It’s time for a new coronation at The Rock and Roll Rumble. After a pandemic-induced hiatus, the storied Boston rock competition will return next spring, bringing a brigade of fresh talent to Central Square in April and May of 2023.
All bands will vie for a spot in the semifinals over the course of two weeks — April 6, 7, 8, and 13, 14, 15 — at the Middle East Upstairs. The competition then shifts to neighboring venue Sonia for its last few evenings, pitting semifinalists against each other on April 21 and 22. After a final battle on May 6, the Rumble will crown its first winner in four years.
Boston shredders Set Fire (pictured above) are the reigning Rumble champs, after securing a win in 2019 at ONCE Somerville. Rumble organizer and Boston Emissions host Anngelle Wood did schedule a 2020 edition, but was forced to postpone it when the COVID-19 pandemic halted live music across the country. The Rumble also remained quiet for 2021 and 2022.
“As much as I wanted to ‘will it to be,’ I knew pretty early into 2022 that it wasn’t going to happen,” Wood tells Vanyaland. “There were still so many unknowns about live music and venue safety, safety overall. I’d spoken to a few rooms around town. I remained unsettled about it. Could it happen? Would anyone care? And where could I take the Rumble where it would make sense, that the folx would understand what a beast it really is?”
After all, ONCE Somerville has since vacated its space on Highland Avenue, forcing The Rumble to lay a new foundation in Central Square. The competition’s 2023 home isn’t entirely new, though; The Middle East Downstairs hosted the Rumble for over a decade in the 1990s and 2000s, and T.T. The Bear’s Place (now Sonia) hosted the event between 2011 and 2015.
“That saying, ‘it takes a village’, is real in the context of the Rumble and has never been more meaningful,” shares Wood on the Rumble website. “Now, three years later, I want to give the city back something it has loved and missed. After many long talks with Aaron Gray, talent buyer with The Middle East and Sonia and promoter with Grayskull Booking, I felt at ease working with him as he knows and understands the legacy of the Rock And Roll Rumble.”
“[Gray] is someone I’ve worked with before and he gets it,” she concludes. “The Middle East has housed a few Rumbles in its time, and this may be the last Rock And Roll Rumble to happen in that space in its current form.”
Band submissions for the 2023 Rumble open today; view the full criteria to apply here.
