Put Another Log On The Fire Inside
Toritori headlines a bill from the inside out at Middle East on Friday, 20 December 2024.
Mona Veli, 5th Year, Mindflex, l.ucas, and Vinny Mucho sandwich a bill taller than a tripledecker.
What’s a “double feature” at Central Square? Hitting two shows in the same night. When the set times for a lot of weekend shows at The Mad Monkfish and Middle East align just right, like the moons of Jupiter, you can hit consecutive shows without missing a beat.
Start with the 7PM jazz set at The Mad Monkfish, and follow it up with any show in the Middle East (upstairs, downstairs, Sonia, etc.) complex with a 9PM start time. Not “doors,” mind you, the actual start time. Makes for a nice one-two punch, juxtaposing different types of music for a full night out. You can gargle some PBR for a palate cleanser.
For the rest, I defer to the writeup at my Cambridge Day gig.
If you missed the show at Middle East on Friday night, stacked taller than hotcakes, then you missed “The Fire Inside 2,” the second edition of a melange of local hip hop and RnB, presented by Booming Bay and Turntable Teachers.
You missed Vinny Mucho handing out $100 bills. You missed l.ucas conducting the crowd through a chorus of Wham!’s “Last Christmas.” You missed ToriTori delivering a dazzling solo performance on a stage about 1/100th the size of her Blue Stage digs at Boston Calling this summer. You missed Mindflex flexing a sweatshirt made out of a human rib cage. Or was it a human rib cage made out of a sweatshirt? You missed 5th Year trotting out the nudie blowup doll. You missed Mona Veli drop a scorching solo rap set, which included a capella verses that threatened to light on fire and burn the house down. And you missed the superlative Rilla Force holding down the DJ duties for the night.
No worries, though. A little bird told me that everything, good or bad, always comes in threes. Unless they come in ones, twos, fours. The world feels destined for a “Fire Inside 3.” Just can’t put out that fire.