ENiAM surfs silver at the Middle East on Sunday, 12 November 2023.

Jeff from Wizard Security in the house.

What’s the etiquette on canceling shows?

The Sunday bill originally included Mal Devisa and babybaby_explores. Both artists canceled.

Cancels happen all the time. Especially at small- and medium-sized clubs.

There’s a natural inclination to overextend yourself as an artist trying to make a name for yourself. You say yes to a lot of commitments that aren’t always possible to honor.

It’s vanishingly rare that any artists at clubs the size of the Middle East are making a living solely by recording and performing music. Whatever you do to pay rent, buy food, support loved ones – sometimes schedules don’t play nice, and you have to bow out of a bill to meet your existential commitments.

The pandemic adds a whole other layer of difficulties for the touring artist. Plenty of people are still sick, or still getting sick, and they easily find their way to clubs without masks. The artists on stage bear the brunt of that exposure. Apparently both Mal Devisa and babybaby_explores were Covid-19 cancels?

If you go to a lot of shows, you just roll with it, wish people good luck and good health.

All that said, though, you have got to announce the cancellation. Who is the ‘you?’ It would be nice if the artists did. But at the very least the venue’s box office needs to speak up, email, post an announcement somewhere.

Not a peep to ticket holders on this one. Nothing from the artists, nothing from the venue. Nothing even posted at the door. The only rock solid clue that the bill was two-thirds gutted was when the house lights came up after the first set.

A ticket to a show at the Middle East isn’t a $1,500 seat at a Taylor Swift concert. But it’s not a NOTFLOF punk show at a VFW Hall in Buffalo either.

You should expect more from a box office. Then again, it’s the Middle East, and no one’s had high expectations for this venue lately. Some people even have low expectations as the Sater family ownership seeks to cash out while the neighborhood transforms into the Greater Harvard playground.

ENiAM

The five-piece ENiAM out of Portland, Maine packed plenty of soul into the sole set of the night.

Plenty of tin foil too. Pay no attention to the man behind the silver curtain! Fox masks and showers of tinsel were the earthly compromises of a band with planetary ambitions.

The set pivoted between trip hop-laced neu-jazz with shades of Björkery and straight ahead hip hop with a Cross Colors ‘90s vibe. Credit a solid rhythm section for handling the pivot with ease.

Shout out to the guitarist laying it down.

Extra points for the old school Radio City Music Hall-style mic, the triple-stack keyboards, and a spangled set of bar chimes in back. ENiAM is top-flight baby-making music.

Postscript: You know you’re making an impression as a band when the staff sneaks out of the kitchen to take a peek.

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