Let historians mark May 6, 2023 as a rare coinciding of coronations: King Charles III in the United Kingdom, and here off the shores of the Charles River, One Fall at the Rock and Roll Rumble.
After a years-long hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic, the final round of the time-honored Boston rock competition rumbled to life last night at Sonia with a tight clash among Ruin The Nite, The Chelsea Curve, and One Fall — Vanyaland‘s unofficial prediction for winner since early April. The celebratory champagne showers that doused the Salem victors around 1 a.m., after a special set from guest band and 2013 Rumble winners Eddie Japan, ended a record-breaking four-year championship for 2019 winners Set Fire, who reigned throughout the World Series of Boston rock’s lengthy pause.
Set Fire vocalist and guitarist Jim Healey was present to bequeath the coveted, pickup-encrusted crown, as One Fall’s melodic punk unseated Set Fire’s high octane hard rock. But the evening could have swayed towards any subgenre, as the tight clash among the three finalists flaunted Boston’s ever-evolving approach to rock in 2023.
Ruin the Nite opened the evening, trumpeting their triumph as the wild card pick for the Finals. The six-player ensemble — which included Jeff “Chip” Nicolai, member of 2014 Rumble winners Goddamn Draculas, and keyboardist and vocalist of 2023 semi-finalists Bird Language — buttoned up in burgundy suits to unleash their brassy, full-bodied set. “Sound The Alarm,” the title track of their November 2022 debut album, has perhaps never vibrated with more intention, a decree of finality as the Boston band poured out the last reserves of their party rock.
In comparison, trio The Chelsea Curve might have seemed sparse with only half as many players on stage. Yet like a true curveball, the mod middle competitors swooped in with a spring-loaded stamina that spilled from Sonia’s stage. Taut coils of power pop-rock thrust the Boston trio through unending loops of attitude and enthusiasm doled out by vocalist and bassist Linda Pardee. Their rollicking sprint through 2021’s All The Things did just that: All the things necessary to seize a crowd’s attention until the last lively note bounded from Pardee’s strings.
One Fall rose to the occasion as the closers of the evening, loading songs like “Shoot Straight” with serrated skate punk. The Salem group was quick to shred the evening’s final competing set into epic snapshots: Pleather boots perched on monitors, sweaty locks of hair tossed back and snapped forward, concentration funneled into fast fingers skating across a golden Gibson. And good luck to anyone trying to take a photo whenever lead singer and guitarist Helen McWilliams — formerly of 2011 Rumble contenders Tijuana Sweetheart, and a member of Petty Morals when they raced to the 2014 Rumble Finals in the same room, when it was T.T. The Bear’s Place — punched a riotous fist in the air, causing a legion of North Shore devotees to follow suit right in front of every camera lens.
Forget a “Slingshot;” One Fall bulldozed through their set without once pausing to survey the damage. It’s the kind of bravado the Rumble judges have favored for decades — and in the end, their wrecking ball of rock cemented the Salem group as 2023’s winners.
