This Friday, Brighton Music Hall will pass through a time warp. Everything will be shifted towards a hypnotic concert experience, a circus-like atmosphere, and a cavalcade of weirdness. It’s Doom Lover’s third-annual Vaudevillian Spectacular, and it also boasts a stacked lineup of homegrown sounds, which finds the Boston band joined by the likes of Aloud, Eternals, So Sol, and MC Tad McKitterick of Sidewalk Driver for a night a bit more enhanced than the standard Friday night and rock roll show. It’s a chance for Boston music fans to see a bunch of local talents just as summer begins to fade away, and in a way that they’ve never seen them before on a night that rarely takes a moment to catch its breath.
“It all started with me looking for an idea for a show flyer,” Doom Lover’s Jeffrey Vachon tells Vanyaland about what inspired the Vaudevillian theme three years ago. “When we found out the date was the anniversary of the first Vaudeville theater opening in Boston, we realized that that should be the show and not just the flyer. The first year we held it at Precinct, it was weird and unorganized and more fun than any of us had had at a show in a long time. Since then it has only gotten bigger. Last year we packed the Middle East Upstairs to the gills. Our friends from The Murdock Manor got on board to help us design the stage and the light show; we had a more focused narrative, we even made sure we hired a sound guy we knew we could trust not to try and kill us when we asked them to do something crazy.
The Middle East was transformed, and Vachon promises that Brighton Music Hall will be as well. Word is there will even be a blackjack table, for those wanting a game a little more intense than the Skee-ball lanes in the venue’s back bar. There will also be a dress-up photo booth, a Vaudeville Artist Bazaar selling and showcasing custom works by painter/designer Skribblefish and illustrator/animator Tom Chamberlain, and other, as-yet-unrevealed surprises.
“This year, the show has only gotten bigger,” he adds. “Lance [Tobin] at Brighton Music Hall told us he really wanted us to test the limits of the space, something we are always trying to do both musically and as artists/event throwers. So this year instead of having canned music in between sets, we’ve got So Sol as the house band. There’ll be comedy, physical feats, psychics, games, a photo booth. As a band we’ve reworked some songs, have some special guests performing with us, and really just plan on playing as many songs as we possibly can.”
And the timing is intentional. This Friday is the last Friday before September 1, which brings about the annual college student invasion, and there is no street corner where the influx of out-of-towners is more noticeable than the intersection of Harvard and Brighton avenues in Allston, where Brighton Music Hall resides. The spectacular here, as the name implies, is for the year-round residents. It’s a celebration of Boston music just before the neighborhood is turned upside down.
“This show is our love letter to Boston,” Vachon says. “There are so, so many people doing great things in this town and there’s nothing like bringing all of them together under one roof and throwing a party unlike any other event of the year. There is no show like the Doom Lover Vaudevillian Spectacular, some folks may try, but the magic, the grandeur, the love, that’s ours… There are plenty of regular, four band bills, acoustic residencies, and DJ nights all across the city every night of the year. There is not, nor will there ever be, another show like Doom Lover’s Vaudevillian Spectacular. Accept no imitations.”
DOOM LOVER’S VAUDEVILLIAN SPECTACULAR + ALOUD + ETERNALS + SO SOL + MC TAD MCKITTERICK :: Friday, August 26 at Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave. in Allston, MA :: 8 p.m., 18-plus, $12 :: Advance tickets :: Facebook event page
