This weekend's concert previews continue today with the 19th annual Stage 2 at Rotaryfest, which is scheduled to return to the outdoor stage beside The Art Gallery of Algoma at Clergue Park tomorrow and Saturday. While there was nothing to cancel today on the Second Stage, the widely spreading forest fire smoke from Northwestern Ontario has led to severe air quality conditions in the Soo and area, with Rotaryfest cancelling all events today aside from Ribfest, the midway, and some vendors. At press time, nothing is cancelled musically at Clergue Park tomorrow, but the air quality index is not expected to drastically improve (click here for the current status). Updates from Rotaryfest are expected on their website and social media accounts at 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM (it was at noon today when we learned about today's Stage 1 cancellation), and while nothing is officially cancelled yet on Stages 1 or 2, I'd monitor things.
Even if music does go ahead tomorrow (and it's too soon to guess on Saturday), the possibility of musicians or bands dropping out due to personal concerns with the air quality is very possible. There's a lot of unknowns, as no one could have forecasted this even a week ago, but I'll let you know when I hear any clarification, good or bad! Assuming things proceed as normal, tomorrow's opening day at Stage 2 is slated to be the fifth annual Friday Night Blues program, as curated by the Sault Blues Society. As usual, this lineup does not contain hard rock or punk acts, but assuming things go ahead unchanged, the bands will include newer blues rock cover band Sunday & The Broken Hearts (featuring all members of The Range Lights from today's cancelled Stage 1 program) at 8:30 PM, veteran local musician Rusty McCarthy (again billed as "Rusty McBlues") at 7:30 PM, ...
...the debuting Jay Scali Band at 6:30 PM, blues veterans Mudfoot Mike & The Muckrakers at 5:30 PM, and Josh "The Preacher" McNally and his new Jackleg Band opening at 4:30 PM. Nothing too heavy, but all five acts have familiar faces from SMS coverage, so hopefully they get a chance to deliver the blues to a willing audience in habitable air tomorrow night!
As for SATURDAY's tenth year of the "Redirected" era of Stage 2, that day's originals-leaning program will again be curated by local guitarist and producer Dustin Goodall, though only one act that day is a returnee from a past Second Stage lineup. Assuming no cancellations or dropouts, your headliners this year are local death/thrash metal trio Pillory, easily one of the heaviest bands to ever play Stage 2, so faces will melt on Saturday night if things are a go! Co-headlining at 7:30 PM are new local indie/folk rock quartet Eli Russell & The River Fools (featuring Sylo and Wild Iris alumni), while the 6:30 PM slot belongs to local death metal veterans Eden Plague. Eleven years after the former Bear Hunters launched a petition & fan campaign to be added to Rotaryfest's 2015 lineup, they finally made good on that plan, but will the forest fire smoke thwart their belated festival debut even still?
New local blues/hard rock trio (and Electric Church successors) Stones & Crows will (hopefully) take the stage at 5:30 PM, preceded by veteran local folk singer/guitarist M.D. Dunn in his fifth Stage 2 set and first in three years. Fresh off of the Downtown Street Party cancellation, local country musician Brendan Hodgson will become the eleventh Stage 1 act to perform on the Second Stage when he performs at 3:30 PM, while new local hard rock/blues quartet The Reeves are slated to debut eight songs from their planned debut EP in their 2:30 PM set. Given the air quality, imagine if Brad & Steve retained their prior band's name (The Haze) for this set! Rather than book an eighth proper act, Stage 2 will experiment with an open mic block (a'la at the last two Swampstravaganzas) at 1:30 PM. The atmospheric conditions are a variable no one expected, but if you do want to throw your hat into the ring as a potential performer, click here.
Temperatures are expected to still hover around 19-22° for Friday Night Blues, which should end before the projected overnight thunderstorm, but rain is possible for much of tomorrow's program if it takes place. As for Saturday, the hourly forecast from 9&10 News actually points to pleasant conditions (not counting the air quality), with temperatures hovering around 18-21° with partly cloudy skies and no likely rain. Saturday is the most important day for Rotaryfest in terms of the bands on both stages, so fingers crossed that the smoke dissipates enough to let Stages 1 and 2 proceed as normal! Visit the above links for more on what to hopefully expect at the Second Stage this weekend, and here's Pillory live!
Our next post (hitting the site likely tomorrow morning) will feature the Bush/Candlebox and Ripcordz previews, perhaps including more late notice gigs? Stay tuned for that, air quality updates re: Rotaryfest, and more on the SMS in short order! Thanks everyone!
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