January 29, 2025

Two nights, at O’Brien’s, in January

Recapping a pair of loud, locals-focused gigs at ye olde OB’s.

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This year, we enter the home stretch of O’Brien’s as we know it. O’Brien’s Classic, if you will. The building housing the current iteration of the tiny club will eventually be leveled to make way for the return of Great Scott, with OB’s itself resurrected on the other side of the building and ceding its Harvard Ave address to new retail space. Change is inevitable, of course, and a brand new Great Scott rising from the ashes will undoubtedly be a boon for the scene in the longterm, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a bit of mourning to do in 2025. The charmingly-grimy, cash-only, hole-in-the-wall that is the current O’Brien’s Pub has been a hub for left-of-the-dial local music for many years, and its demise, however temporary, is gonna hurt.

All of which is to say, now’s the time to catch some shows here while one still can. This past weekend offered up a pair of classic bills to shake off the January malaise – both of which I was glad to document.

Friday’s festivities hinged on the shoegaze/dream-pop axis, with locals Still Life Sounds and The Dreamtoday delivering back-to-back blasts of volume and textured tone before Portland’s XO and Somerville’s The Shallows took the proceedings to dreamy heights. Saturday, meanwhile, saw math-y maniacs Rong closing out a night also featuring the serrated, singular intensity of A Monolithic Dome, Jiddo‘s frenetic post-hardcore stylings and the first gig from self-proclaimed heavy-slowcore crew Snake Drink (all lit by the great Dregs Liquid Light Show).

Scroll below for a thorough gallery from both evenings (and take a look at the always-stacked calendar of upcoming OB’s shows when you’re through).

Still Life Sounds: