Wednesday, July 8, 2026

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Blitz, Nolium, Rock N' Roll Ave, And Project 906!!)

Before we dive into weekend concert previews on both sides of the border, let's take a trip to Sault Michigan and the E.U.P. for this all-American SMS post, which solely features LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the coming weeks! Here's what you should know on this Wednesday night!

Local hard/blues rock cover quintet Project 906 will apparently return to Huck's Pub & Grill in Rudyard for one night only on Friday, July 24th! The show was announced via this concert calendar image on Huck's Facebook page, which calls them "906 Band", but who else could they be referring to? Fans last saw Project 906 at Huck's on Halloween last year, and their show in two weeks will actually coincide with another special occasion, as that will be during Summerfest weekend in Rudyard (click here for this year's program), but events at the former Joe's Bar are not official Summerfest events, just well timed. As such, things should be busier that night, so hopefully Project 906 have a strong night of live hard rock action! Note that singer Billy Bernier will actually be playing a solo gig at Huck's tomorrow (source here) as this week's Bike Night entertainment, but I don't know if his solo shows are basically 906 unplugged or take new paths.

This concert is a one-nighter due to or resulting in a show on Saturday the 25th from a mystery band named Private Drive, and we'll let you know if we hear anything about them. "906 Band" take the stage for this 21+ concert at 8:00 PM with no cover charge, and there will be an outdoor cash bar on site. Before we get too far, Project 906 played their second show of this year's #summerof906 in Curtis (90 minutes west of here) on Wednesday, July 1st at the Erickson Center For The Arts as part of their own Music In The Park series. Curtis is outside of our hour's drive coverage area, but I hope the outdoor show went well! Visit the above links for more from Project 906!

Next up, Kewadin Casino has updated their entertainment page for bands playing at the Soo and St. Ignace branches through the end of August, and there's some newer touring faces to look out for, starting with the local debuts of Petoskey-area classic/hard rock cover quartet The Blitz at The Rapids Lounge in Sault Ste. Marie on Friday, July 31st and Saturday, August 1st! The Blitz have been rocking Northern Michigan and the tip of the mitt since at least the late 2010s, and they reunited in 2022, but as far as I am aware, their shows in three weeks will be their first in the E.U.P.. Videos on their Facebook page show The Blitz covering the likes of Def Leppard, Better Than Ezra, and Royal Republic, and were recently tapped to open for a cancelled Firehouse concert in Wolverine, so they definitely have a good array of hard rock-leaning covers, and it will be interesting to see how they go over in the Soo!

As usual for concerts at Kewadin Casino's on-site lounges, their shows on the 31st and August 1st are 9:00 PM affairs with 21+ age limits and no cover charges. Hopefully The Blitz deliver a solid weekend of rocking covers for fans in a few weeks, so visit the above links for more details!

Also new at The Rapids Lounge next month is the local debut of Mount Pleasant classic/hard rock cover quintet Rock N' Roll Ave (as in "avenue"), who will rock the Soo Kewadin on Friday, August 7th and Saturday, August 8th! A recently reunited cover band featuring Brock Williams from the defunct Central Michigan metalcore band Black Out, the Sault Ste. Marie dates will actually be Rock N' Roll Ave's first anywhere after their return, which is unusual when you consider that Mount Pleasant is 3 hours south of here, but they are a talented band with a good ear for hard rock! In their three jam session videos from this summer on their Facebook page (all shot vertically, alas), you can see them covering Poison, Stone Temple Pilots, and John Mellencamp songs, though tread lightly when backtracking there, as Black Out videos are also posted on their page, and R.N.R.A. aren't that heavy by comparison!

They should get a good reception from Yooper fans at the Soo Kewadin next month, so welcome Rock N' Roll Ave here in style then! Like with The Blitz the previous week, these are 21+ shows with no cover charges and 21+ age limits. See above for more details on their local debut weekend!

Finally for today, The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino isn't lacking for new touring rock bands either, as Ontonogan hard rock quartet Nolium will make their own EUP debut at that branch on Friday, August 7th and Saturday, August 8th! Their Facebook calendar says that the shows are in the Soo, but Kewadin's entertainment page confirms that Nolium are in St. Ignace with Rock N' Roll Ave playing an hour north that same weekend. Nolium may actually be the heaviest of the three touring bands in this post (the likes of Tool, System Of A Down, and Silverchair are covered in their set), and they actually have their own original music that fans of modern hard rock and grunge will take to, and it will be neat to see them make the 4½ hour drive east next month! If you really want a big sampling of Nolium live, here's an 80 minutes long concert of theirs from 2021.

As above, these are free concerts with 9:00 PM start times and 21+ age limits, just at the St. Ignace Kewadin. It's not every day when we get bands from that far west in the Upper Peninsula coming here (Nolium play a lot of Wisconsin dates as such), so give them a warm welcome in Mackinac County next month if this interests you! Visit the above links for more details on all of these newly confirmed hard rock shows in the E.U.P., and stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the SMS next! Thanks everyone!

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