Weekly Round-up 4/6 - 4/19

Hoooooly shit this is late lol, writing this on Wednesday! Welcome to work (our sometimes-manager, sometimes-box office attendant Haley says that when she's MOD, and I like it). I'm trying to be good about it, I swear, but I'm only human. Moreso trying to be accountable to myself. (I'm trying to say "anyway" less) I worked way more than I initially planned on (again), but it's ok because this check is about to be great once again. Nothing really insane, but the bands this week were more pleasant than I thought they would be! However, because I'm writing this so late after I worked the shows, it will probably be less detailed than you are used to, I apologize. I'll try to give as much detail as I can. Let's begin.

4/6/26 - Angel Dust w/ Outta Pocket, Jivebomb, Recollections

To be completely honest, I am not a huge fan of Angel Dust. The kind of attempted post-hardcore has never appealed to me, though Justice Tripp is as compelling of a frontman with Angel Dust as he is with Trapped Under Ice (top 3 hardcore bands all time for me). I was mostly excited to work this show to see Jivebomb so I could say what's up to Ethan and Harper, da homies. Harper's in another awesome band, Narcan, who I helped get a show in Lowell back in November. Ethan's also in the band Sinister Feeling, another awesome Baltimore band. Talent for miles in that group. I was a little bummed about Death Threat dropping the show, not really because I particularly like them, but just because I wanted to see what it would look like for them to play the Sinclair. I love the Sinclair, but it's not a venue that's particularly suited to hardcore, especially a band like Death Threat with as rabid a following. I don't remember any particular security incidents at the door or otherwise. There were 2 guys who like threw each other to the ground, but it turned out they were buddies rough-housing. It was pretty much as smooth as you could hope for a show like that.

Musically, this was, like, almost the kind of show that I would go to. I was telling this to a coworker, but if I wasn't working the show I wouldn't have come out to it. However, it was pretty fun to work because it was a better show to watch than a lot of the ones that I've worked before. Recollections, ironically, I don't have much of a recollection of. I remember them being kind of emo-y? Weirdly? Kind of Skinhead vibe but more melodic? Idk it was kind of a weird mix of things. Jivebomb I hadn't seen in like over 2 years, I think. By my memory, last time I saw them was February 2024. Since then they'd released an album that I haven't listened to because that first single was kind of bad (sorry guys), but live they were still dope. The demo and EP tracks that they played were still fire and I was really pleasantly surprised, because at this point there's so many hardcore bands that I once cared about that I just don't anymore. Outta Pocket were another pleasant surprise. I haven't liked what I've heard recorded (moshslop, shoutout Steven) but live it was surprisingly fun to hear. Fun riffs, good breakdowns, and the crowd had surprisingly good mosh style. I wasn't cringing the entire time, though there were still instances where I really wished the crowd would just stay still rather than subject me to witness whatever the hell it was they were doing.

4/8/26 - The Wedding Present [attended]

I didn't work this one, attended it, but just wanted to shout it because it was really good. They were doing the Seamonsters tour and that album is just so good. I'm a bit bummed because no one could come with me, so I had to go alone. Oh well.

4/9/26 - Hannah Cohen w/ mmeadows

This is one I don't really remember much about. There was a pretty funny thing that happened where a girl came in with a guy and he took out and placed 2 nips on the table. Immediately told he can't come in, and the girl he was with basically peaced out and continued inside. Later I heard that apparently the two friends she wanted to bring couldn't come and he was the third choice basically. Lol. But, yeah, not a ton that I remember from this one. Low attendance, really sleepy kind of night. I remember thinking that I just wanted more from Hannah Cohen. Like, the guitar was too quiet to be interesting, and the vocals were too loud for it to be subtle. It was a weird combination of things that averaged out to a pretty unremarkable performance.

[Hi Guys, coming in to say that I genuinely just did not have time to finish this so it's going to be a double post! Two weeks in one post! What fun!]

4/10/26 - Whitney + Glitterboys (cash box)

Dude holy shit this is so late oh my god I'm writing this 4/19 I've been so behind with this holy shit. I really don't remember anything of note that happened during this show. I do remember liking the opening band, Dari Bay. I think they have a new album coming out on Double Double Whammy soon. I did not get to see any of Whitney because I swapped over to Glitterboys to work the cash box before they went on. I do have it on good authority, though (thank you, Maddy), that they sounded good and I should check them out.

The second part of my night was spent working Glitterboys cash box, which was actually quite chill. I just took people's money and let them in. Counted it up at around 1am ish and then went home. I honestly enjoy working the cash box. It's like a grown up version of playing with the toy cash register. I was always really jealous of anyone who had the toy cash register.

4/11/26 - Stage Restore at Roadrunner

This wasn't really a show shift, but it was a shift regardless. I'm writing about this one mostly because it was my first shift at Roadrunner since December, and thus my first time being able to wear my gloves that I bought right before I went home for winter break. Long time coming, but those gloves genuinely were a game changer. The shift was basically to remove the two extra rows of risers that were put in front of the stage for whatever reason. It went pretty ok, we got it done in about an hour and a half, with only a few minor dings (maneuvering a giant stack of very heavy risers through a doorway is more difficult that you'd first expect, if you can imagine it). I do like working at Roadrunner, I don't know if I'd say I like it more than working at Sinclair because what I do at both venues is very different, though I will say that I like working with my hands. I get a sense of accomplishment after finishing something there that I don't quite get working security. But I like working security because I can engage with more of the staff of the venue more easily that way, I feel like on production you're more isolated from everyone just inherently because of what the position demands.

4/12/26 - Club d'Elf w/ Descent Theory

Not much I remember from this show, either, though there were two main things that stood out that I made mental notes to mention here. 1) The band Descent Theory were really strange. Like, they sounded like Mario Kart music but there were breakdowns in there, too? Like, metal(core) breakdown in the middle of faster, noodley type of jazz made by guys that very obviously love Adam Neely (one of them was even playing a Strandberg if that gives you any idea of what they sound like). 2) I liked Club d'Elf a lot more than I thought I would. The day sheet said about 130 sold if I'm remembering correctly, but we ended up having more than 200 in the room. The biggest walkup I think I've ever seen, but also a lot of that was from people on the guestlist if I'm not mistaken. The band was kind of psych-y, kind of jam-y, but they also had a lot of atmospheric stuff going on that I thought was cool. There were 7 total people on stage: A guitarist, a bassist, a drummer, a keyboard player, a person on synths, a turntablist, and a person who can only be described as a percussionist (was sitting on one of those drum chair things and had various things that hit other things to make noise). I thought they were pretty cool, the samples that the turntablist used were pretty dope and they ended pretty much on time which was a huge plus. Overall, not a bad shift.

4/13/26 - Wallice

I honestly don't even want to think about this one again. Stupid manufactured rock. Hate.

4/14/26 - Lala Lala w/ Mother Soki

I really enjoyed this shift. Super low sold crowd so getting everyone in was a piece of cake, and both bands were quite interesting. Mother Soki caught my interest with their sound check and they sounded great during their set. Ended up listening to their recorded EP sometime after and I really really enjoyed it to be honest. It's nothing insane, but the blend of dreampop, gothy stuff (drum machines specifically remind me of 80s post-punk/goth records), and to my ear some of the stuff coming out of the current Copenhagen scene (thinking Smerz and Erika de Casier) was really compelling. Lala Lala weren't as captivating to me, but they were still very cool, and seemed to be friends with some people I knew who came in, so that makes them cool in my book. They've apparently played the Sinclair many times before and spoke of it very highly on stage, so that was very nice. I hope they come back soon!

4/15/26 - Goldford

Honestly don't remember much of this show. Sold out crowd, people came in, no major incidents come to mind. I do remember that they did like 5 covers of shit, and there was a sooper fahkin Bahston guy talking to me intermittently through the set. Nice guy, honestly. Was talking about vacationing in Albania, visiting wife's family. Hope he's good.

4/16/26 - Powfu

THIS one I have some shit to say about. Oh my fucking god this was by far the most boring show I've ever worked. 3 and a half hours of the most dogshit white guy lofi hiphop. And the thing about it is that there was literally nothing for us to do. The crowd didn't drink, and there were like maybe 120 people in the room. These are all the people who have withstood Powfu's declining popularity and are actually there to see him just to see him. It's like boiling a syrup until you get a really concentrated, thick liquid. The thing is, I was on float the entire night, so I literally had fucking nothing to do. I was sitting on my phone upstairs (it was closed because there was like literally nobody there) and the security lead afterward said "Yeah we were watching you on the cameras all night on your phone. I don't care though there was nothing to do." Also, the show went until fucking ELEVEN THIRTY FIVE PM. First act went on at like 8, so it was literally three hours and 35 minutes of the most dogshit mind numbing music ever. Powfu had the nerve to deliver a sermon about Jesus in the middle of it, too. If he had a Christlike bone in his body he wouldn't have brought three fucking opening acts on tour with him. Where's the mercy for me? Dogshit fucking music. It's barely music, even. He looks like Jake from A.N.T. Farm, too.

I haven't been updating on the beer count because I've just forgotten on which days I got one and on which days I didn't but I got my 9th after this shift. I am all ready to take on the 9/9/9 challenge.

4/18/26 - The Last Dinner Party

Worked the load in and load out for this one. Worst part of it was having to wake up at 8 on a Saturday, but otherwise completely painless shift. The crew were incredibly nice, probably my favorite crew I've worked with. They were on top of their shit, knew what they were doing, and were really nice on top of it. I haven't worked a tonnnn of shows at Roadrunner, but I've worked with some idiot crews and some very mean crews (one guy talked to us like we were 5, another guy was a stuck up moron who didn't listen when I said we should probably flip a truss and then we ended up having to flip it anyway). The funny thing was that we were so efficient at getting the stage setup finished that we just basically sat around while we waited for their backline crew to wake up so we could get the instruments and such loaded onto the stage. Teardown was really quick, we got it done in basically an hour and a half, I believe a record for the tour (at the very least, I'm choosing to believe it is). I was also told I was the first person to load the cymbals into the cymbal case properly, not having them wobbling around, so that one made me feel really good. Boston! Boston! Boston! Boston! Boston!

Next Week

4/24 - Harvard Lampoon

4/25 - Ashley Kutcher

Writing this one out made me realize how much I actually worked the last two weeks. Counting it up it was 8 days in a row between 2 weeks. Holy shit, that might be a record for the most amount of days in a row. Check is going to be fucking nuts. That would explain why I was so damn tired and didn't have time to write the blog. This coming week is much, much lighter, though so hopefully I'll be able to recenter. Though it's lighter on the work end, I still have shit that I'm going to be doing so we'll see if it actually does end up being lighter. Ok, see you next week (for real, hopefully).