[dropcap]B[/dropcap]ack in June 2011, the Boston Phoenix’s annual Best Music Poll party went head-to-head with Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks. The city was gripped by the Black n’ Gold, and the Phoenix’s arts staff — I was music editor at the time — was terrified of facing off against the mighty Bs. Turns out, fans watched the game during our party at Brighton Music Hall, and by the end, the Bruins captured their first Stanley Cup since 1972 and a massive celebration broke out in-house and everywhere else — including a group recital of “God Bless America,” I think, up in the BMH green room.
It was a roll of the dice, but it paid off. Tonight, as the Red Sox face the Cardinals in Game 6 of the World Series, a handful of shows are faced with the same dilemma. Our advice? Show the game, stay the course, and hope the Sox pull it off and your event gets taken to the next level.
With that in mind, here are five shows/parties you’d want to be at tonight if the Red Sox win the World Series. [Honorable mention goes to Holy Ghost! @ the Sinclair and KMFDM @ the Paradise, but those two will likely be done by the time the game reaches the seventh inning stretch. We picked shows/parties that will still be bangin’ after midnight. Oh and Drake at the Garden? That’s a whole other thing entirely.]
1. Hell Night @ Great Scott, Allston— Tribute sets featuring the Bronx, MC5, Turbonegro, Deep Purple, and … if the Great Scott schedule holds true… a set by Misfits cover band “Horror Business” right around when the game should end. C’mon, don’t you just wanna pour celebratory booze all over your sweaty head while members of the Hidden, Blackhouse, Iron Mustache, and the Dividers come together to play “Where Eagles Dare” and other horror-punk classics? That’s gonna be nuts. Nuts.
2. STLGLD + Boogie Boy Metal Mouth + The Urban Nerdz + more @ the Middle East (upstairs), Cambridge — Get your hip-hop on and let Moe Pope freestyle over the 9th inning — you can rhyme a lot with “Uehara.” Then record it, put that shit on iTunes, and make a million dollars. Although we might ask his collaboration with Arcitype to change their name from STLGLD to BOSGLD. Because Boston, that’s why.
3. Devil’s Night @ O’Brien’s Pub, Allston — Another cover show, this one with a weirdo-pop lineup of the Beatles (as performed by Ex-Magicians), the Ramones (as performed by Ali/Chelsea and friends), the Nerves (as performed by Zoe/Matt/Ian) and Creedance Clearwater Revival (by Brian Jones and friends). Like the timing of the Misfits gig, here’s a chance to sing “Hey Jude” while the Red Sox storm the field. “Let It Be,” indeed.
4. Throwed “Haunted Casino @ the Middle East (downstairs), Cambridge — Enjoy DJ cover sets of Zedd, Justice, Diplo and others as the 18+ electro/dubstep night resurrects one more time in Central Scare. But unlike the Mid East’s Upstairs room, there are TVs in the Cambridge club’s downstairs liar, and they will no doubt be locked to the game. Feel free to douse yourself in day-glo body paint and twerk the fuck out to a banger remix of the corny Koji Uehara song.
5. Mike Pinto + Sweatshop @ Church, Boston — We have no idea who Mike Pinto or Sweatshop are, and we’re sure they are lovely if Rock On Concerts is bringing them to town. But by being at Church you’ll be thisclose to the action down in the Fens. You could literally walk outside and instantly join a raging mob — or stay inside the club and feel the walls shake. Location, location, location. Just be sure to lick the venue’s giant Jason Varitek vs A-Rod mural before the game for good luck.
Go Sox!
