The Sheila Divine played The Sinclair – 7/10
Cambridge’s Sinclair welcomed fans back inside for the first time since March of 2019 for a reopening bash featuring locals The Sheila Divine, House of Harm and Eldridge Rodriguez.
To the surprise of no one, I have very much missed the rock club over the past year and a half. It feels safe to say that the packed house at The Sinclair Saturday night felt the same. Each encounter once inside, be it a brush with a stranger or a chat with one of the many familiar faces in the room, bore some trace of euphoric surrealness; like we all might be collectively dreaming the experience rather than really living it. But photographs (and hangovers and broken phone screens) don’t lie. The club is open.
And what better way to welcome live music back indoors than an excellent homegrown bill like this one? Batting leadoff in this lineup was Eldridge Rodriguez, whose wiry and propulsive songs sounded positively heavenly barreling forth from a serious sound system. Months on end of home listening and quiet outdoor sets leave you unprepared for the might of a venue PA, but the shock is a pleasant one.
Goth-rockers House of Harm were on second, icing things over with their hook-y take on a classic darkwave sound. I was admittedly the slightest bit skeptical of how the older-school alt-rock faction of the crowd would react to that much programmed percussion, but those fears were happily unfounded. There’s really no denying this band when you’re watching them play; the songs, the look and the energy hit every mark and bring something refreshing to a familiar brooding template.
As the clock drew closer to midnight, headliners The Sheila Divine took the stage to the evening’s most adoring response yet. The group’s origins date back to the late 90s, and their Bostonian following remains fervent. Catharsis was in the air as drinks were downed and sing-or-shout-alongs took place; nothing so much to review or write about as to simply document and take in. I love a good low-key outdoor gig too, and continue looking forward to those as we slowly wind our way back to touring returning (relatively) safely, but this is the stuff I’ve really missed.
And speaking of documenting, find a whole bunch of photos from the whole night below.
