Thunder Bay Music Venues: A Live Concert Guide to the Rooms on Cumberland Street, Red River Road and Beyond
Seventy-six shows, seven room names and one move across Red River Road in the autumn of 2018.
Of the live music venues Thunder Bay had in these years, only a handful appear in this record, and two of them share a name.
Crocks stood at 16 Cumberland Street South, and from October 2018 the same events ran at 228 Red River Road as Crocks at NV. Around them sit a poetry hall, a sports bar in Sault Ste. Marie, a Sudbury nightclub and a casino across the border.
This guide to Thunder Bay music venues follows them in that order, starting with the club that holds most of the record.
A guide to Thunder Bay music venues: the two Crocks
Crocks is the room behind most of the record: 55 of the 76 shows sit on Cumberland Street South, from Tokyo Police Club and Arkells in September 2010 to Dear Rouge on 29 September 2018. Between them the bills run from Henry Rollins talking to Machine Gun Kelly rapping.
Then the address changed. Dear Rouge closed the Cumberland Street building on Saturday 29 September 2018, and from 5 October every Crocks event moved into the NV Nightclub building. Both NetNewsLedger and CBC News reported it, and both described the new room as slightly bigger and set up for large or small shows.
The first night on Red River Road in the record is McNasty Brass Band on 12 October 2018. The move came six days after the last Cumberland Street night, after nine years in that one building. Thirteen shows sit under the new name, all of them from 2018 and 2019.
The bigger room shows in the calendar. Monster Truck carried the highest ticket price of that year, and Half Moon Run and Stiff Little Fingers were the other big names on Red River Road.
Live and concert nights on the Waterfront District streets
Northern Ontario Travel places Crocks in the north side Waterfront District, the old Port Arthur core that it calls the city's entertainment district. Red River Road is its spine, and the downtown entertainment district piece of 2010 shows the label was already in use before either club address existed in the record.
Cumberland Street South and Red River Road both lie in that north-side district, so the club changed buildings without leaving its neighbourhood.
Of all the Thunder Bay music venues in the record, it is the only pair that shares a district and a name. That is a reading of the map, not a stated reason for the move.
Urban Abbey is the odd tenant on the street. It stands at 308 Red River Road, and it is a community and worship space, not a club. Its one entry is Sabrina Benaim's spoken-word night on 18 April 2019.
Data table
| Label | shows |
|---|---|
| Crocks | 55 |
| Crocks at NV | 13 |
| Soo Blaster | 3 |
| Not stated | 2 |
| Grand Portage Lodge & Casino | 1 |
| Urban Abbey | 1 |
| The Coulson | 1 |
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Two nights name no room at all: an 80s hair metal party on the same April evening and the Shambhala pre-party of 26 July 2019. Both are filed under Thunder Bay only.
Concert venues outside Thunder Bay
The concert venues in Thunder Bay were the western end of a route, and the record follows that route east. Sault Ste. Marie is roughly 700 km east by road.
Soo Blaster at 345 Queen Street East is the room the record uses there. It is a restaurant, a sports bar with a stage area and a gaming centre. Three shows in 2019 used it: Monster Truck on 28 June, Bobaflex on 10 September and Cancer Bats on 12 September.
The pairings matter. Monster Truck played Sault Ste. Marie on the Friday and Thunder Bay on the Saturday. Cancer Bats opened a Canadian tour at Soo Blaster and reached Crocks at NV the next night. The same promoter put these pairs on back to back.
The Coulson in Sudbury shows the same habit stretched further. Colter Wall played it on 9 July 2019, then Crocks at NV on 11 July. Sudbury is not a neighbour of anyone, so the two dates read as one tour leg, not two local bookings.
The one room across the border
Grand Portage Lodge & Casino stands in Minnesota, on the Lake Superior shore, less than an hour south of Thunder Bay. Its single entry is a two-day festival: the Retro Rock Revue of 29 and 30 June 2012, with Smash Mouth headlining and the ticket money directed to flood relief after the rains that spring.
It is the only event in the record that crosses the border.
The record is thinnest exactly where a directory would want detail. As a guide to Thunder Bay music venues it says little about how any room was laid out or how many it held.
One room can be placed in the present: the building at 228 Red River Road, home of Crocks at NV from October 2018, operates in 2026 as NV Music Hall and still books touring bands. Its own calendar is the place to check, as it is for the other live music venues Thunder Bay has today.
What it does hold is a calendar of the concert venues in Thunder Bay and the rooms beyond it: where these bands actually stood, from Cumberland Street to a tent in Minnesota. The full events list sorts the same nights by date.
Frequently asked questions
Which Thunder Bay music venues appear most often for live shows?
Crocks on Cumberland Street South holds 55 of the 76 shows in the record, and Crocks at NV on Red River Road holds 13 more. Urban Abbey appears once, and two shows do not name a room.
Where were the live music venues in Thunder Bay for this promoter?
Two of them, both on the north side of downtown. Crocks stood at 16 Cumberland Street South until September 2018, and from October 2018 Crocks shows ran at 228 Red River Road as Crocks at NV, a building that operates today as NV Music Hall. Urban Abbey, at 308 Red River Road, hosted one poetry night.
When did Crocks move from Cumberland Street to Red River Road?
The last night at 16 Cumberland Street South was Saturday 29 September 2018, with Dear Rouge. From 5 October 2018 every Crocks event took place inside the NV Nightclub building at 228 Red River Road.
Which concert venues in Thunder Bay hosted shows outside rock and metal?
Urban Abbey hosted the spoken-word poet Sabrina Benaim on 18 April 2019. Crocks and Crocks at NV also held hip-hop, electronic, folk, country, brass-band and punk bills, so the room was never tied to one genre.
Which rooms outside Thunder Bay are in the record?
Soo Blaster in Sault Ste. Marie holds three shows, The Coulson in Sudbury holds one, and Grand Portage Lodge & Casino in Minnesota holds one. All of them fall between 2012 and 2019.
What is Soo Blaster?
Soo Blaster, at 345 Queen Street East in Sault Ste. Marie, combines a restaurant, a sports bar with a stage area for bands and a gaming centre. Bobaflex, Cancer Bats and Monster Truck played there in 2019.
How far is Grand Portage Lodge & Casino from Thunder Bay?
It sits in Minnesota on the Lake Superior shore, less than an hour south of Thunder Bay by road. The record holds one event there, the Retro Rock Revue of 29 and 30 June 2012, headlined by Smash Mouth.
Is this a list of current Thunder Bay music venues?
No. It describes the rooms as they appear in shows from 2010 to 2019. One of them is still a music room: the building at 228 Red River Road operates in 2026 as NV Music Hall. Check any venue directly before planning a night.
Who played both Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie in 2019?
Monster Truck played Soo Blaster on 28 June and Crocks at NV on 29 June. Cancer Bats did the same on 12 and 13 September. Colter Wall paired Sudbury on 9 July with Thunder Bay on 11 July.