The scheduling gods, they can be so cruel.
As summer crashes into the Boston area and the rock clubs’ live music schedule loosens up a bit, two pretty intense showcases of our city’s talent are going down tonight in Cambridge, right smack-dab up against each other: The Summer of Love Show at T.T. The Bear’s Place in Central Square, and the WERS 65th Anniversary Party at the Sinclair in Harvard Square.
Eight bands, two rooms, one night.
Both shows are top-shelf: Summer of Love features Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys, Parlour Bells, Future Carnivores, and Muy Cansado in a boozy, glammy, can’t-see-straight-at-the-end-of-the-night snogging soiree. You’ll wake up with something in your pants tomorrow morning, but we’re not sure what. Sickert and his steamcrunk crew are pre-releasing a new single, and even made fancy-pants tickets to the show. Parlour Bells are previewing new tunes from their upcoming record, and Future Carnivores are probably dropping acid in preparation as I type this. Muy Cansado tell Vanyaland that Sickert plans to turn the show into one giant “fuck fest,” but we don’t know what they mean.
Along Massachusetts Ave where the smaht kids hang, WERS’ birthday bash offers up some of the finest purveyors in Boston pop that’s created with — wait for it — a guitar: Air Traffic Controller, the Field Effect, Parks, and Bent Shapes.
The event doubles as the Field Effect’s cassette release party for new single “Jenny (It’s Getting Late),” which we premiered on Tuesday, and Parks are celebrating the kickoff of a new Pledge campaign to help fund their upcoming LP (check out the “Sweat Session”). Air Traffic Controller are using the show to celebrate a national tour for August, and while we don’t think Bent Shapes have anything in particular to hype at this gig, getting silently judged by singer/guitarist Ben Potrykus while you order beers at the bar is good enough for any Friday night out.
It’s a hell of a decision to make, and while the two gigs’ relatively close proximity suggests one can attend both, there’s no escaping missing out on something rad.
So we’re here to help you out, in a sonic preview of the two shows. Don’t think of this as pitting one against the other — use it as a guide to perhaps map out tonight’s agenda, and determine where you need to be, and when. T.T.s lists its set times, but the Sinclair doesn’t (show starts at 8:45 p.m.), so we’ll list the Bandcamps in order of planned appearance tonight. Let’s get it on…
Summer of Love @ T.T. The Bear’s Place.
WERS 65th Anniversary Party @ the Sinclair.
