Burp: Pride of Lowell
BurpOn a cool September night the Midway Cafe played host to an eclectic lineup of guitar-driven indie bands, headlined by Burp, the pride of Lowell.
The bill proceeded like a Spotify playlist that had been tossed in the dryer: jostled, jumbled, all mixed up, sure, but soft and warm against the skin.
Opener Jean Paul Jean Paul is a Boston-based band that serves up beery Americana, alternating with more offbeat Pink Floyd accents. Their song “Whip City,” off their recent LP Pollyanna, fired off hot licks on the lead guitar up front while the band cranked out alt-flavored college rock in back. Extra points for having the most T-shirt merch on hand.
TV For Dinner flipped the dial from dive bar blues rock to bedroom punk ditties. The set list was heavy on covers, including hits from Green Day and Against Me!, but fronter Colin Dowdy played them like there was no tomorrow. Superlative crowd work and stage banter got the mosh pit moving to the original “Unhappy Marriage.”
The three-piece Public Faces (not to be confused with Public Face, whose back catalog is temporarily unavailable due to a contractual dispute and copyright issues) delivered a proggy kind of exploration rock. Burp, and the Burp Allstars Fan Club, transformed the pit into a mecca of postmodern interpretive dance. You would need an electron microscope and a solid pair of tweezers to discern whether the stage diving was ironic, post-ironic, or post-post-ironic earnest. Whatever it was, there was some genuine Gen Z x Millennial heart emoji vibing.
Burp, the pride of Lowell, concluded the night with a sound that blended houseparty rock with Weezer-esque guitar shred. The banter between Burp and the Burp Allstars Fan Club in the pit filled in the empty spaces of the set. At this point the show felt less like an event at your local music venue and more like a block party sounding off on Labor Day. Which is quite alright. Extra points to the frontguy bringing the Buddy Holly meets Billie Joe Armstrong meets Lil Peep energy.
Garage punk, sure. But the art core impulse is unmistakable here.