Earlier this month Boston writer Luke O’Neil offered condolences to all the bands who were set to play live music around the same time the Boston Red Sox took on the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series. It’s just one of those things here in our sports-mad city, where pretty much everything gets shoved to the side while our teams vie for athletic dominance.
With the 2013 World Series kicking off tonight and extending at least until Sunday’s Game 4 — Sox in 6, khed? — there are a lot of rad shows going on around town that could be ignored by our otherwise music-loving city.
Luckily, there’s no game on Friday, when several venues are throwing their Halloween parties. But gigs tonight, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday are pretty much fucked. Just like the St. Louis Cardinals!
If the series goes seven games, we’ll have a Halloween powderkeg on our hands. Until then, here are a dozen of the best shows going on tonight through Sunday — use it as a guide if you want to escape, or use it to extend sympathy towards those poor musical souls who will fight for Boston’s red-stained attention. Where have you gone, Neil Diamond?
Game 1: Wednesday, October 23 — Cardinals @ Red Sox
Tourist, Coralcola @ T.T. The Bear’s Place, 10 Brookline Ave., Cambridge: Fresh off a successful run of appearances at CMJ, William Phillips brings his electronic sounds to Cambridge. But the Londoner might feel like he walked into a hometown pub during an Arsenal-Chelsea match. Luckily, TTs has a TV by the bar, which will get awkward when Coralcola scolds all of you sheeple for liking sports. During his opening set. Check out Tourist’s remix of Haim’s “The Wire.”
FIDLAR, the Orwells, Nice Guys @ the Sinclair, 52 Church St., Cambridge: Los Angeles punk band FIDLAR surely don’t give a fizz tittie tuck about no sports ball (though maybe if the Dodgers beat the Cardinals this would be a different story entirely. Shame we didn’t get a chance to see bassist Brandon Schwartzel walk out on stage to a chorus of boos — because he was wearing a Yasiel Puig jersey. JK, no one at this show cares about that sort of stuff. Consider this a safe haven.
Sir Sly, Bel Heir, Magic Man @ Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave., Allston: Another LA band in town in Sir Sly, but we’re less concerned with their “sly-fi” pop and more with Providence’s Magic Man, who have flown under the New England radar en route to national recognition. Last time they were in town they played the House of Blues with Walk The Moon.
Fiona Apple, Blake Mills @ Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston St., Boston: Worth it just to possibly hear Apple go off on a rant about sports and our collective attention spans. Another pretty safe haven from the Sox plague. Though, what’s gonna happen when Apple notices scores of people monitoring the games on their iPhones? Lookout.
Game 2: Thursday, October 24 — Cardinals @ Red Sox
Minus The Bear, INVSN, Slow Bird @ Royale, 279 Tremont St., Boston: We’ve been looking forward to Refused frontman Dennis Lyxzen’s new post-punk band playing Boston for a while now. Check out our interview with him here.
Diego Garcia @ Church, 69 Kilmarnock St., Boston: Uh-oh. This one has the potential to get ugly. The former Elefant frontman has gone solo lover-ballad crooner, and the division between his love songs and Church’s multiple TVs could send Mr. Garcia over the edge. Tread with caution.
Game 3: Saturday, October 26 — Red Sox @ Cardinals
San Fermin @ Cafe 939, 939 Boylston St., Boston: This Brooklyn-based band led by 23-year-old composer Ellis Ludwig-Leone is going to learn the hard way, and hopefully he doesn’t get caught on Boylston by a bunch of rabid Sox fans. He could be the least popular Ellis in Boston since Burks left town.
Big D and the Kids Table With: The Swellers, The MacRotones, Hell Sea @ Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave., Allston: Here is the greatest chance of Red Sox + Live Music convergence. It’s always pretty easy to watch both the game and the band at Brighton, and equally easy to focus on one or the other (thanks to the back pool area). But the hometown Big D should embrace the World Series and make a fun event out of it all.
Duncan Wilder Johnson’s 37th birthday bash, with cover sets of Quicksand, Descendents, Helmet @ O’Brien’s Pub, 3 Harvard Ave., Allston: Another good chance to mix n’ mingle the game with music, as OBs has always been good to the home teams, and there’s a chance of hearing local dudes cover “Landmine Spring” while Shane Victorino goes yard at Busch Stadium. Plus, the Descendents set could be started and wrapped up within a commercial break.
Game 4: Sunday, October 27 — Red Sox @ Cardinals
Kal Marks, Slothrust (NYC), Crinkle Face, Goddard @ O’Brien’s Pub, 3 Harvard Ave., Allston: The game will be on, most likely (see above), but here’s a crew that probably don’t give a fuck about Jacoby Ellsbury. Safe haven alert! Exploding in Sound’s Kal Marks leads the way.
Justin Townes Earle @ the Sinclair, 52 Church St., Cambridge: The Nashville-born singer-songwriter probably won’t pay no mind to the game going on, but we could envision Steve Earle’s kid as a Cardinals fan. We’ll see.
Supergroup for Right Turn @ Royale, 279 Tremont St., Boston: Trombone Shorty, Joan Osborne, Paula Cole, Evan Dando of The Lemonheads, G. E. Smith, Chris Trapper of The Push Stars, Shea Rose, Barry Goudreau of Boston, Woody Giessmann of The Del Fuegos, and … and… and… maybe the biggest World Series victory party in town?