A busy weekend is upon us to end September 2025 with, so we'll have to break things up into three posts once again! As such, our previews of Wolf Fest, Outspoken Brewing's Oktoberfest, and Bone Yard 225 & Tym Morrison's next shows are slated for our next post, with Double Down's Saturday nighter coming after that. Look for all of those shortly, but let's lead off our previews with some downtown shows tonight and tomorrow, including a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!
Grand Rapids punk/power pop trio The Hot Girls will make their local concert debut TONIGHT at The Whisky Barrel! Apologies for the short notice, this show was announced with time to spare on September 16th via the venue's Facebook page, but between The Whisky Barrel not being an SMS staple and the band not seeming amenable to our coverage on sight, I didn't jump the gun at the time. A well travelled touring band with a clear sense of humour, The Hot Girls' upbeat brand of original rock should find a willing audience TONIGHT, so don't miss out on what should be a fun concert with riffs and laughs at the Gore Street-based Scottish pub! Unusually for a show with a touring band, TONIGHT'S concert is FREE, but it is definitely a 19+ booking with an 8:00 PM start time. Visit the above links for more details on TONIGHT's show, and for a preview, check them out on Bandcamp! I honestly can't find a live concert video of theirs to embed here.
Next up, remember how there was supposed to be a battle of the bands TOMORROW at the Downtown Plaza featuring Mike Haggith & The Big Finish Band? Well, the battle has been turned into a normal concert, with Mike & crew now headlining! The plaza nor 705 Live Sound Co. have elaborated on the reason for the changes, but I can only assume that band signups weren't terribly high (remember, there hasn't been a battle on this side of the border in eight years), so organizers are turning lemons into lemonade by hosting a normal concert with who signed up. As such, this will be The Big Finish Band's first concert since the Dragonfly Run, and perhaps their last outdoor gig of the year given that it's now the fall, so consider coming out to the Downtown Plaza for all of the action! Online page-less space rock duo The Spaceship Opening will (fittingly) be opening tomorrow, so don't miss Andrew and Ralph to lead things off this evening!
No word on if The Spaceship Opening had signed up for the battle too, though I wonder if the promised $200 voucher will be given to one/both bands? Tomorrow's concert will be a FREE event at 7:00 PM and it is definitely ALL AGES. With the outdoor locale at the Downtown Plaza (covered stage acknowledged), 9&10 News is calling for partly cloudy skies with a temperature hovering around 16°. While it is a shame that the battle proper isn't taking place, kudos to everyone involved for keeping the show going, even on a work/school night! Visit the official Facebook event page for more on tomorrow's special concert, and for a preview, here's some brand new videos of Mike & The Big Finish Band live! They had cameras rolling at the Dragonfly Run in spite of the rainy forecast on August 24th, and while they had protection from the elements, it looks like the weather held up enough!
At the annual ARCH Hospice motorcycle rally outside of The Grand Gardens North, Mike had multiple cameras set up to film their sets (click here to check out their full setlist from that day), and while I don't know if we'll be seeing more from the Dragonfly Run, two videos were shared to Mike's Facebook page of him and the band playing "Carousel" and, as embedded below, "An Act Of Strength". Strong performances as you'd expect from Mike, Chris, Elly, Matt, and Brandan, so look for more of the same (and with better weather) tonight at the Downtown Plaza!
Finally for this preview post, we'll head to Soo Blaster TOMORROW NIGHT for the local concert debut of Toronto post-hardcore quartet Napoleon! Headlining the fourth show from local promoters Heavy North Entertainment since their relaunch last year, Napoleon bring an in-your-face blend of punk, screamo, and metal to the table in their intense live attack, so come on down tomorrow to jump in the pit! The opener lineup has drastically changed since this show was first announced in July, with the original roster of four local bands dropping to three, with only one band (online page-less metal quintet The Sault Side Squad) surviving throughout. Originally, the openers were also to include promoter Tyler St. Amour's dormant death metal band Bardo, progressive metal quartet Convergence, and Instagram-only hard rock quartet Maynard Hayes, but all three have quietly dropped out for unannounced reasons. Hopefully all is well with all three bands!
In their place, fans will get to see veteran hard rock quartet Half Past in their first show since May (and a rare turn for them opening for a touring band), as well as party metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty in their first of two Soo Blaster gigs in an eight day span. Still a solid and diverse lineup, so don't be late tomorrow! The aforementioned 705 Live Sound Co. will be at the controls for this ALL AGES show, which has an early runtime of 5:00-10:00 PM, and tickets run for $12.75 in advance at this link or $20 at the door. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Napoleon live!
That's all for now, but stay tuned for more weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!
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