PLAYGROUND BOSTON

Screw the lamb! Boston rock started off March strong and will be ending it the same way, with an extended weekend of great shows all over town. There’s so many can’t-miss options happening that they had to go and start the weekend off on Thursday rather than Friday. Didn’t you hear? You don’t have to go into work on Friday. Your boss understands that you need time to rock out, and whether its the hard stuff and Church or the more indie style over at Great Scott, your rocking out will not be denied. Check out these great shows happening Thursday night…

Thursday, March 25th @ Church

Worcester metal badassness meets Boston metal badassness in this second part of a series of shows designed to show off the meanest of the mean from New England’s two largest cities. Earlier this month the two Worcester bands on the bill, Birch Hill Dam and Burn The Witch brought the two Boston bands, Born of Thunder and Bring the Knife, down to the Lucky Dog in lovely (yeah, lovely!) Kelly Square, Worcester… Now its time for the Boston bands to return the favor down at Church in the Fens. Gotta love that Massachusetts Metal Solidarity! Get ready to bang your head, throw a fist or some horns in the air, and sin up  What better place to throw some devil horns in the air and rock out than at the most blasphemously sinful house of worship Boston has to offer?

Thursday, March 25th @ Great Scott

Don’t get me wrong, Action Camp and Hello Ninja are great, but any show featuring Boston heavyweights The Beatings AND Aloud is one worth the price of admission – no matter what it may be. The Beatings have been taking some time off in the wake of some serious touring in support of last year’s critically acclaimed Late Season Kids, now they’re ready to kick their noise rock machine back into overdrive. Aloud is commemorating the 2 year anniversary of their seminal album Fan The Fury by playing a setlist that will include alternate versions of newer favorites, as well as a few oldies thrown in that date all the way back to their 2004 EP! There’s probably going to be a few songs played on Thursday at Great Scott that you will NEVER have another chance to hear – don’t miss out!

Friday, February 19th @ TT The Bears

Seems like just about every weekend so far in 2010 has been an embarrassment of riches for local music. Every Friday Saturday Sunday you have tons of amazing bands coming together to form jaw-dropping can’t-miss lineups. Only problem is, you need about 4 clones to be able to make it to everything you want to catch! This Friday at TT’s is no exception. PGB Favorites The Luxury and Conservative Man are teaming up with local britpop-meets-american-monotonish-indie act The Honors to rock the hell out of Cambridge. After listening to these guys side by side I’m REALLY surprised they haven’t shared a bill before – they seem like a great match for each other’s sound. They’ll be joined by Philly’s Jealousy Curve, who are set to break into Boston with a little help from their friends on the bill. And yes, I know this is an outdated flyer (CM were a late add to the bill), but it was also the best looking one I could find. So deal with it.

Friday & Saturday Feb 19-20th @ Rosebud Diner

Fresh off a raucous live set at Mad Oak Studios (click here to download the full live audio from that session!), Township will be taking over the Rosebud Diner in Davis Square all weekend to celebrate the release of their latest opus, Vol. 1, a collection of the cream of the crop from the past 4 years worth of EP’s and LP’s. Friday night they’ll be sharing the stage with Brownboot, whereas Saturday they’ll be joined by Ryan Fitzsimmons. Both nights will feature DJ Jordan Valentine spinning between sets. Do NOT let this weekend go by without catching at least one of these shows!

Saturday, February 20th @ O’Briens

Everyone needs a good metal show now and again to roil the blood, blow off some steam, and generally rock the fuck out. This Saturday is a great opportunity to do just that. Local icons Born of Thunder and Cromulent are joined by newcomers onto the scene Bring The Knife, born out of the ashes of the now-defunct Destruct-a-thon. They’ll be joined from She Rides, up from Providence to bring their intense, high-energy onslaught to bear on the unsuspecting masses of Allston. This promises to be an excellent show that brings you back to the days when O’Briens was metal and metal only, and you didn’t go in their unless you had long hair, excessive regrettable tattoos (band names or pentagrams on your neck really aren’t nearly as cool at age 72 as they are at age 27, dude), or were wearing a t-shirt from an obscure Swedish metal band from 1978.

Sunday, February 21st @ Middle East Upstairs

We’re looking at melted faces, cramped hands from clenched fists, and sore necks from banging heads – just a few of the casualties of Sunday Night! This is an excellent lineup, a perfect note to end the weekend on. PGB Favorites Planetoid NEVER disappoint – spacy riffs, sibilant vocals, and thunderous talent abounds with this extraterrestrial power trio. Cocked N’ Loaded bring some good hard rock to the table, complete with all the guitar insanity you could possibly ask for. Mellow Bravo’s got gritty vocals over a bluesy southern sound to help you drown away your sorrows from the weekend, while Hotblack’s aggressiveness and sick riffage will feed your fury and get you thoroughly depressed that you have to go back to work the next day when you could be rocking this hard all the time. Come have a beer with some PGB Staffers and check out some of Boston’s best straight-up rock!