The Sleds show up for a night at The Jungle on Saturday, 17 June 2023.

Bad Magic, Late Night Idle, and No Detour fill out the four-stack bill.

The four-stack bill at The Jungle was going head-to-head with a Dave Matthews Band show at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield. Who would come out on top?

Xfinity Center… You know, the old Great Woods, which got renamed Tweeter Center and probably other terrible things before settling on the rebranded frontname for Comcast, twice voted worst company in America.

The Xfinity Center boasts a capacity of just under 20,000, which is split between people who pay more to be under the big awning and the cheapos who pay less just to fight for a bit of general admission turf on the lawn surrounding the amphitheater.

You haven’t punched your Masshole card until you’ve spent a wet night on the muddy lawn at Great Woods waiting for the shrooms to kick in.

Would you want to shroom during a Dave Matthews Band show? Too many ants marching. And the town of Mansfield better check the health of its waterways after the show. Because who can forget the time the dadcore jamband dumped 800 pounds of human waste into the Chicago river after a gig? Way too many ants marching.

Bad Magic

It was either the maiden voyage for Bad Magic or damn near close. The five-piece rocked its way through a setlist of originals and covers like Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.” The romantic highlight of the night was the engagement announcement for two individuals with names roughly approximate to “Austin” and “Angie.” And the whole room poured one out for Devin, a former bandmate who died in a horrible lawn darts incident.

Late Night Idle

Late Night Idle was half the band it used to be.

The other half (maybe more?) was awkwardly shimmying to the Dave Matthews Band at Great Woods in Mansfield.

Were they shrooming or just fondling a bitch-ass vape pen? Tripping Billies! Did they spring for tickets under the canopy? It was raining cats and dogs in Somerville, probably in Mansfield too, so if they settled for the general admission lawn tickets, it was a sorry night.

How do you stitch together a set without your lead vocalist? With a little help from your friends and the other bands (strong representation from The Sleds) on the bill, which filled out the lineup of Late Night Idle to play a set of mostly covers. A star-studded lineup of covers from your favorite late 90s, early aughts derelict jukebox. Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots, Coldplay, Oasis, and a little change of pace with a classic Ramones hit “Blitzkrieg Bop.” Who says the canon is dead?

Shout out to three of four musicians in the act agreeing upon Bass Pro Shop trucker hats as band uniform for the night. The fourth musician was a hard pass.

The Sleds

It felt like The Sleds’ second set of the night after they put so much of themselves into filling out the Late Night Idle lineup. The four-piece took the opportunity to segue from covers to a set of originals, including music from their forthcoming new release “Rock n Roll Romance.”

The band crafted a tight rotation of high energy, skins & strings ballads. A massive loveletter to the type of rock n roll that favors big sound and big personalities. Shout out to giving the drummer (who also drums for Gollylagging, right?) a whirl on the six-string as frontman for a ditty or two.

No Detour

Was there a single musician in the house on Saturday night who put in more work than the guitarist for No Detour? Who was also the guitarist for The Sleds? Who was also the guitarist for Late Night Idle? He should have added a lick or two on top of a Bad Magic cover just to complete the quartet.

Extra points for grinding out the noise on a wet night in The Jungle, though nowhere near as wet as the lawn in Mansfield.

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