LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Oh!NO 2017 Music Festival & Curtis McKenzie), Plus More Concert Previews!!

As promised, let's round out this weekend's currently announced hard rock concert previews today, focusing on Saturday-only events, but to lead off, we have some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, one of a huge scale, the other on SHORT NOTICE, so here's what you should know!

Eclipse frontman Curtis McKenzie will return to The Vape Escape on MacDonald Avenue for another solo concert TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the show was only announced via it's official Facebook event page on Tuesday, and it was held for our second preview post due to it's relatively later scheduling among shows over this stretch. This will be Curt's fourth solo appearance at the new e-cigarette/vaping lounge behind Tim-Br Mart, and first in over a month, though he has played a pair of solo concerts elsewhere in the interim. That said, this show will be different from his prior Vape Escape sets, as he'll have a special guest on hand, namely former Haggith bandmate Caleb Cachagee, who is advertised to be playing a set on bass. It's not 100% clear whether Caleb is opening for Curt or is backing him up for one set, but it's great to see them back on stage together, so come out TOMORROW to see how this shapes up!

Like his prior Vape Escape shows, TOMORROW's event is a 7:30 PM affair with no announced cover charge, and you must be 18 or older to attend. Curtis' resurgent solo project has been impressing fans all over again locally, and it's clear that The Vape Escape has been a favourite venue for his solo sets in recent months, so definitely consider attending this one for some solo hard rock cover action! See above for more details, and here's Curt live!



Next up, here's one more huge show before our Destroyer preview, as Six, Two, Oh. are hosting the Oh!NO 2017 Music Festival on Saturday, September 9th! We waited to plug this on the site, as the venue was originally somewhat ambiguous, but we can now confirm it's taking place in Leeburn, Ontario (near the Bruce Mines town limits) at Robbie's Church near the Highway 638 & Center Line Road turnoff, though I don't know if this is a formal active church or just the name given to it. Sort of a distant spiritual successor to Das Bunkerfest, this concert will see twelve musical acts playing all day, including 5 out of town attractions, so who all can you expect? In no particular order, the touring bands will include Sudbury punk trio Lightmares, Barrie all-female punk quartet Beaver Slap (fresh off of their Rockstar Bar show last month), Toronto country/indie rock quartet Run Coyote, Hamilton garage punk rockers Artificial Dissemination (who opened for K-Man & The 45s here last fall), and Thunder Bay "desert rock" quintet The Franquilizers (who opened for 1971 here last summer.)

The roster of local bands at the Oh!NO Festival will include punk/metal quintet Jack Spades, doom metal trio (and Six, Two, Oh.'s own) AlgomA, a debuting local band named Slumshine (no word on their lineup, sound, or online pages at press time), alt-punk quartet A Dire Setback, reunited extreme metal quartet Winkstinger (in their first public concert in well over a year), new local indie/hard rock trio Vol. (featuring Pixo Control and Aldous alumni), and a solo set by Treble Charger guitarist Bill Priddle. How's all of that for a stacked lineup? I admittedly can't find any details yet on Slumshine, but it's great to see Winkstinger back on stage after a lengthy hiatus (they're back in our active band links), and it'll be interesting to hear how each band sounds! Also, just for clarification, Run Coyote no longer feature ex-Caddy Street Avenue drummer Andrew Dal Cin in their lineup, in case you saw the name and assumed he'd be back home for this event.

Six, Two, Oh. will be filming bands at the Oh!No Festival, which takes place at 11:00 AM until 2:00 AM with no stated age limit, and admission is $25, though this includes pick-up & drop-off at The Station Mall parking lot in a rented bus (a'la 2013's Big Loonie Bus Show), so if you'd rather not drive an hour, you have an alternative! Camping, a bonfire, and food vendors will be available on site, and tickets are now available at The Rad Zone, Case's Music, Northland Music, Coch's Corner, Big Guns Barbershop, and maybe The Gore Street Cafe. This concert is shaping up to be a huge event to help ring in the fall, so visit the official Facebook event page for current & upcoming details!

Finally for today, we'll wrap up this weekend's currently known hard rock concert previews, as Windsor-based Kiss tribute band Destroyer will make their long awaited return to Sault Ontario with a headlining gig at The Rockstar Bar TOMORROW NIGHT! Making their fourth local concert appearance on record tomorrow, this will be Destroyer's first trip north to the Soo in over two years, and for fans clamoring for Kiss classics on a a local stage again, this tribute should deliver the visual and auditory goods! You wanted the best, so here's the next best thing to the best! Unlike their May 2015 show here (opened by the now-inactive Griphook), Destroyer have no advertised local acts kicking off the evening tomorrow. This 19+ event has a 10:00 PM start time, and while official sources oddly aren't publicizing prices for tickets (available at The Algonquin Hotel's front desk), 2015's show saw $12 advance ticket sales that jumped to $16 at the door. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Destroyer live!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news either tonight or tomorrow morning! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Curtis McKenzie), April Wine Concert Updates, And Weekend Concert Previews!!

Before we kick off our weekend concert previews, just a heads up that LopLops Lounge's website lists an unplugged concert from The Din as taking place there on Saturday night, even though The Din (as far as I can tell) have not acknowledged it publically. Given the lack of promotion from the band, I'm inclined to believe that this show was an old & cancelled plan, but if we are wrong, we'll let you know! Now, let's dive into hard rock concerts that we can confirm for this weekend, and a big update for an upcoming show, but we'll start with a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!

Eclipse frontman Curtis McKenzie will play his third solo concert at The Vape Escape at 677 MacDonald Avenue TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the show was only announced via it's official Facebook event page on Tuesday. In case you're not familiar, The Vape Escape is a new lounge and events venue geared towards e-cigarette users that opened last month inside the old Style Studio location at the Dulux Paints-anchored strip mall behind Tim-Br Mart, complete with paid membership available for diehard vapers. I actually lived in the apartments across the road from this complex as a kid (back when the paint store was Bandito Video), and it's nice to see a new business with buzz opening there! The Vape Escape has hosted a few live performances there from DJs or acoustic artists, with Curtis' solo show TOMORROW actually being his third there in the past 5 weeks, having previously played solo matinee concerts there on May 20th & June 9th.

Profuse apologies for missing those, the venue is still unfamiliar to me for coverage, and Curt's solo project had been dormant for a long while before he started playing (regular?) solo gigs there. Suffice to say, expect similar song choices from his band work TOMORROW, and in a personal Facebook video, he's seen breaking out the old Project 421 standby "Breaking the Chains" (by Dokken), so expect some acoustic hard rock action! Whether you vape or not, this show has no cover charge, it has an early 7:00 PM start time, and there is an 18+ age limit. See above for more details, Curt is back in our band links, and hopefully some solo videos turn up publically!

Next up, we'll move to previously announced concerts with two more acoustic shows, courtesy of prolific local hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison's ongoing weekly run of shows at Gliss Steak & Seafood TOMORROW & SATURDAY! As his matinee unplugged shows at the Quality Inn's house restaurant march into yet another weekend, fans should expect more quality hard and classic rock renditions over the next two evenings, so don't miss out if you like Tym's solo music or haven't seen him lately! Note that a personal Facebook posting by Tym confirmed that he's going back to thrice weekly gigs at Gliss in the near future (adding Thursday matinees again), as well as taking a vacation weekend off, but we will wait for public confirmation on both before noting either in our listings. Tomorrow & Saturday's shows are at 6:00 PM with no announced cover charge or age limit, but remember the location. Visit the Facebook event page for more details, and here's Tym live!

In a brief detour to Sault Michigan, fans there can take in the return of Traverse City classic metal trio Peril as they rock The Rapids Lounge at the Sault's Kewadin Casino TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Now, we had listed these shows as being for Peril's sister metal band Scarkazm, as varying band and venue sources had contradicted each other regarding which of the two bands was playing this weekend, but Peril are promoting playing this weekend, so my most recent information was either incorrect or changed again. Apologies for any mix-up, I've had to field confusion on these shows since February, but they are 100% now Peril gigs, not Scarkazm! As such, this will be Jeff, Adam, and Brooks' first Rapids Lounge weekend of 2017 (last playing there 9 months ago), so if you've missed their classic covers since then or didn't get to St. Ignace 3 weeks ago, here's your next best chance! If you're dead-set on seeing Scarkazm, they will be at this venue next month.

As usual for Peril's Kewadin gigs (the only ones they seem to play anymore), expect 9:00 PM start times, no announced cover charges, and 21+ age limits. Check the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Peril live!



Finally, here's a big update for the kickoff show for the Kewadin Shores Casino's summer concert series in St. Ignace on Saturday, June 24th, as Halifax hard rock legends April Wine have been forced to drop out of this show and other surrounding dates due to frontman Myles Goodwyn falling ill. Very disappointing to hear, but hopefully Myles gets well soon, it would have been fun to see them here again! As revealed earlier this week in this SooToday press release, former Runaways guitarist Lita Ford has been promoted to the headlining slot for the concert, while April Wine have been replaced by Jack Russell's Great White, the 2011-launched version of the Los Angeles hard rock quintet best known for hit songs like "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" and "Call it Rock 'n Roll". Fans may remember seeing Great White at the Soo Kewadin in January 2009, but they've since had an L.A. Guns-like split in two, with frontman Jack Russell reforming his own version of the band separate from the original group.

While I'm sure there are some fans that would prefer seeing the original band with Mark, Audie, Michael and Scott back, this is still Great White with their original frontman, plus classic-era bassist Tony Montana. They should deliver a solid night of tunes, including many familiar songs from Jack's last local stop eight years ago, so keep the new lineup in mind for one week from Saturday, and get your tickets (or inquire about refunds if you were set on seeing April Wine) at this link for $18 or $28! That's all for today, but stay tuned for our Electric Church/Speaker concert preview and more news & updates next! Thanks everyone!