Northern Vibe Festival Videos From Mike Haggith & The Dirty Mystics!!

I've put this off for too long as it is, so here's coverage of public videos from two bands that played at last month's Northern Vibe Festival in Ophir! Before then, we have some promising news about the Poplardale Road festival's future, as 2024 might not have been the final installment as organizers had hinted at in advance. A poll was posted on their Facebook page on Tuesday where they were asking if supporters would attend a fundraising event featuring bands and/or DJs that would help raise money to improve the band-centric Forest Stage. They wouldn't float that idea if they weren't hoping to return in 2025, after all, so speak up there if you'd come to or perform at such an event! Now to videos from that weekend, and while we're not going in performance order here, I did want to highlight Sudbury psychedelic hard rock trio The Dirty Mystics first, as Northern Vibe IX was their first ever public concert in any location!

Yes, a non-local band made their debut in our neck of the woods, which is neat! While they have teased that "more videos & music from the show are coming soon", they definitely had their own cameras (note the plural) rolling for their set, and you can see brief multi-camera footage of their Saturday evening set below courtesy of their Facebook page. It's just 9 seconds long and overlaid by text, but it's certainly better than nothing, so give it a watch below, and hopefully some much longer videos from their Northern Vibe set turn up soon!

Perhaps aided by paid wifi being offered to attendees this year, there are a few more public videos than normal to check out from this year's Northern Vibe, and most substantially of all is a full concert video from local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith and his Big Finish Band! Before then, I should finally address their full-set video from last year's Northern Vibe Festival, which I hinted at in May when Mike posted a song from it on Facebook, but the full multi-camera livestream from Chalykoff Studios was finally uploaded to his YouTube channel at the end of that month. No word on if the interview that Mike's band recorded with Chalykoff Studios last year will ever see the light of day, but last year's full concert (shot across five cameras) is now fully available! Remember, Mike's band then featured Jacob Quarrell on bass, and only included current guitarist Elly McWatters as a backing vocalist on the last two songs.

In his first public concert after his freak knee dislocation at last year's Rotaryfest, Mike and crew played (in order) "All You Do", "Hot & Cold", covers of Gnaeus' "Lovers" & Bruce Springsteen's "Atlantic City", "MorningStar", "Missing" by The Din, "Love Will Light The Way", "I've Seen It Before", a cover of Bizotic's "Subway Delay", "The Nature Of The Times", and "Twist Of Fate". I won't go into great detail on the set proper (I already did last year from its single camera live-stream), but the footage here is excellently shot and edited, so kudos to Justine and crew for putting in great work to make Mike's set last year look this good! Check out Mike & The Big Finish Band's 2023 Northern Vibe set below!

Now to this year's Mike Haggith concert in Ophir, which he posted as a "delayed live-stream" on his YouTube channel on August 27th, as poor data coverage on Mike's end led to it being posted after the fact. This is a single camera video, but Chalykoff Studios was on hand once again, and multi-camera footage like last year will eventually go online when complete (though remember that last year's final copy was only posted on YouTube in May). Mike's band (now including Gnaeus' Matt Fronzi on bass) played another 11 song set, this time as the Friday night co-headliners. Interestingly, Mike did not play guitar at all at Northern Vibe, which would seem to be a huge endorsement of Elly's increasing guitar abilities! This year, Mike and crew only played original songs (not even a Din cover), and their set started with a brand new song of Mike's entitled "Brand New Day", which blended directly into his existing track "Back Away Slowly".

The 43 minutes-long set continued with "An Act Of Strength", followed by the two new original songs that debuted at Rotaryfest, namely "I Really Hope This Gets To You" and "No Love". The rest of the set was made up of existing originals, starting with "Hot & Cold" (one of just three songs carried over from Northern Vibe 2023). After introducing the band and acknowledging this being the potential final year of the festival, they played "From The 55th Parallel", "Carousel" (after Elly switched guitars), "The Nature Of The Times", "All The Best", and finally, "Twist Of Fate". Strong set for fans of Mike's substantial solo career, and this band definitely had these songs down well, including Elly in her first full set in Mike's band (she didn't play guitar on three songs at Rotaryfest). Good energy and well shot from this stationary angle, even if the multi-camera mastered footage is still to come! I did notice that Mike didn't say much between songs though.

Perhaps they were trying to cram as much as they could into a 45 minute slot, or they were behind schedule with The Golden Scoundrels waiting to close, but if you want to see Mike talk to the fans, check after "Hot & Cold" and during the end of "All The Best". If you love Mike's Thompson and Barrie-era original material, you'll definitely want to check out these lively rock renditions below, and we'll let you know when Chalykoff Studios' pro-shot multi-camera footage eventually goes live!

Yes, we will have Handsome Sandwich's new video from Northern Vibe in an upcoming post, as well as Mike Haggith's lengthy video interview from last month, so stay tuned for those and much more on the site as September continues! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Northern Vibe Festival)!!

The ninth (and final?) Northern Vibe Festival goes down this weekend, and as has been the case annually post-pandemic, the full band schedule was not made available before the week of the festivities, so here are some SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS re: this year's Forest Stage lineups! Apologies for the short notice, I wish organizers would publicize the schedule much earlier than they do, even if the idea is for attendees to come and camp out for the whole weekend. As of this writing, the band-centric Forest Stage lineup has not been posted publically, but kudos to Mike Haggith for sending me a tentative schedule that he had received in conversations with organizers, so we know who is playing and when! If there are late variances, I'll edit this post to address them if they come up prior. Of course, Northern Vibe returns to the former Hempfest site on Poplardale Road in Ophir (just outside of Bruce Mines) this weekend.

Along with the camping in the forest just outside of town, attendees can expect vendors, food trucks, outdoor activities, and loads of DJs on the Roost River Stage on site. There will even be (paid) wifi this year! Be sure to visit the official website and the Northern Vibe Facebook page for complete non-musical details, and a complete schedule for the River Stage is on the latter if you want party with the EDM musicians playing there. Like in the past three years, Spades GT frontman and former local concert promoter J.D. Pearce will come back home to curate this year's Forest Stage, and bands will again play TOMORROW NIGHT & SATURDAY, with Sunday being a camping/closedown day with no live bands. The band lineup begins TOMORROW NIGHT, and will be headlined at 10:00 PM by new local folk/bluegrass quartet The Golden Scoundrels. They also closed Rotaryfest Stage 2 last month, so they're getting huge endorsements already!

The rest of TOMORROW's lineup is hard rock/punk-themed, including local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith and his backing Big Finish Band co-headlining at 9:00 PM in their return to Ophir. Mike & crew are fresh off of a successful Rotaryfest set last month themselves, and Mike's got a much better knee than he played through at Northern Vibe last year! Alt-punk trio A Dire Setback will play Northern Vibe for their fourth straight year when they hit the stage at 8:00 PM, while Cornwall hard rock trio Don't Tell Sarah will open TOMORROW'S proceedings at 7:00 PM in their local debut. Don't Tell Sarah should leave a big impression with their up-tempo and hard hitting originals, so don't miss them! Admission details for the weekend will be at post's end, but we are looking at cloudy 18-21° weather in Ophir according to 9&10 News, with a slight chance of rain early in the band program.

Hopefully the weather holds off TOMORROW, especially as there's more of a chance of rain on SATURDAY, but Northern Vibe goes on rain or shine (the Forest Stage has a roof), so bring any protective gear you need in the event that the sky starts crying! Visit the above links for more on TOMORROW'S band lineup, and for a preview, here's Mike Haggith and his band's complete multi-camera set in Ophir last year!

As for SATURDAY's Forest Stage band lineup, the longer six band program will be headlined by Montreal ska punk band K-Man & The 45s in their ninth local concert since 2013 and their second straight year as the closing band outright, and they are slotted for 9:45 PM. Fans of horn-infused ska punk and Ramones covers should be well used to K-Man and crew from their Soo dates, and hopefully their Ophir encore is well received on SATURDAY! Alt-hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich (featuring Golden Scoundrels bandmates Brandon Ruch & Johnny Belanger) will play Northern Vibe for a fourth straight year at 8:00 PM, while Sudbury psychedelic hard rock trio The Dirty Mystics slot in at 7:00 PM for their first ever concert appearance (somehow we got a truly non-local band's live debut!). Local funk/hard rock cover quintet The Wyld Stallyns (the Friday headliners last year) are blocked at 6:00 PM on SATURDAY in what would be their fourth year too.

Now, The Stallyns have not been up to much publically this summer, with singer/guitarist Rob Speers picking up the slack with unplugged solo gigs. The band and/or Rob (who doesn't have a public social media page devoted to his solo project) have not publically acknowledged Northern Vibe on social media in recent weeks, so I don't know what format their scheduled set will take, but we'll let you know if we hear anything! Local folk/country solo artist Brian Tremblay (a late addition like The Dirty Mystics) will play Northern Vibe for the first/only time at 5:00 PM, and the day's program begins at 4:00 PM with a set by local rap collective Fvksxvad. They'll be a good bridge for fans coming over from the River Stage, so don't miss these familiar MCs! Weather-wise, the current forecast has 20-24° temperatures, and while there are currently showers projected for the first couple of bands, clouds are expected to go away as night draws near.

With this being the official lineup, we can confirm that Cornwall speed metal band Hellrager, Spades GT bassist James Roy Daley, and North Bay electronic rock band Medussah have all dropped out of the festival. Reasons for the three touring acts' withdrawals were not announced, but none have been credited in Facebook promotional materials since July 4th, and none have gotten the individual images there to plug their sets. Hopefully all is well with the three groups, especially after Hellrager and James' past local appearances! Also, note that local magician Ryan McFarling (who had a formal Forest Stage set last year) will be back in Ophir as an on-site special guest, but does not have a scheduled set on either stage, so keep an eye out for him! Online ticket sales for Northern Vibe have closed, but if you haven't already bought passes, they are on sale at the gate. Admission on site cost around $150 (full weekend) & $85 (Saturday only) last year.

Note that organizers haven't clearly specified if that price held steady for 2024 or not. Click here for all of the ground rules and directions you could ask for! While not hinted at in recent social media postings, organizers said on Facebook last month that this "will (likely) be the last" festival due to concerns about not being able to make Northern Vibe better each year, and thusly being "time to take a break and re-evaluate". Whether this is the last installment or not, come out to Poplardale Road TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT to enjoy all of the action! Visit the above links for full public details, and for a preview of SATURDAY's bill, here's K-Man & The 45s live!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our previews of this weekend's two ARCH benefit motorcycle rallies and Wax Mannequin's return next as we wrap up these previews! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Soundcheck), Northern Vibe Festival Updates, And New Videos!!

Here's another news post on this Tuesday evening, which is half devoted to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, but we also have lineup updates for an upcoming festival to take note of too, as well as some new live videos. With all of that said, here's what you should know!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will be playing at the annual Cruisin' The Dub car show at the newer A&W at 659 Great Northern Road on Thursday, August 22nd! The guys had played a car show there on June 30th as well, which had no advance public advertising on social media that I could find, though it did take place, as noted on personal accounts and presumably in person at the restaurant. However, next week's actually is making the rounds for advertising on Facebook, with drummer Glen Thomas sharing a poster on his personal Facebook page on Friday. This will be the annual car show there, with donations going to Multiple Sclerosis Canada, and will also include family entertainment and refreshments. The plan is to have a concurrent bike show at the older A&W at 121 Great Northern Road too, and while Glen said that "I believe" Bone Yard 225 is playing that, Bone Yard have not confirmed that at press time.

This special Thursday outdoor matinee concert(s?) goes down at 5:00 PM and it is absolutely all ages with no stated cover charge, donations aside. Of course, Mother Nature is the elephant in the room here, as last year's Cruisin' The Dub car/bike show was cancelled due to rain that day, so absolutely keep tabs on your preferred local forecast next week just in case. While we're on the subject, Soundcheck will also return to The Water Tower Pub for one night only on Saturday, August 31st! The band has not confirmed this show publically yet, but the venue did via (belatedly) posting their August concert calendar on their Facebook page yesterday, marking their first monthly schedule drop there since May. This will be Soundcheck's first show at the Great Northern Road nightclub in just over two months, and it should be a prime opportunity to hear Terry, Cameron, Jim, and Glen's diverse and often heavy array of covers before the summer season ends!

A one-nighter as is custom at The Water Tower Pub, the band on Friday the 30th will definitely be the aforementioned Bone Yard 225, who already confirmed that "uncorked" gig via their website's concert calendar. Soundcheck will be on at 8:00 PM for this Labour Day long weekend concert, which has a 19+ age limit and no announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more on Soundcheck's upcoming dates, and don't miss them (and Bone Yard) at the Laird Fair this weekend, preview forthcoming!

Next up, here's the latest lineup updates for this year's (final?) Northern Vibe Festival in nearby Ophir over the August 24th weekend! We still don't know the complete band schedule (though organizers did finally unveil it publically last year, if on short notice), but they have been publicizing many individual performers on both the band-centric Forest Stage and DJ-centric River Stage on their Facebook page this summer. Through there, they have confirmed two new Forest Stage acts that were not previously advertised, and still aren't on their website. One is Sudbury psychedelic hard rock trio The Dirty Mystics in their debut (not just locally, anywhere!) and the other is veteran local folk/country singer/guitarist Brian Tremblay, so their diverse sounds should add to the festivities! No word yet on if they're replacing anyone, but note that announced touring acts Hellrager, James Roy Daley, and Medussah have not (yet?) gotten individual Facebook plugs where every other Forest Stage act has.

It's also worth noting that magician Ryan McFarling is also returning for this year's Northern Vibe too, but his Facebook promotional image describes him as a "special guest" and does not tie him to a stage, despite being a scheduled Forest Stage performer last year. Whether this is the last Northern Vibe or not, the lineup is shaping up well, and while we await the complete nightly band schedule, visit the above links for full current details on how to attend next weekend!

We'll close today with two new videos from reunited local hard rock quartet Half Past's Facebook page, courtesy of their second show of the year, which took place at Shooters Downstairs Lounge on August 3rd! One sees the guys covering most of "I Don't Care" by Apocalyptica & former Three Days Grace singer Adam Gontier (interesting seeing that song covered by a band with a guitarist and bassist given that Apocalyptica replace both with cellos), but embedded below is their longer cover of Chevelle's "Joyride (Omen)". Solid covers of these modern hard rock hits, and Jordan is definitely getting more and more comfortable as a frontman via the shared clips from this year! The filmer also made use of the floor to film lots of close (and horizontal) angles, so do check these out above & below, and don't miss Half Past opening for Selias at Soo Blaster next month!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes as we continue playing catch-up tomorrow! Thanks everyone!