SBB to host nearly 30 bands for spring motorcycle rally including Colt Ford, Saliva

Editor’s Note:This is a two part series on what’s occurring during Bike Week. To learn more Bike Week and the events happening, click here.

The coronavirus pandemic forced the Myrtle Beach area spring Harley-Davidson motorcycle rally last year to be postponed and diminished, and Suck Bang Blow in Murrells Inlet is making up for lost time.

The bar has 10 consecutive days of free live entertainment on an outdoor stage sponsored by Monster Energy for this year’s spring rally, highlighted by country artist Colt Ford, Southern rock band Blackberry Smoke and hard rock band Saliva.

The entertainment begins Friday and runs through Sunday, May 16.

“We all went to Daytona and it was their 80th, and they had their biggest rally since their 50th, it was bigger than the 75th,” said Bill Barber, SBB’s events coordinator. “A lot of it is people were locked up for a year and couldn’t travel and be around because of the corona. [Daytona] was so big and wide open that we said, ‘Well, we need to anticipate for that.’ We’ve been receiving a lot of phone calls and a lot of emails.”

Other entertainers scheduled over the 10 days include Whey Jennings, the grandson of country music legends Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, Whitey Morgan and the 78’s, Sunny Ledfurd, a Kid Rock tribute, the Davisson Brothers, Steel Country Express, Badcash, Ashley Martin, Jasmine Cain, Lowlife, Backlight, Matt Craine, Barnyard Stompers, Dirty Grass Soul, Rick Monroe, Josh Brannon, Aaron Hamm, Kevin Nichols, Devil’s Cut, Joe Santana and Smokin’ Joe, Skyndeep, Piedmont Boys, Corey Stevenson, and Church, Coe & King.

Nearly 30 bands will be performing more than 40 shows in all.

Ford performs Tuesday night, Blackberry Smoke is Wednesday night and Saliva is next Saturday night.

Several DJs will also entertain over the 10 days, and other events include burnout contests, a poker run, a V-twin engine show, a wet T-shirt contest, and the Ricky Bongos Wild Vegas Chopper Party.

SBB has 17 bars, food trucks and vendors set up for this year’s spring rally.

“It looks like we’ll be having a pretty good bike week,” Barber said. “Of course Mother Nature will decide it all. If the weather is not good they won’t come [to SBB]. If the weather is good they’ll come.”

The 2020 spring rally was rescheduled to mid-July, and though smaller than usual it still drew a large crowd to SBB on July 18 when the bar held an outdoor Bone Thugs-N-Harmony concert.

The large crowd was found to be in violation of S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster’s executive order limiting crowd sizes for safety, and was cited by the South Carolina Department of Revenue in a case seeking to revoke SBB’s alcohol license.

SBB eventually paid a $17,500 fine and the bar retained its license.

Expecting large crowds again this upcoming week, SBB plans to have more employees and more security.

“We got overwhelmed on one particular night. We weren’t expecting people to come out of the woodwork,” Barber said. “We learned a lot on how to handle the crowds and keep everybody as safe as we can, and we’ll be implementing those lessons learned whether they’re a rule or not.

“Last year was one of those years where you didn’t know what was coming at you from all different directions. . . . I thought we did it as best we could, and we survived, and there are a lot of businesses that didn’t survive, and a lot of those businesses were friends of ours.”