The eighteenth annual Rotaryfest Stage 2 goes down on Friday, July 18th and Saturday, July 19th, so what should you know there? The Second Stage returns to the pop-up stage beside the Art Gallery of Algoma on Friday, July 18th and Saturday, July 19th for the ninth year of the "Redirected" era, and fourth since adopting the current two day format, including a "Friday Night Blues" program, followed by the usual indie/alternative-leaning lineup on Saturday focusing on original musicians. Thirteen acts will rock Stage 2 that weekend, which is down one from 2024, but there isn't a touring band this year either, so the amount of scheduled local acts is unchanged. Only six acts are returnees from past Second Stage lineups, so there's a good amount of expected and unexpected faces next month! Starting with the Friday Night Blues program, it is devoid of hard rock or punk acts as usual.
Friday's lineup includes veteran local blues musician Rusty McCarthy (billed as "Rusty McBlues") at 8:30 PM in his fifth Stage 2 appearance as a solo act, and third time on a Friday Night Blues bill, while Michael Yurich's blues rock cover band Smokehouse will play their own third Friday Night Blues set at 7:30 PM. Former Generations fill-in guitarist Mike McDonald's band Mudfoot Mike & The Muckrakers will return to Stage 2 for a second straight year at 6:30 PM, and the day's first two acts are newcomers to Rotaryfest. One is new local "electric power blues" band Dark Eyed Junko, who I don't know much about beyond their sparrow-inspired name, but you can find out at 5:30 PM. The day's lineup will begin with solo blues musician Josh "The Preacher" McNally at 4:30 PM, and he'll be a fitting lead-off for the day's festivities, so visit the above links for more details on the fourth annual Friday Night Blues program for 2025!
As for the Saturday bill, eight acts will hit Stage 2, and in a mild surprise, reunited local midwest emo/post-hardcore trio Fuller will headline at 8:30 PM! This will be their first public concert since their LopLops reunion in December 2023, their second show with drummer David Peredun, and their first gig since releasing their album "II" on streaming services in March, so you could call this the de facto release party (no idea if they'll have a run of CDs or not though). Really cool to see Mark come back home for Rotaryfest, and hopefully the full Fuller end things with a bang! Indie/pop rock band Jupiter Marvelous (led by Caroline Divine/Pixo Control alum Anthony Marcello) will return to Stage 2 for the first time in three years at 7:30 PM, while Shane "DJ Seith" Erickson will surprisingly make his first ever solo appearance on the Second Stage at 6:30 PM, as opposed to joint sets with Conika or Planet Rock.
Local djent/progressive metal quartet Convergence will make their Rotaryfest debut and first ever live appearance beyond Soo Blaster at 5:30 PM, in what you could argue will be the heaviest Stage 2 set ever, though fans of Gates of Winter's 2005-2006 Second Stage sets may disagree! Hard rock quintet Headf1rst will return to Stage 2 for a second straight year at 4:30 PM, preceded by the festival debut of crossover thrash quartet Hails at 3:30 PM. The day begins with acoustic singer/guitarists, including Mile 38/ex-Soundcheck frontman Cameron Oliver's Stage 2 solo debut at 2:30 PM as he continues making the local rounds (while still local) with his own country material, while folk musician Matthew James kicks off the program at 1:30 PM in his second Stage 2 appearance, having also played here in 2023. Notable absences this year include 2023-2024 performers All The Tired Horses and The Hollow Heads, and active three-timers The Northwest, among others.
Sounds like a very strong lineup to me, with Saturday's bill dipping into heavier and punk territory more than we have ever seen on Stage 2 (even when Gates of Winter played here, they were notable outliers), so fans won't want to bypass the FREE & ALL AGES entertainment beside the Art Gallery next month, so click here for details (so far) on Stage 2 in 2025! As for the second year of Stage 3, that will see four DJs/EDM musicians spinning tunes at the Downtown Plaza on Friday only, so click here to learn more. That's all for today, but stay tuned for more (non-Rotaryfest) news and notes on the site over the next week! Thanks everyone!
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