playing their first publically advertised shows since back in June. Featuring former Nixxon Dixxon bandmates Brandon Carr & Chris Hubbard alongside recent Tarnished rhythm section Chris Leask & Ron Suchey, this talented group will have lots of fan friendly hard rock covers ready to go this weekend, even if they still don't have public videos to preview their shows with! These dates are at 9:00 PM with 21+ age limits and no cover charges.

Meanwhile, The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin will play host to Traverse City metal trio Scarkazm TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Surprisingly, we haven't seen Scarkazm rock either Kewadin branch since the spring, so if you've missed Adam, Dave, and Jeff's hard hitting covers and originals, you'll definitely want to keep in mind that they're ending 2024 with the help of three concert weekends in the E.U.P.! They'll be at the Soo Kewadin over the Thanksgiving long weekend, and will return to St. Ignace in mid-December, so you have lots of chances if you can't come out tonight and/or tomorrow! Like with Rhythm & Brews in the Soo, tomorrow and Saturday's shows are 21+ affairs at 9:00 PM with no cover. Visit the above links for more details on both of Kewadin Casino's regional post-Halloween concerts, and for a preview, here's Scarkazm live earlier this year!

Finally for this preview post, we'll head back to Sault Ontario, where local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9 will headline at The Esquire Club TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! Due to popular demand, the Second Line West venue opted to host Halloween parties this past Saturday and this weekend, but interestingly, they've opted to have the second Halloween party on the Saturday as well, not tonight. In other words, do not put away or throw out your costume just yet, as spooky season will be running until at least November 2nd in the west end this year! Yes, there will be one more costume contest with prizes tomorrow as well, while tonight's show appears to be the status quo more or less for Silent 9's diverse and often hard rocking cover slate, but there may be some costumes and Halloween frills tonight as well. You can see Jess, Ryan, Paul, and Steve in action tonight and tomorrow at 9:30 PM with 19+ age limits and no cover charges. See above for more details, and here they are live at The Esquire Club last year!

We'll cap off this weekend's concert previews with tomorrow's Rust and Dick Texas/Sole Aggressors shows on both sides of the border (and more?), so stay tuned then! Thanks everyone!