Gig Watch: January 2024

L’Rain at The Sinclair, October 2021

Shows not to miss in and around Boston for the month of January.

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New year, same dedication to the gig. January might be the slow season for touring, but that just means more time to explore some locally-focused bills – and this month has no shortage of great ones. My picks below.

1/4 – Comfy / Really Great / Puppy Problems @ Notch Brewing
Rochester, NY power-pop crew Comfy headline the first (free!) gig of the year at Notch’s Brighton beer hall with local pals Really Great and Puppy Problems.

1/5 – Geskle / Paper Lady / Trophy Wife @ Crystal Ballroom

Worcester’s Geskle, Boston’s Paper Lady and the formerly Allstonian/currently Brooklynite Trophy Wife converge on the Ballroom for a night of dreamy jams.

1/12 – Gone / Husbands / Main Era @ O’Brien’s Pub

Shoegaze-y slowcore trio Gone, hailing from VA, team up with Candlepin Records labelmates Husbands and the great Main Era on a killer Friday evening bill at O’Brien’s.

1/13 – The Veldt @ O’Brien’s Pub

Criminally underrated soul-gaze vets The Veldt return to town for a can’t-miss set, whether you caught their mesmerizing show at The Rockwell a few years back or not.

1/14 – Bong Wish / Mountain Movers / Heathen Shame @ Faces Brewing

A heavy evening of weirdness awaits on a Sunday at Faces, uniting New Haven jammers Mountain Movers, psych-folk project Bong Wish and way-out, noise-worshipping Major Stars offshoot Heathen Shame.

Noise Floor Photography: Heathen Shame &emdash;
Heathen Shame at Hassle Fest, November 2015

1/18 – Lovelorn / No Nations / Crescent Ridge / Dwelley @ O’Brien’s Pub

Philly’s Lovelorn bring their electro-post-punk to OB’s on an unstoppable bill featuring some of the best capital-G Guitar bands in the city.

1/24 – L’Rain @ The Sinclair

Fresh off her acclaimed and startlingly-titled third album I Killed Your Dog, the genre-defying L’Rain returns to The Sinclair as a headliner after having opened there for Black Midi a few autumns back.

1/27 – Diva Karr / A Constant Knowledge of Death / Prayer Position / The Cost ov Living @ O’Brien’s Pub

Another heavy one helps usher out a top-notch month at O’Brien’s, this time a four-headed beast of a bill pulling from black metal, sludge, dark ambient and other manner of bleak but seasonally-appropriate sounds.

1/27 – Torres @ The Sinclair

One day after the release of her new record What An Enormous Room via Merge, the always-electric Mackenzie Scott brings her winter North American tour to a close in Cambridge.