Local showcase openers ready to rock second leg of Troubadour Summer Concert Series

Nix Ironstone, Siobhan Bodrug and the band Noise Hotel have been selected to open for Stuck on Planet Earth and The Watchmen on July 25.

After The Road Hammers took over downtown Barrie in June, the second leg of the Troubadour Summer Concert Series is getting set to rock and roll.

The festival will be back downtown Barrie on July 25 and the local opener showcase performing artists have been announced.

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Nix Ironstone, Siobhan Bodrug and the band Noise Hotel have been selected to open for Stuck on Planet Earth and The Watchmen.

Nix Ironstone

Nix Ironstone is a Canadian alternative rock artist from Alliston.

After more than a decade in the country music scene, Ironstone has jumped into some guitar driven sound that blends into alt. rock, goth pop and cinematic story telling.

Ironstone is ready to get the crowd going.

“You’re going to get a rocking show. It’s kind of a little bit of, you know, Evanescence meets Paramore meets The Pretty Reckless,” said Ironstone. “So very female fronted female power and I’m so excited to rock with Barrie.”

Noise Hotel

Noise Hotel is a GTA-based indie rock quartet with members of the band located in Washago to Newmarket.

The band could not believe they were selected to play on the same night as The Watchmen.

“We got in the email that it would be the day for The Watchmen, and I was actually going through CDs in my basement,” said Eric Montpool, singer and guitarist. “My parents have like three Watchmen CDs. So, I call my mom like, ‘hey, we’re opening for the Watchmen.’ This is going to be cool. She’s like, ‘no way.’ I was really, really happy.”

The band says the crown better be ready.

“Make sure the crowd is involved to depending on the set up, sometimes I’ll jump into the crowd, and, you know, sing some tunes, get people to do some call and response stuff. But we bring the energy, we bring a show and that’s about it,” said Montpool.

Siobhan Bodrug

Siobhan Bodrug will also be taking the stage on July 25. Bodrug is an indie-pop artist from Toronto, hoping to create more memories for the local music scene in Barrie,

“Music is kind of the foundation of a lot of beautiful things in life, and I think to have it in small communities where it’s celebrated and where people want to listen and people are willing to hear some new people kind of come on the scene,” said Bodrug. “Without that, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do as musicians.”

Bodrug is ready to show Barrie what she has to offer.

“I like to say if, like Billie Eilish and Alanis Morissette had a baby,” said Bodrug. “I’m a very emotional lyricist and I have a lot of energy and my band and I, we, we just try to put on the best, most energy kind of show for every single show, no matter what the stakes are.”

• Explore the series: Summer Concert Series

More than 100 people submitted applications to be featured during the local opener showcase leaving judges like Stan Musial in a tough position.

“So much local talent or there’s no shortage of it,” said Judge and Pure Country 106 radio host Stan Musial. “So though they did make it tough for us we did finally come to a decision and saying this is The Watchmen. We kind of kept rock in mind when we were thinking of acts for this show.”

The local opener showcase will take place staring at 5:30 p.m. before Stuck on Planet Earth leads the way for The Watchmen.

The Troubadour Summer Concert Series is presented by Paul Sadlon Motors, CTV News Barrie, PURE COUNTRY 106, BOUNCE 104.1, Hey Bear Productions, Lemmon Entertainment, City of Barrie and Tourism Barrie.