Dyr Faser and Margaret Garrett played the Notch Taproom – 7/17

The first gig at Notch Brewing’s new taproom/beer garden in Brighton went down on Saturday night with sets from locals Dyr Faser, Margaret Garrett and New Aura.

There were were a number of noteworthy gigs going on around the again-buzzing greater Boston concert circuit on Saturday night (even with Hallelujah the Hills’ big historic ship show rescheduled such that no one got struck by lightning), but I settled on checking out a new space rather than an old haunt. Notch Brewing has just opened up an indoor/outdoor beer hall on the edge of Brighton, transforming what used to be a spooky complex of abandoned-looking buildings at the Charles River Speedway into a nice little spot to have a drink, and Saturday brought live music into the mix too.

This three-band bill was initially set to take place in the courtyard, but the weather pushed things indoors to an equally amenable setup adjacent to the bar. I arrived too late to snap any photos of New Aura, but the heavy groove I caught the tail end of sounded great. Margaret Garrett (also of Mr. Aiplane Man) and The Concerns were up next, treating us to a strain of twang-y rock’n’roll that wouldn’t sound out of place at the Twin Peaks roadhouse (which is far from the first or last time I will use that comparison favorably on this blog). Dyr Faser closed things out with a characteristically dreamy deep-psych trip.

Weather be damned, it was a great (free!) night of music and (less free, but also great) beer. No more concerts appear to be on the taproom calendar for the moment, but I’d be thrilled to see this become a recurring sort of thing. Check out photos from night’s second and third sets below.