Hilken Mancini planted her flag at Midway Cafe on Saturday, 6 May 2023.

Lupo Città and Cathedral Ceiling sandwiched the three-stack bill.

May 4th is Star Wars day.

May 5th is Cinco de Mayo.

May 6th is International No Diet Day (fuck yeah), National Nurses Day (fuck yeah), and National Tourist Appreciation Day (ok, why not).

In other words, May 6th is nothing in particular. But if you’re walking around Boston and beyond on May 6th and adjacent weekends, you might detect a hint of celebration in the air. The kind that comes with black robes and squared-off caps…

It’s graduation season!

It’s the time of year when college students in the school-heavy city close their laptops, box up their books, toss their dead ferns and beat-up couches onto the curb, and get the tabs for overpriced, upscale brunches paid by doting parents and grandparents.

Everywhere you turn there will be legions of black robes and squared-off caps flooding the boulevard. Crowding into elevators, piling up on sidewalks, jostling in hotel lobbies, spilling out of windows, and doorways, and every type of clown car in a great human wave of youthful enthusiasm and thinly-veiled panic. Maybe a few even showed up to Midway Cafe…

School’s out for the summer! School’s out forever!

What comes next? A lifetime of labor. Welcome to the struggle.

Lupo Citta

Lupo Città earns extra points straight out the gate for the accent in the band name. Exotic!

The local three-piece has been gigging around town of late. Their sound cut its teeth on 90s alt rock, but you can tell there’s a much more specific vision for their music circulating within the band’s braintrust. Maybe a kind of late 60s, early 70s Italian go-go garage rock thing?

Hints of Grace Slick seance vocals. Interesting double guitar, no bass instrumentation lends the ensemble some left-of-center textural dynamics. There was a crispy, crinkly feedback flair all the way through like someone had spread “Expressway To Yr Skull” like cream cheese smear over the entire set.

With at least one real Italian in the band and more time in the practice room, Lupo Città could put out a punk minimalist chic record on Hozac Records à la The Limiñanas. That would’ve been a nice fit ten years ago. But does Hozac put out new music any more, or is it all books and deep cut reissues these days?

Hilken Mancini

The Hilken Mancini band leveled-up the entire venue. The three-piece has a seasoned sound, and if they ever played a wrong note you’d swear it was the right one.

There are different ways to grow up in rock n roll. You can follow the track of the Hero With a Thousand Bands, Andrew Stern, and inch the rock sound ever closer to jazz to keep yourself entertained as your musical chops evolve and advance. Or you can stay true to the rock n roll idiom, inscribing circles within circles, refining the petrol to premium grade. There’s no wrong way to eat a Reese’s.

Judging on Saturday night’s set, you’d have to say that Hilken Mancini has chosen the latter route. Her fills and solos spilled out like tiny polished gems across the stage. Shout out to the drummer with the jazz handling. Extra points for the barefoot bassist.

Cathedral Ceilings

Pride of New Jersey Cathedral Ceilings graced the closing spot on Saturday night.

So many prides of New Jerseys! The superlative Garcia Peoples, High., Meteor Police, Thirsty Guys, and more. It’s a state with a lot of pride. And you know if a New Jersey band is playing a venue in Massachusetts, it’s on a real “tour” tour, not simply hitting a bunch of roadhouses in its own neck of the woods.

The three-piece delivered a tight set of poppified punk, punctuated by a heavy metal phraseology. The songs sailed aloft stiff melodic breezes while the drummer kept up frenetic pace, catapulting himself forward into each and every frame. Good vibes, good licks, good times.

Shout out to the Garden State!