It's been a while for a concert review, so why not make the most of it by going to see every band at Rotaryfest on the final day? And I mean, every band! Last year, I had intended on going to see and review every single band playing on both Stages 1 & 2 at Clergue Park on Rotaryfest Saturday, but afternoon rain scuttled that plan early, so while I returned when the rain stopped and saw most of the program, things were delayed (I'm not risking my DSLR camera in rainy weather). However, this year, the weather gods were both kinder and crueler in different ways. For regular day-to-day weather, it was a nice day, as it peaked at 21° with increasingly sunny skies and no rain, which ended that morning, so conditions were very mild for hanging out downtown in mid-July for 11 hours! However, the air quality index did rise to a 10+ that morning at 11:00 and into the early afternoon, and was at "high risk" from 9:00 AM-1:00 PM, leading to some concern that the music stages would be compromised, if not cancelled, like they were on Thursday.
While some kids activities were indeed cancelled this past Saturday, the bulk of the day's programs went ahead, and the air quality did improve, as you can see from my videos getting progressively less hazy, with things getting to a moderate 4 around supper time (note that the AQI jumped to 10+ again from 10:00 PM onward, but things were almost over by then). There was one change to the Stage 2 program due to the air quality concerns that I'll get to in a bit, but otherwise, the day's music lineups went ahead as planned. Given that I was aiming to see every single band, and set times were staggered to begin on the half hour on Stage 1 and on the :15 on Stage 2, it took some math to plot out how I would juggle set times again, and I settled on capping bands at a half hour apiece unless there was no Stage 2 conflict, or if I had to adjust given Zed's 2 hour featured set on Stage 1. Generally, I was seeing Stage 1 bands start and Stage 2 bands until near their end.
And just as an aside, I wanted to praise stage directors Valerie Pluss and Dustin Goodall (let alone the bands) for keeping things moving on both stages, as most bands were either on time or started their sets within 5 minutes of the schedule (and some were early!) The longest delays compared to the schedule were 10 minutes on Stage 2 (Pillory) and 15 minutes on Stage 1 (The Sidekicks), and they were the last bands on each, so you really can't complain. Andrew Stuetz returned as the MC for most bands on Stage 1 this year, while Stage 2 had no dedicated MC.
Like last year, the opening band on Stage 1 on Rotaryfest Saturday was veteran local/Toronto classic rock band Rusty & The Soft Parade, but they didn't have to deal with rain this year, and I didn't have to bail during their set! The Soft Parade shared the same lineup as Rusty McCarthy's blues-centric "Rusty McBlues" set on Stage 2 on the Friday, just with Maja Bannerman on vocals for the back half, while the prolific Chris Johns took over for Ed Young behind the kit for both bands this year (great to see him still fighting and performing!). I missed most of the Rusty-sung half of the set, but I saw them cover the likes of Johnny Cash, Melanie, The Rolling Stones, and Hot Chocolate, plus a few scattered original songs from Rusty and/or Maja's back catalogues like "Bellevue Park". Songs referencing the Soo were intentionally chosen, and in the case of the "You Sexy Thing" cover, that title was changed to "Sault Ste. Marie".
Fans of 1960s-1970s classic rock will have gotten a kick out of Rusty and Maja and crew here, and they had a lively set that leaned well into their local pasts, and it was nice to finally see the band at Rotaryfest without rain pouring on me! Second up last week was new local classic/hard rock sextet Hush, who feature singer Rick Parissenti, guitarists Brian Oja (ex-Bigsuit/Griphook) & Tony Bernardo, bassist Robert Brown (ex-Turner Up/Havadder), drummer John DeLorenzi (ex-Man Feelings), and Mustang Heart keyboardist Vito Tassone. Aside from program hype, I didn't know anything else about this band, but their set saw them cover the likes of Blue Oyster Cult, Autograph, Van Halen, AC/DC, and Corey Hart. Based on what I heard (in this case, nearly the whole set), they would fit our coverage based on their cover selection if they're not a one-off act and if they launch an online page of some kind!
Tight sound for fans of 1980s-leaning hard and arena rock, with loads of experienced names giving their all for early Stage 1 fans, though energy levels were inconsistent, and Rick did seem somewhat too formally dressed for a rock concert set. Very promising start from Hush! Now, I say that heard almost all of their set for a reason. When I disembarked from Stage 1 to catch the open mic block kicking off Stage 2 on Saturday, I noticed a distinct lack of musicians or attendees there, just the guys from 705Live Sound Co. doing their thing. As the ShawOpen free wifi account no longer works, I had to go to the library to see what was up, and while not announced by Rotaryfest proper, the open mic block was cancelled out of an abundance of caution given the spike in the air quality index (it was high risk until 1:00 PM and the open mic was supposed to begin at 1:30 PM.) As such, I heard Hush's set finish while researching everything.
There were concerns that further bands (particularly The Reeves at 2:30 PM) would also have been cancelled, but Rotaryfest confirmed that Stage 2 would otherwise proceed along with Stage 1, and every scheduled act played on Saturday. I only knew of ex-Stereo North frontman Andrew Pucci as a confirmed open mic performer, but I do feel for him and everyone else who signed up to play here. I admittedly would have preferred snagging another deserving local band, but it would have been interesting to see how this would have done as a change from past Second Stage lineups. Hopefully Dustin (if he returns as stage manager) tries this again for 2027!
With the delayed start on Stage 2, I was next present for the first 30 minutes of classic rock veterans Mid Life Crysis' set (in their tenth year on Stage 1), where I saw them cover songs by The Tragically Hip, Grand Funk Railroad, The Pretenders, Aldo Nova, and Tina Turner. Nothing too heavy, and they really maximized their time by keeping between song breaks as short as possible, but their chemistry and diverse range of classic rock hits was clear as day even if the skies weren't yet! SMS readers may have recognized bassist/vocalist Lori Reinholtz from her six month stint as the former Double Down's "stunt double" on bass, and while not as heavy, she showed her skills well with Mid Life Crysis last Saturday! Juggling between the two stages officially began at around 2:45 PM when I went to the Second Stage to check out the (now) opening set from new local hard/blues rock quartet The Reeves.
Featuring two members each of Skinbox/The Haze and Long Shot (imagine if they decided to reuse the Haze name given the air quality!), their set leaned in sound closer to Long Shot from what I know of the two bands, with a hard edged bit still accessible rock sound. This was seen via originals like the Chevelle-esque "Future", "Waiting On The End", and "Till The End", and they also covered The Strokes' "Last Nite" (no Arctic Monkeys that I saw, that was on Stage 1 a little later). The Reeves teased that their set would include eight original songs for their forthcoming album, and they're off to a good start, with Brad Irwin (of Gnaeus fame) acquitting himself well vocally! Also, is it just me, or did a lot of people have Chili Peppers shirts last week, Adam included? Heading back to Stage 1, the next band there was Superior Heights Collegiate's student rock band Steel Rock, who I saw at Rotaryfest two years ago.
They were a Saturday band last year too, but played in the rain, hence why I missed that set. This year, Steel Rock were comprised of 13 students (four returning from last year) in varying modular forms, and I saw them cover songs by David Bowie, The Arctic Monkeys, Michael Jackson, Weezer, The Two Door Cinema Club, and Beabadoobee (yes, that is a real musician's stage name). Definitely some talented kids in the band this year (special props to guitarist Lucas Steele, especially after nailing the "Beat It" solo), and my video of their set got a pile of hits for a good reason regarding the song in question! I was surprised that they had no male singers when I was present, there were bass issues during "Buddy Holly", and some of the dance moves done during instrumental stretches didn't seem all that necessary, but it's great to see the Steelhawks showing their musical talents again to a huge audience, and with no rain!
After four prior sets on Stage 1, local country musician Brendan Hodgson dropped down to the Second Stage last week for a set full of original songs from his solo catalogue, including from his "Coming Home" album, though most songs that I saw weren't introduced by name. I am admittedly not a country music fan, but Brendan and his backing band (including Hollow Sky/ex-Uncanny Valley guitarist Adam Fahrer) mesh well together and have a good ear for harmonies! You also get the sense that Brendan's lyrics are honest and based on real experiences and feelings, which you hope to see from country musicians. The crowd numbers were really healthy for Brendan & crew too, which is great to see, both from the air quality and his own fanbase! I next headed back to Stage 1 for the opening half hour of pop rock cover band Bourbon Blue's set, though they performed shorthanded in multiple ways.
For one, singer Robert Nevitt (ex-Re:Born) missed Rotaryfest for unannounced reasons, so they played as a trio... wait, that's all? Yeah, the band is currently a quartet with only one guitarist and no bassist (Randy, Ryan, and Derek all left between 2024 and 2025), so it was just singer/guitarist Jules Cote, singer Nicole Bentley, and drummer Alvaro Scheid on Saturday. I caught covers of The Black Eyed Peas, Eddy Grant, John Mellencamp, The Weeknd, Shaboozey, Stealer's Wheel, Elle King, and The Cars crammed into the half hour I allotted, which is a lot of tunes (let alone Toni Basil distantly from Stage 2!). While members have rock cred (as seen with Dark Side Of The Soo and the former Soo Fighters), Bourbon Blue definitely stick to pop covers with only a dash of classic rock, but it has a clear audience, as proven by the dancers up front. Even with no Rob and no bassist, there's clear talent here and a fun energy!
Back on Stage 2 was this year's only returning Second Stage act, namely local folk singer/guitarist MD Dunn (did anyone else think he looked like an older Mike Haggith last week?) Mark ended his set about 10 minutes earlier than I had expected, but he played an all-original set from what I saw, including his song "A Pretty Good Town". He has always been a skilled musician and songwriter with evocative, locally tinged lyrics, and MD definitely impressed fans by the Art Gallery with his repertoire, even if the set didn't go the full length! After a brief wifi break at the library, I caught the opening half hour of classic rock cover quartet RPM on Stage 1, who were seven minutes early! Their set featured The Romantics, John Mellencamp, Duran Duran, The Outfield, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Johnny Cash, and Joe Walsh among cover targets, and they had the best crowd levels yet for a main stage act!
A well established veteran act who have improved as musicians and as a unit over the past decade, RPM had an appealing mix of 1960s-1980s rock covers that got a good reception! They had planned to dedicate a song to those fighting the forest fires out west, but I assume that was after I left for Stage 2. You may recognize bassist Rob Gilmar as a frequent Soundcheck guest musician in the Cameron Oliver era. Next up on the Second Stage was new local blues/hard rock trio Stones & Crows, who played a batch of their own (mostly unannounced) original songs, plus covers of Radiohead's "Creep" (kind of an obvious pick, granted) and an extended jam of The Steve Miller Band's "The Joker" that morphed into the end of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird". This ran for at least eight minutes, and by the time my 30 minute warning to go back to Stage 1 hit, it was still going!
If you liked frontman Spencer "Bukky VanZant" Pine's prior band Electric Church, you'll have been right at home with Stones & Crows, and it looked like he, Nicholas, and Anthony were having a lot of fun rocking out, which thankfully matched their talent levels, so they'll be a band to watch in late 2026! Also, if Spencer reads this, the Tomahawk 141 webstream doesn't work on the mobile site on Chrome, just desktop and on the app! Over on Stage 1, fans got to see Just J&M, a 1970s-focused classic rock duo from Abba Soo bandmates Janet Brown and Mark Allemang, whose planned Stage 1 sets with Encore and The Lock City Rollers on Thursday were cancelled due to the poor air quality. At least the two of them got a second chance! Janet & Mark didn't play Abba when I was there, but we did see covers of David Cassidy, Boffalongo, Carole King, The Captain & Tenille, Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton, and Paul Simon.
I thought of my mom multiple times when Just J&M were on stage, as many of their songs were ones that she loved, especially Chris Norman & Suzi Quatro's "Stumblin' In", which they started when I was walking over to Stage 2. I wish she could have been here to see that in person! For a singer and a keyboardist doing 1970s pop rock covers, they had a good nostalgic sound that went over well with assembled fans, and while my own personal music tastes lie in rockier waters, you can't knock the results! The Mohs hardness scale rocketed upwards though on Stage 2, as the former Bear Hunters (now known as Eden Plague) were in progress there. Along with established originals like "I Fear No God", "Collapse The Sun", and "Render This Void", the guys busted out two new original songs (one named "Colony Of Parasites"), and ended with guitarist Mitch Sirie's solo/Sir Hell staple "Squirrel Buddy". Never thought that I'd hear that one at Rotaryfest!
It was great to see Justin, Johnny, Mitch, and Nik back in full force after way too long (even if with a new name), and the new songs did, at least to me, seem to lean a little towards groove metal while still harbouring death growling and the requisite technicality. Nik's vocals even have a bit of a Randy Blythe tinge nowadays! The brutality on Stage 2 was very welcomed, if still something of a historic outlier there, but hopefully this is a good harbinger of things to come for Eden Plague! Unless mentioned before I arrived, the 2015 petition and campaign to get The Bear Hunters added to that year's Rotaryfest lineup was not addressed on Saturday. Hey, it did work, it just took 11 years! Heading back to Stage 1 (after another brief wifi break) was alternative/punk cover sextet BookcluB in their third straight Rotaryfest Saturday set, all of which I was present for, but this was their first Stage 1 set with Carmen Muto on guitar.
In their allotted half hour, I saw BookcluB cover Bob Marley, Bruce Springsteen, David Lee Roth, Weezer, Joe Jackson, Rancid, The Cure, and The Champs, with bassist Dustin Jones singing three songs and guitarist Mikey Hawdon handling the rest. Fun mix of covers, mostly ones that you don't see other local bands tackling (well, Steel Rock had already covered "Buddy Holly" a few hours prior), and the crowd was excellent for BookcluB throughout! Maybe not as punk-centric as members' past bands would suggest, but fun and proficiently played, and kudos to saxophonist Josh Norling on this being his fourth set at this year's Rotaryfest! If Thursday's bands hadn't been cancelled, he'd have played in six bands this year! I left for Stage 2 for the final time here to check out the last two bands there, starting with new local alt-rock quartet Eli Russell & The River Fools.
Featuring the (former?) Sylo frontman alongside former Wild Iris bandmates Steve Myers & Courtney McDonald, and new-to-me drummer Nick Brash, The River Fools played a rocked up Colter Wall cover (if only Victoria was here to see that!), plus originals like "October", "The Soo's Last Roofer", and "Bow River". While the band's imagery comes off country inspired, the best descriptor for their music (to me) is "roots-coded alt rock". They're not as heavy as Sylo or some of Steve's old bands, but they had good energy, strong lyrics, and a nice carefree nature, and this was a good way to introduce Eli's new band and sound to a wider audience! The closing band on Stage 2 was also the only one that I saw the entire set of, namely death metal trio Pillory, who brutalized the proceedings (in a good way!) Established originals like "Abhorred Apprehension" and "The Angst Of Existence" made up the bulk of their set.
Fans also got to see a brand new song named "No Beyond" from their planned second full length album, which Pillory plan to take a break "for a little while" post-Rotaryfest to write for ("A Drop Of Shame In An Ocean Of Guilt" will be part of the new album too). Things closed with a cover of Death's "Pull The Plug" with led out from their brief rendition of the last piece of music written with the late Andres Duchesne. Frontman Robert Sartini does still need to loosen up his stage presence for bantering with the crowd, and I would love to see more guitar solos from Pillory (he nailed the "Pull The Plug" solo, after all), but their crushing and technical brand of death metal got a great reception to end this year's Second Stage action, and hopefully their break isn't too long! Also, the irony of The Headstones' "Tweeter & The Monkey Man" playing on the P.A. before Pillory's set after last year wasn't lost on me!
It was then off to Stage 1 for the rest of the night, where London-based Led Zeppelin tribute band Zed's set was in progress. They started off with "Rock & Roll" (which you could hear from Stage 2 before Pillory began), and when I was present, they played "Ramble On", "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp", "Going To California", "Kashmir", "Stairway To Heaven", and "Whole Lotta Love", with "Thank You" as the encore. If you're a fan of Led Zeppelin, then you will have appreciated Zed's presentation, looking the part and more than sounding it, with frontman Shaun Sanders also being very gracious and kind in his remarks to the crowd! They implied that they have played here before, but I have no record of that. The crowd was huge and enjoyed everything offered here, and if I may be so bold, I actually like "Stairway To Heaven", and because it wasn't played on radio for so long because of perceived overplay, I enjoy it on its own merits now!
As usual for Rotaryfest, the closing band leading into the Take Your Pick draw announcement was a local group, and after Tragically Hip tribute The Luxury quietly dropped out, classic rock cover trio The Sidekicks were promoted from a Friday evening timeslot to be this year's Stage 1 nightcap. If you're not familiar, this band features singer/drummer Tracey Hilderley (count the number of women who pull off both at once in rock bands!), guitarist Steve Cardiff, and former Griphook/Double Down bassist Dan Beaupre. Media of theirs wasn't all that plentiful in the lead-up, but while I was present for their set, The Sidekicks covered Heart, The Cult, Pat Benatar, Sloan, The Scorpions, and in a possible nod to The Luxury, The Hip. You might be hearing about them on the SMS again soon, let's say! Crowd levels definitely dropped after Zed, and their set was delayed 15 minutes, but they had a tight sound and some fun cover choices!
I did find that Tracey was somewhat over-singing the early songs, but she adjusted better after the first few, and what she does on stage isn't easy to do simultaneously. Steve (who might be a cousin of mine based on the last name) showed strong skill, and Dan's talents are known from his many past bands, so The Sidekicks were a good choice to promote to the closing timeslot! Overall, Rotaryfest 2026 was a fun time this past Saturday, and while hanging out for eleven hours to see seventeen acts is quite a marathon, the favourable weather helped make it a very comfortable experience, air quality acknowledged! While the open mic cancellation leaves an asterisk, I finally fulfilled a goal of seeing every single band on both stages on a Rotaryfest Saturday, but can I make it 18 in 11 next year, assuming the same scheduling format for 2027 and no rain or smoke?
You can check out my photos of all 17 acts at this link or on our Facebook page, and as for videos, I filmed one of each, so in order, here's Rusty & The Soft Parade covering Prince & The Revolution's "Raspberry Beret", Hush covering Night Ranger's "Don't Tell Me You Love Me", Mid Life Crysis covering Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams", The Reeves playing "Don't Even Bother", Steel Rock covering Fugazi's "Waiting Room"(!), Brendan Hodgson playing "Little House In The Country", Bourbon Blue covering Roxette's "The Look", MD Dunn playing "Slow Train To Somewhere", RPM covering The Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar", Stones & Crows playing "Shotgun Messenger", Just J&M covering Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes' "Don't Leave Me This Way", Eden Plague playing "Primal Genesis", BookcluB covering Modern English's "I Melt With You", Eli Russell & The River Fools playing "Eleanor", ...
...Pillory playing "Curse Of Eternal Sickness", Zed covering Led Zeppelin's "Fool In The Rain", and finally, The Sidekicks covering Judas Priest's "You've Got Another Thing Comin'"!
That's all for now, but stay tuned for much more news and notes on the SMS as we round out the month of July! Thanks everyone!
