The 2026 Superior Whitefish Festival Battle Of The Bands Review!!

It's been way too long since I've made the point of crossing the border to see and review a concert in Sault Michigan or the Eastern Upper Peninsula, and with last night harbouring the second annual Superior Whitefish Festival Battle of the Bands, that seemed like as good a reason as any! I made the half hour drive southwest to Brimley (nice country drive there), and for context, the festival was set up not far down the road from Bay Mills Resort & Casino, and you also passed Pickles Bar & Grill en route. While I didn't take part in the bulk of the non-concert festivities, the layout by the Riverview Park & Campground saw food trucks, vendors, and tents bordering an open area for games and activities to take place. Like last year, bands performed under a large white tent that had room for some attendees to be under in case of inclement weather, though many were happy to sit and watch outside.

Skies were cloudy and overcast all evening, but there was zero precipitation, and temperatures were reasonable. The battle format saw bands play 45 minute sets with 15 minutes for teardown and setup, and all got a "one song left" warning from the sound guys (there was no dedicated battle MC, but there were PA announcements regarding festival events, last call for whitefish meals and drink sales, and the battle awards). The battle was judged, but there was no announcement made concerning judging criteria or who was on the judges panel. Good crowd of people too, and there was a real community/family aspect to who stuck around all night!

The opening set at 7:00 PM went to local southern rock/country duo Blood, Sweat, and Beers, who were playing their first show in 2½ years last night. This is the old/new band from former Fake Chow/Unfortunate Sun singer Skip Parish, who was joined on guitar by his brother Stephen, and their set definitely leaned away from the rock covers from Skip's recent band work. The all-covers set saw them tackle songs by Kenny Wayne Shepherd, John Mellencamp, Deana Carter, The Eagles, Zach Bryan, Eddie Rabbitt, Post Malone, and Steve Earle. I'm not a big southern rock or country guy (let alone The Eagles), and I do think Skip's vocal range suits rock more, but the Parish brothers had a good sound going and a fun camaraderie! I especially liked Stephen's stage presence, coming off amusingly aloof and oblivious to the setlist and what was happening. Nice and casual southern fried unplugged set to lead off!

Second up last night was local punk/hard rock duo About:Blank, who were the only band present with any substantial inclusion of original songs, playing nine of their own tracks here, including "Shedding Skin", "Tread On", "Peaches", and "Run & Hide". A mix of familiar and unfamiliar acts were covered also, including Adult Books, Green Day, Turnstile, and The Orwells. I did see Parker Talentino solo at the LSSU Battle of the Bands in 2024, but in a full band setup (current duo lineup acknowledged), About:Blank delivered a set that had a lot of nods to early 1990s grunge with punk and hardcore influences, including some screaming for effect. He and drummer Kade DesArmo paired well for a chaotic but well composed batch of songs, including when Parker switched to bass for their closer "Unheard" (with its very "Barracuda"-ish riff). Good stuff, and hopefully we hear more from About:Blank before long!

The third band last night was reunited local classic/pop rock cover quartet The Whole Shabang, with singer Candy Fultz and her husband Lawrence (on guitar) back alongside bassist Mitchell Willis. On drums here was Mark Livermore, who was recently seen in The Chris Barker Band. Playing their own first show in two years, The Whole Shabang covered songs by Trick Pony, The Neon Trees, Robert Palmer, Billy Joel, Elle King, The Cranberries, Aretha Franklin, Radiohead, and Gretchen Wilson, for a set that really was a jack of all trades range of covers (dare I say, "the whole shabang"?). There was a hang-up when they restarted "Respect" after Candy got her foot caught in the microphone cord, but they had a fun and lively sound with everyone performing well, and lots of dancers hit the front of the stage, which is quite welcomed! You'd never guess they'd been inactive for as long as they were!

Closing the battle past sunset were The 8th Fire, who are the new local hard rock band from Dafter singer/guitarist Molly Escherich alongside her former Other Guys bandmate Jackie Moon (ex-Exit 808) on drums, plus Proiect 906 guitarist Joe Jenkins on guitar. We'll have more on them in an upcoming post, but they look to be more than just a short term band made for a battle, as there are 8th Fire t-shirts! No word on what the first seven fires were though. Molly actually kicked off the set with an original country song about a perfect boat day with her dad, but the full-band songs were all covers, where they tackled Redbone, The Doobie Brothers, Green Day, Bon Jovi, Michael Jackson, Judas Priest, and Ozzy Osbourne. Joe even took over lead vocals for a cover of Seven Mary Three's "Cumbersome", and killed it on guitar, especially on "Mr. Crowley" (including playing behind his head at one point!) If only we had gotten that Project 1327 crossover!

Molly has improved vocally since I last saw her in person at the 2024 LSSU Battle, and while some songs were still out of her range, she adjusted well (and remember, she is fourteen years old). Jackie drummed well with enthusiasm, and Molly's bass work was strong, though Joe did break a guitar string late in "Billie Jean". Not a bad debut set at all, and hopefully we hear more from The 8th Fire before Molly heads back to Interlochen!

After judges' deliberations, the PA announcer revealed the winners of the battle, and the $1,000 first place prize went to.... The Whole Shabang! The 8th Fire debuted with a $750 second place finish, while About:Blank won $500 for third place, and Blood, Sweat, and Beers claimed $250 in fourth place (so everyone got something for showing up). The Whole Shabang also earned the right to play a bonus set (or as the announcer called it, a "jam sesh") in the 11:00 PM hour, but I didn't stay for that, owing to a combo of depleting camera batteries and the half hour drive back to Sault Ontario. I don't know what the judges criteria amounted to for the battle proper, but the order did fall in line with who had the biggest and fullest live band presentations, not to mention the crowd engagement levels. I will say that I don't think originality was supremely high as a criterion for the judges, as About:Blank would have ran away with that.

Still, this was a triumphant return gig for The Whole Shabang (they look ready to play regular shows again instantly), and kudos to everyone for an entertaining night of live music! No word on if the LSSU Battle will return for year #4 this fall or not, we'll keep you posted, but I do need to come across to the EUP for more concerts already! You can check out our photos from last night at this link or at our Facebook page, and here's Blood, Sweat, And Beers covering Tracy Chapman's "Give Me One Reason", About:Blank playing "Dilletante", The Whole Shabang covering The Marshall Tucker Band's "Can't You See" (with flute!), and The 8th Fire covering Hole's "Malibu"!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for much more on the SMS this week, feature posts and regular news posts alike! Thanks everyone!

The Superior Whitefish Festival Battle Of The Bands Preview!!

Next up as we wind down this weekend's concert previews is a road trip 20 minutes southwest to Brimley, Michigan, where the second annual Superior Whitefish Festival Battle of the Bands goes down TOMORROW NIGHT! I completely missed last year's for coverage on here until after the fact, and I'm not letting year #2 slip past me, especially as this is shaping up to be another intriguing event! As you may recall, the Superior Whitefish Festival returned after a decade+ hiatus last year, and they had a battle of the bands to help end the festivities, which was won by Tarnished's then-new and all-original spinoff band Crush. While five acts played last year, only four are doing so tomorrow night, but the prizes are still the same, with a whopping $1,000 going to the first place band, as well as the right to play an encore set at night's end! Second-fourth place will receive $750, $500, and $250 apiece, meaning that everyone gets $250 to just show up. That's not a raw deal!

The Superior Whitefish Festival is brought to you again by the Bay Mills Indian Community, and honours the importance of whitefish in Anishinaabe communities. It will feature whitefish meals alongside with local vendors, family entertainment, competitions, and cultural displays, so visit the official Facebook event page and the host links for non-musical details. Everything goes down tomorrow at 12099 West Lakeshore Drive (near the Riverview Park & Campground), and if the battle is staged similarly to last year, there will be a large tent for bands to play under with space for attendees. Unusually compared to other local battles (even compared to last year) is that competing bands have one hour timeslots, and while I have not seen confirmation as to whether a judges panel, an audience vote, or another method determines the winners, you will have ample time to assess!

The Bay Mills Indians Community Tribal Chairperson Facebook group has a schedule of all events posted, confirming set times for tomorrow's battle, including that the opening band at 7:00 PM will be Blood, Sweat, And Beers, who are a revival of former Fake Chow/Unfortunate Sun frontman Skip Parish's old band with his brother Stephen. They get sporadic mentions on personal Facebook postings, and played occasional shows in Brimley and Hulbert Township in 2024 and 2025, the former being acoustic. Will that be the form that they take tomorrow evening? The 8:00 PM set belongs to local punk/hard rock band About:Blank, who played at the pre-battle Music In The Park concert at the Whitefish Festival last year, and were competitors at last fall's Lake Superior State University Battle of the Bands. Recent promotion on their Facebook page indicates that they will play tomorrow night as a duo.

They never did confirm Jon Stone by name as a permanent band member, so the video of him playing with Parker & Kade must have been on a guest basis. Regardless, will About:Blank keep up their recent live momentum? Reunited local cover rock band The Whole Shabang will play their first show in almost two years as the 9:00 PM band, and while not familiar from our coverage, their lineup at least used to feature Stoned Ape Evolution alum John Napoletano, while Candace Fultz was their lead singer. Infrequently seen on the stage as recently as 2024, what do they play, and do they indeed provide "the whole shabang"? Find out tomorrow! Last up at 10:00 PM is Dafter singer/guitarist and Interlochen Academy student Molly Escherich, who you may recall fronting The Other Guys to victory in 2024's LSSU Battle and also competing in last year's Superior Whitefish Battle. Molly will be fronting a new band named The 8th Fire tomorrow though.

The 8th Fire actually have a Facebook page (something that The Other Guys never had), which implies that we'll be seeing Molly and them again, but who all is in the band, what do they play, and do they hew close to the hard rock-leaning stuff that Molly has played in full band settings previously? And Molly is just fourteen years old, but plays at a level well beyond her age, so don't sleep on them tomorrow night! Note that I read on personal Facebook shares that local folk musician Kevin Blakeney wanted to sign up to compete again this year, but organizers opted to exclusively host full bands this year (he and Kaleb "NDN Summer" Shannon played solo sets in last year's battle, where Kaleb finished in second with Kevin in fourth). If you're curious, the day opens with the acoustic-leaning Music In The Park concert, which includes veteran duo Whistle & Fish at 5:00 PM, Seth Haske at 4:00 PM, ...

...Molly Escherich solo at 3:00 PM, Mark Bowen at 2:00 PM, and "Family Band" (credited to "Christian P" in the schedule) at 1:00 PM. I am not seeing anything about an admission fee for the Whitefish Festival, but it is absolutely an all ages event, and it is expected to end at midnight, given that the battle winners will be playing a bonus set at 11:00 PM. Weather-wise, 9&10 News is calling for mostly cloudy skies turning into rain by Molly's set, so hopefully the tent is big and well covered just in case! Temperatures for the battle will be 66-73° tomorrow evening (19-23° Celsius). This battle looks well formatted with great prizes again, and it still amazes me that the EUP is eating Sault Ontario's lunch in terms of actually hosting battles successfully in the 2020s, so best of luck to all four bands tomorrow night, visit the above links for full details on the Superior Whitefish Festival, and we'll let you know when results come out! Thanks everyone!

The Go North Music Festival & Sandman Concert Previews!!

This stacked concert weekend presses on, so for our third of (now) four weekend concert preview posts to cover the hard rock and punk-integrated action, we're looking at a big returning regional festival today, as well as the return of the very first band that I ever saw at a licensed 19+ concert, so here's what you should know on this Friday morning!

Continuing this marathon weekend, we'll take the hour's drive southeast to Richards Landing on St. Joseph Island for the eighth annual Go North Music Festival, which takes place TONIGHT & TOMORROW! Returning to the former Cornfest site at Centennial Grounds, this outdoor festival will again see two days of live music, and in a non-musical sense, there will be food vendors both days this year, alongside an artisan market, a family zone featuring Science North displays, games, crafts, and a large interactive community mural project, and as always, on-site camping. Visit the official website for complete details on this front! After not having any hard rock or punk acts for 2025's Big Sugar-headlined program, Go North will have one band that pings our genre radar, namely Juno nominated Saskatoon blues/hard rock band Wide Mouth Mason (of "My Old Self" and "Why" fame, among other hits).

Surprisingly their first concert within an hour of the Soo on record, Wide Mouth Mason's brand of accessible and catchy hard rock with distinct vocals should make a good impression tomorrow night! Curiously, festival advertising does not confirm set times, just the performance order. Your Saturday headliners are Juno-winning Halifax indie rock veterans Wintersleep (they of "Weighty Ghost" and "In Came The Flood" fame) and three touring acts from Toronto, namely alt-rock band Jackie, pop rock solo artist Loviet, and alternative/indie singer/guitarist Keegan Powell & his band The Jetpacks. Local openers tomorrow are CASS FM, Central Algoma Secondary School's student rock band, who have played Go North multiple times. Also on Saturday are returning London children's musical band The Thinking Caps, who will headline the separate children's stage that afternoon. An eclectic lineup for alternative and indie rock fans, so don't bypass the talent here!

Tonight's shorter opening night program will be headlined by Niagara Falls brass/funk supergroup My Son The Hurricane (with ex-Redefined/Rising Tide drummer Danno O'Shea still in their ranks), alongside Oakville R&B/country duo Yassin & Sean Terrio and local indie rock quartet Lucy's Diner (the former Hollow Heads). The music lineups of Go North VIII go down from 3:00-11:00 PM tomorrow and 6:00-11:00 PM tonight, and while online ticket sales have ended, you can still buy tickets at the gates. At last word, day passes cost $40 tonight and $70 tomorrow ($20 and $25 respectively for teenagers 13-18 or students with valid student ID). Camping passes are a separate charge, as are $15 premium parking passes, while discount bundles for groups of 2+ adults were also an option. Recent social media hype suggests that this year's Go North is outselling last year's event, which is great news all around!

Weather-wise, 9&10 News is calling for partly cloudy skies tomorrow with a high of 25°, though there is a slim chance of rain starting during Wintersleep's set into the overnight, so make note of that if camping (tonight's opening concert is projected to have clear skies and a high of 24°). Conditions look to mostly hold up, so best of luck to everyone enjoying the music on St. Joseph Island this weekend! Visit the above links for more on this year's Go North Music Festival, and here's Wide Mouth Mason live!

Finally for weekend concert preview post #3, let's head home to Sault Ste. Marie, where Toronto-based Metallica tribute band Sandman will return to town TOMORROW NIGHT, this time at The Full Throttle Saloon! The only tribute band officially licensed by Metallica (and featuring three ex-members of Helix in their ranks), this will be Sandman's fifth local concert appearance on record, and first since they rocked the former Soo Blaster in October 2022, but this time, they're heading into Steelton as the third touring tribute headliner at The Full Throttle Saloon this year. The former Primavera Hall has done well booking the Crazy Babies and Epic Rush shows despite some eyebrow raising over the ticket prices, but Sandman have the most local experience of the three, so hopefully they draw well with their faithfully performed take on Metallica's 1980s and early 1990s catalogue! This 19+ concert goes down tomorrow night at 10:00 PM, and has no announced opening band.

Tickets cost $50 at the venue, and while this is cheaper than the $70 Crazy Babies show at The Full Throttle Saloon, it's also way above the $40 that both of Sandman's 2022 Soo Blaster gigs cost combined. Still, Crazy Babies and Epic Rush appeared to draw well, so if you want to enjoy Metallica's classic hits again, get your tickets while you can! I'm not seeing the "no ticket sales at the door" restriction this time, but call ahead if you're at all worried. Visit the above links for more on the the thrash metal tribute action tomorrow night, and for a preview, here's Sandman live!

That's all for now, but look for our Superior Whitefish Festival Battle of the Bands and 2 Stoned Crows In The River previews next, as well as (finally) our Rotaryfest review! Thanks everyone!

Initial Lineup Details For This Year's Northern Vibe Festival!!

The lineup for the band-centric Forest Stage at the eleventh annual Northern Vibe Festival was announced via their Facebook page yesterday, so what should you know there? While not announced in official promotion, this year will mark a change for Forest Stage promotion, as former Jack Spades/Frightlight frontman J.D. Pearce has stepped down as the curator of the lineup, after handling things there since the Ophir-based festival returned from their pandemic hiatus in 2021. As you may recall, last year's Forest Stage lineups were severely impaired by a Friday night rainstorm, which ultimately caused heavy damage to the stage overnight that left it unusable on the Saturday, with six band withdrawals. That alone isn't an ideal foot to leave off on, especially if this ends up being J.D.'s last turn as a local concert promoter, but kudos to him for booking and curating at Northern Vibe for the past five years despite his move to the GTA! Hopefully we hear more from him soon!

For 2026, Golden Scoundrels/ex-Shit Liver frontman Josh Penno has taken over curation duties on the Forest Stage, and this isn't an isolated happening, as he booked the Dopethrone concert at Jay's Piston Broke Pub last month. The Northern Vibe Festival will return to the former Hempfest stomping grounds on Poplardale Road in Ophir from Friday, August 28th-Sunday, August 30th (rebuilt Forest Stage in tow), and 15 acts are currently listed on the above promotional poster. If that holds steady, it will be the biggest Forest Stage lineup since the pandemic, and likely ever given how infrequently lineup details were published in the 2010s. However, it remains to be seen what days everyone is playing on, which lines up with the J.D. era, as a full daily schedule was generally only made public the week of the festival, if at all. I do get that this encourages people to buy full weekend passes, but still.

If scheduled similarly to past years, no bands will be playing on the Sunday. Four of the acts this year are out-of-town touring artists, with the nominal headliners being Flint, Michigan-based ska punk band The Write-Ups (the first American band ever booked for Northern Vibe), who headlined at The Speak Easy early last month. Good to see them back in our area so soon, and they're a fun band for ska fans! Two touring bands will be making their local debuts here in August, and both are relatively new acts, including Sudbury hard rock quartet Pressure Event and Timmins all-female pop punk quartet Saving Bambi, whose own advertising indicates that they'll be playing on Saturday the 29th (though Northern Vibe isn't technically in Leeburn). As well, Sudbury rapper Ronin705 will return to Ophir that weekend, five years after serving as a late replacement performer at Northern Vibe in 2021.

Of the eleven local acts, only three are returnees from Northern Vibes past, and they include the aforementioned folk/bluegrass quartet The Golden Scoundrels (who played the last two years), local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith for a fourth straight year (presumably with The Big Finish Band in tow again), and local rap supergroup Soundsxvad (members of Sound Syndrome + Fvcksxvad) in an encore from their Ophir debut in 2025. This year has more ties with recent Rotaryfest lineups, with debutantes including funk rock cover quartet The Rhythm Junction, blues rockers Sunday & The Broken Hearts, former Way Backs frontman Jeffrey Wright in a solo country set, and blues musician Josh "The Preacher" McNally and his Jackleg Band, fresh off of their Stage 2 set next month. Other acts at Northern Vibe XI include new local alternative hard rock quintet Riverside Stasis ...

...ska punk quartet A.S.D.P., local/Peterborough folk/country musician Michelle Moran, and curator/Scoundrels frontman Josh Penno in a solo set curiously branded as "Pen Pen Happy Fun Time". Is "Quarter Scoundies" too obvious? Meanwhile, the EDM/DJ-centric Roost River Stage lineup has also been revealed, so click here to see who will be spinning tunes there. As usual at Northern Vibe, you can expect vendors and on-site camping all weekend long to cap off the summer with, though detailed specifics are to be announced on what to expect. In 2025, the daily schedules were expected to run from 6:00 PM-11:00 PM on the Friday and 12:00 PM-11:00 PM on the Saturday, the storm and this year's larger lineup acknowledged. This is a 19+ event, and tickets are currently on sale at this link in the "early bird" tier 1 phase, going for $125 for the full weekend.

No word on if the price will go up once "early bird" sales end, but if you're holding out for single day passes or other tiers, stay tuned to Northern Vibe social media accounts for updates. Definitely a more varied lineup for musical styles, leaning more into blues and country while still harbouring alternative and rap from past years, which is a testament to Josh's aims as a curator, and hopefully things go smoothly with much better weather in a couple of months! Visit the above links for more on this year's Northern Vibe Festival, but we'll let you know when daily schedules and timeslots are announced, and look for more news soon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Silent 9, Soundcheck, And Generations) & Weekend Concert Previews!!

Before we begin our latest round of weekend concert previews, just a heads up that the planned Dr. Feelgood concert at The Sault Community Theatre Centre has quietly been cancelled, as per the deletion of its ticket page from the S.C.T.C. website. I have not seen any public statement on a reason for the cancellation, but $61 adult tickets can't have encouraged sales, White Pines theater or not. Contact Miles Management or the local box office if you still haven't gotten a refund for purchased tickets. Dr. Feelgood deliver the goods for Motley Crue and hair metal fans, and hopefully they try here again!

This preview post will go into most of the weekend's hard rock shows, but due to the amount, I'll hold the Go Skateboarding Day and Quite Frankly concerts for our next post. Most of today's are SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, and we'll start at Jay's Piston Broke Pub, where local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the shows were only announced on the venue's Facebook page yesterday, creatively by sharing the AI-generated poster for their shows there last month, which didn't have date-specific details. Fresh off of their sister band Separate Wayz' shows at Reggie's last week, TOMORROW & SATURDAY'S concerts are not advertised to be "epic crossover" shows either, but as we saw last week, you never quite know when Nicole will turn up at a Soundcheck-only gig, and vice versa for Travis with Separate Wayz!

In the realm of Facebook "Story" videos, you may have seen one from their last show at Beck's Bar from that venue featuring Soundcheck covering Billy Squier's "Everybody Wants You" with Travis on vocals, but alas, "Story" videos disappear forever after being seen once or twice. Will they perform it again TOMORROW or SATURDAY? Find out at the former Reggie's West! These are 9:30 PM concerts with 19+ age limits and no cover charges. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Soundcheck live!

Next up, local classic/hard rock cover veterans Generations will play an hour-long set as part of Minelli's 75th anniversary Italian Celebration on SATURDAY! Again, apologies for the short notice, the band only confirmed their involvement via their Facebook group on Tuesday, and the schedule was only released yesterday. To celebrate 75 years of Minelli's as an Italian restaurant in the Soo (currently based out of The Marconi Multicultural Events Centre at 450 Albert Street West), this one day festival on SATURDAY will celebrate Minelli's and give back to the community, including vendors, games, raffles, kids activities, food and drinks, and of course, live music. Not counting the DJ playing that night, there is a four band matinee program on SATURDAY, with Generations co-headlining at 3:00 PM. Local country musician Matt Tarantini will be last up at 4:30 PM, with the Elettra Marconi Society Choir performing at 2:00 PM, and classic rock mainstays RPM kicking things off with a 2 hour block at 12:00 PM, so there's a lot for many tastes!

To be held in The Marconi Hall's parking lot from noon until 10:00 PM, this is a free & all ages event, but food and drink tickets will be on site if you're so inclined. 75 years is quite a milestone, so kudos to Julie and the rest of the family and staff for sticking with Minelli's for all these years, and hopefully Generations and the other musical performers set the right notes on SATURDAY! As the concert is outdoors, 9&10 News is calling for partly cloudy weather on SATURDAY with a high of 20° and a low of 7°, and rain is unlikely. Visit the official Facebook event page and the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Generations live!

Also this weekend, fellow local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9 will head west to Runway Park to serve as musical entertainment at Throttle Fest on SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies again for the short notice, we knew that they were scheduled to play at Runway Park via their website's concert calendar, but firm confirmation about the event proper only crossed my radar this week. Surprisingly their only public show in city limits this summer (they're not playing at Rotaryfest), Silent 9 will help close out Throttle Fest, a drag racing & mud bog festival taking place at the 573 Airport Road dirt racing venue that is most famous in a concert context for hosting the Bell Border Jam festival in 2008. Along with racing to take part in and watch, there will be a food truck and beer tent on site, tattoos, on-site camping, and more, so click here for fuller details on what to expect! Silent 9 are scheduled to perform from 7:00-11:00 PM on SATURDAY NIGHT.

General admission is $40 unless you're racing in Throttle Fest events proper (kids 10 and under are free), and gates open for the day's swath of events at 7:30 AM on SATURDAY. Like with the Minelli's festival, the weather forecast currently looks good here as well. Silent 9 should get fans moving with some fun hard rock and general covers to cap off a busy program, so visit the above links for more on Throttle Fest, and here they are live!

Finally for this preview post, we'll close with one more special summer festival (albeit one whose band details weren't on short notice), as local southern rock trio Bone Yard 225 will return as the house band for the annual Queen Street Cruise TOMORROW & SATURDAY! "The Dirty Three" have long served as musical entertainment for this classic car throwback event, with the home base returning to The Roberta Bondar Pavilion all weekend long. As usual, tomorrow's program is headlined by the cruise proper, with your local 225 playing under the tent from 6:30 PM onward, while they will set up shop outside on the boardwalk proper by Montana's from 12:30 PM onward during the show n' shine car show, preceding the awards ceremony to close the weekend. Outside of their concert action, click here for the full weekend itinerary, including appearances by Cristy Lee from All Girls Garage, the Touch-A-Truck, and much more.

Admission is free for general attendees (see above if you intend on registering for the car show or cruise), this is absolutely an all ages event, and while the Saturday forecast is already noted above, tomorrow's forecast is calling for clear skies and temperatures of 13-16° when Greg, Alex, and Warren are slated to be performing, tent acknowledged. If you love classic cars, be you the owner of one or not, don't miss the Cruise this weekend, and if you've missed Bone Yard's full electric show in recent months, they'll be in full force downtown! See above for more details, and here's Bone Yard 22live!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Quite Frankly and Go Skate Day previews (and more) next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (BookcluB & Dos Amigos!!)

Here's a surprise second post for your Friday night reading, which is devoted to SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS concerning a big day for live music and downtown festival action TOMORROW, so what all can you expect?

Local acoustic punk cover duo Dos Amigos will return to Forty-Five Social TOMORROW as part of their second annual Lot & Loaded Parking Lot Jam! Apologies for the short notice, their involvement was announced by the 117 Spring Street barber shop's Facebook page last week, but Dos Amigos proper have not updated their Facebook page whatsoever since August. Given that, who knows what Dustin and Mikey might have been up to in recent months, but it's good to see them playing a publically advertised concert again! The Lot & Loaded Parking Lot Jam again coincides with the annual Sault Ste. Marie Festival of Beer on Queen Street East and the Downtown Plaza, which Forty-Five Social booking three solo artists to play alongside Dos Amigos TOMORROW. Amazingly, the lineup from 2025 returns intact for 2026, just with a shuffled lineup order, so look for folk musician Matthew (or Matty) James at 9:00 PM, veteran local staple Jay Case at 7:00 PM, Dos Amigos at 4:00 PM, and country musician Marty Frolick at 2:00 PM.

Each act has a two hour timeslot TOMORROW, with the 6:00 PM hour seemingly serving as an intermission. While there is no stated age limit for this outdoor concert, use common sense, as this is taking advantage of Beerfest, and there is no announced cover charge at Forty-Five Social. As seen in this Facebook video, the Parking Lot Jam will take place under a tent in the titular lot, but just in case, 9&10 News has a heavy chance of rain and thunderstorms during Marty's opening set, but precipitation odds will drop for Dos Amigos and it should dry up for Jay and Matthew. Temperatures are projected to start at around 18° and will drop to around 11°. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Dos Amigos live!

Next up, this won't be all for Mikey Hawdon and Dustin Jones TOMORROW, as the ex-Inner City Surfers bandmates will join their current alternative/punk cover supergroup BookcluB at the Downtown Plaza for the Sault Ste. Marie Festival of Beer's proper concert program! Again, apologies for the short notice, we only learned of BookcluB's involvement via Dustin's personal Facebook page yesterday (they haven't updated their Facebook page in three months, and I have not seen LopLops, Beerfest, or You Belong SSM announce a music schedule). Just a half hour after Dos Amigos wrap up outside of Forty-Five Social, they'll join the full band at the Plaza for what appears to be a headlining set at 6:30 PM, which will notably be one of (if not) their first gigs since adding former Hails guitarist Carmen Muto to their lineup, replacing the relocated Brandon Ruch. This was confirmed via Rotaryfest's website in their Stage 1 writeups for this year.

We'll have more on Rotaryfest 2026 on the SMS soon, but Carmen is a welcome (if surprising, given Hails' sound) addition to BookcluB, giving them a new young gun on guitar! I don't know the format for the Festival of Beer's music schedule TOMORROW, but if it's similar to last year's schedule, you should expect three more bands and two DJ slots from noon onward, with BookcluB likely playing for an hour. Queen Street East will be closed from 8:00 AM-10:00 PM from Brock Street to Spring Street, and attendees can expect loads of craft beer companies and brewers selling their wares for the occasion, while a food truck festival will debut at the Plaza as part of this LopLops-curated festival. Lack of a full band schedule aside, click here and visit the above links for more details on what to expect! There will be two further Queen Street closures TOMORROW for other well timed events.

Outspoken Brewing will host their Night Shift party from 5:00 PM-2:00 AM with Queen closed from Elgin to Bruce Street, though they are only hosting DJs for music. Meanwhile Queen Street will be closed from Bruce to Dennis Street for a special rooftop concert at Village Media's headquarters featuring Steel Rock & The Pine Tones (Superior Heights & White Pines' student rock bands) and local Filipino band Bituin, so there's a lot going on downtown! Alas, those rainy weather forecasts remain very much a factor for anything going on until 6:00 or so, so be prepared. General admission tickets for Beerfest cost $35, but click here for all ticket package tiers if you're still needing to buy tickets online. I do hope that the weather cooperates for the majority of TOMORROW'S Festival of Beer and related downtown events, so whether you're in it for the beer or the music (or both), see above for more details, and for a preview, here's Bookclub live at the Downtown Plaza!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the SMS this weekend! Thanks everyone! 

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Go North Music Festival!!)

Single topic post today thanks to a big LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as Juno Award-nominated Saskatoon blues/hard rock band Wide Mouth Mason will (as far as I'm aware) make their first ever local concert appearance as one of the co-headliners of the eighth annual Go North Music Festival on Saturday, July 25th! A staple of Canadian rock radio and MuchMusic in the late 1990s thanks to hit songs like "My Old Self", "Why", and "Smile", it will be neat to finally welcome Shaun, Safwan, and crew to our area (if not the Soo proper) this summer, and their jam-friendly alt-rock sound and distinct vocals still set them apart! Wide Mouth Mason are really the only hard rock-leaning outpost for this year's festival, which didn't have anything that really crossed our radar in 2025 (when it was headlined by Big Sugar, featuring former W.M.M. bassist Gordie Johnson). Presented by SooToday & 104.3 The Fox, this annual event returns to the old Cornfest site at Centennial Grounds in Richards Landing on St. Joseph Island for two nights of music.

As seen on the poster, the headlining Saturday band this year is Juno-winning Halifax indie rock quintet Wintersleep (of "Weighty Ghost" and "Amerika" fame), who have also never played in the Soo area before. While their name sounds heavier than they are, Wintersleep are a very talented and acclaimed band, so don't bypass them this summer! Also making their way to St. Joseph Island in four months are three acts from Toronto, namely alt-indie trio Jackie, pop rock musician Loviet, and alternative singer/guitarist Keegan Powell, who should also make some waves with their skill sets and rising national profiles! Your only local band on July 25th is CASS FM, the Central Algoma Secondary School student rock band (a'la Mustang Sally), who are multi-time veterans of Go North, if with a lot of lineup turnover. As well, London children's music group The Thinking Caps will return to headline the kids stage that afternoon.

The night #1 lineup on Friday, July 24th has more local ties despite only having three acts, those being fan favourite Niagara Falls brass/funk collective My Son The Hurricane (still featuring former Rising Tide drummer Danno O'Shea), Oakville country/soul hybrid duo Yassin & Sean Terrio, and local indie rock quartet Lucy's Diner (née The Hollow Heads). Along with the announced musicians, attendees can also expect to find local art and food vendors amongst the outdoor surroundings on Centennial Grounds, and if you're bringing the kids, there will be interactive Science North exhibits, games, crafts, and a mural that everyone can help paint at the family zone. Timeslots for the individual acts are not out yet, but gates open on Friday at 6:00 PM and Saturday at 3:00 PM, and bands are projected to wrap up nightly by 11:00 PM. On-site camping is absolutely available as usual, and a fireside jam will again be held after hours.

Advance tickets are now on sale at this link, and minus online processing fees, day passes run for $40 on Friday and $70 on Saturday ($20 and $25 respectively for teenagers 13-18 or students under 25 with valid student ID). Camping passes for 2 or 4 adults for the whole weekend or Saturday only are also available (kids/teens are free to camp thusly but must be with an adult), but these do not include festival tickets, which are a separate purchase. $15 premium parking passes are also available if you want to get a really close spot, but this is an optional bonus. Discount bundles for two adults with camping & premium parking are also available. It is great to see the Go North Fest back for year #8, and while they have had heavier lineups, there's a lot of established and up & coming names to watch out for here, so definitely visit the above links for more on this year's event an hour east of the Soo! Thanks everyone!

Northern Vibe Festival Fallout, Realignment Project Updates, And A New Silent 9 Video!!

Today's post covers some recent ground from a major summer festival, a band whose album was just reviewed on here, and another summer festival performance, so here's what you should know!

Starting on Saturday afternoon, a slow trickle of updates starting coming in from attendees of the Northern Vibe Festival in Ophir that pointed to major changes to the Forest Stage schedule this past weekend, so what exactly happened? Organizers have not posted an official public statement on their Facebook page, so some of this comes from personal accounts, but props to Spun Out frontman Dean Duguay and Big Finish Band bassist Matt Fronzi for what they shared on social media. As you may recall, this was a rainy weekend, particularly late Friday night and into Saturday morning (granted, a lot of the doom & gloom forecasts on Sunday didn't pan out as badly as projected), but points east of the Soo got hit particularly hard. While the Roost River Stage for EDM performers survived the onslaught from what I am aware, the band-centric Forest Stage was reportedly decimated in that night's rainstorm and was unusable for the Saturday program.

The intense storm hit late in the Friday program and particularly impaired Sudbury-based Tool tribute band Avessel's headlining set, with the band referencing that the night had "an unfortunate end due to the extreme weather" but praised the venue, artists, and vendors. You can see in the video embedded below (of them covering Tool's "Sober" from their Instagram page) that stage equipment was covered in garbage bags, but kudos to them for powering through and still pulling off the Tool sound so well! Hopefully they get an encore in the Soo soon (or at Northern Vibe next year!). With the damage to the stage and sound equipment, folk/country quartet The Golden Scoundrels salvaged the Forest Stage by using their own gear and an impromptu plywood floor "stage" to perform for attendees, and they were joined by three other local acts scheduled on Saturday, including drummer Johnny Belanger's alt-hard rock band Handsome Sandwich, maintaining their five year streak.

Rob Speers' new "party band" The Barbarians (featuring half of Handsome Sandwich) and Mike Haggith & The Big Finish Band reportedly filled out the heavily curtailed bill, with the touring bands, Dark Side Of The Soo, Spun Out, the two rap groups, and Benny's Acoustic Thing all dropping out. Not ideal, especially for Crank Sound Distribution's gear, but thankfully no one was hurt, and props to the Golden Scoundrels for salvaging what they could for fans expecting to hear live bands on Saturday! Fingers crossed that organizers come back stronger than ever for Northern Vibe XI next year, but check out Avessel's Friday night video below, and see above for more on what went down on Poplardale Road this past weekend, good and bad!

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Next up, here's the latest from local industrial metal solo act The Realignment Project, who we haven't had talked about much in recent months beyond our "Frustration Sessions" EP review on Saturday, so what has Matt been up to since that came out in April? Unlike with their debut "Afterthought", every song from the new EP has finally gotten the lyric video treatment for the project's YouTube channel, with the last holdout ("Medicated (A Spade Is A Spade)") being embedded below. Matt was already writing new material as of May 17th, and after posting two promotional "Reels" for their first two EPs in the following days, he revealed on their Facebook page on June 2nd that their next EP will be called "War Songs". You can see him tracking some material on a computer from the sessions in this "Reel" posted two days later. On June 16th, Matt indicated that he was trying to write lyrics that day, and a June 18th "Reel" featured a song-in-progress named "Bones And Dust", but I'll hold comment until the full song is released.

Matt was tracking vocals for this EP on July 1st, and he revealed the track listing in the above image on July 7th. Mixing was underway as of July 10th (the day that he wrote the first song for T.R.P.'s fourth EP), and tracking 100% wrapped up on July 13th, but we await further details on the EP. Given the quick turnaround between EP releases (though we've been waiting longer for "War Times" than we had to for "The Frustration Sessions"), this could drop on major streaming services at any point, though due to our 6 month anti-bias buffer period, we won't be reviewing the new EP until February 2026 at the earliest. Stay tuned for updates from The Realignment Project, and here's the "Medicated" lyric video!

Finally, here's an overdue highlight video of local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9's set at Rotaryfest Stage 1 on the Friday last month! Uploaded to their Facebook page, this video combines footage shot from multiple filmers (not all vertical but shoved into the vertical dimensions regardless) during their set, and you can see them covering clips of No Doubt's "Spiderwebs", Michael Jackson's "Beat It", Van Halen's "Panama", and Mark Ronson & Bruno Mars' "Uptown Funk". We don't see substantial footage of any one song here (especially not "Panama"), but Jess, Ryan, Paul, and Steve put in a lively and energetic performance in their Rotaryfest return, so check everything out below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile next! Thanks everyone!