Spider Water closes out a packed night at Allston’s favorite hot dog joint on Wednesday, 1 March 2023.

Mystic River Funk, HeadFirst, Madison Bequer, and Ana Poulin stack a bill long enough to call a ‘festival.’

Get ready for hump days to be a thing at the Silhouette Lounge. The venerable Allston dive bar has been making music moves on Mondays for a while. Now it looks like it’s two-timing with Wednesdays, at least for the foreseeable future.

What’s the Wednesday scene like? Crowded! If you’re the type that needs to hit the curb for a smoke once in a while, make sure you’re wearing #TheSilShows wristband. Otherwise, you might not get back in – filled to the brim.

Showcasing a bill taller than the Prudential doesn’t hurt the head count. Between the old time regulars, the musicians, the musicians’ friends and families, and whatever debris washed up on the shore of the Allston dive, it was a full house for $10 worth of musky music. You couldn’t always see the bands, but you could hear them and smell them. In the words of Meatloaf: “Two out of three ain’t bad.”

God bless the bartender for keeping the whole circus on stilts. She was “in the weeds” for about three hours straight. If you’ve ever worked in restaurants or bars, you know the feeling. Serving a crowded house is like jacking yourself into the brain washing machine from A Clockwork Orange. Pure horrorshow, like. But when the storm passes and all that’s left is a nice stack of bills… Oh, sweet Melissa.

Here are some tips for making the bartender’s (and the people ordering after you) life less miserable:

• Don’t pay with your dumb iPhone

• Don’t order dumb drinks

• Open a tab, if you’re having more than one drink

• Have your drink order ready

• If you’re out with friends, buy rounds

• If you fuck up the above rules, tip extra

• Maybe tip extra anyway

Ana Poulin

Madison Bequer

You could hear and smell the music, but maybe not see it. For real. The backroom at the Silhouette Lounge is a cozy fit on a quiet night, never mind a five-band bill.

The shoulder-to-shoulder vibe made for great energy. The opening bands, led by Ana Poulin and Madison Bequer, were seen by only the brave few who squeezed toward the front by the dartboards. If you were located all the way back by the pinball machines, forget about it.

But the PA system blasted bright enough for all, delivering singer-songwriter tunes with a dash of funk and a splash of rhythm.

HeadFirst

Boston’s HeadFirst looked like the hardest working band of the night. Onstage and off. The five-piece sported shades of The Dreamtoday in terms of total commitment to performance and grammatical peculiarity. A spirited pop punk excursion.

And after the last song, the show must go on! Band members worked the front room for the rest of the night, pedaling their new album I Believe to the Silhouette faithful. Shout out to the hitchhiking alien on the front of the album. Shades of Dinosaur Jr. cover art.

Mystic River Funk

Spider Water

Spider Water closed the bill. The Boston quartet delivered funky, spacey rock textures and featured some strong vocal duets between the bassist and drummer.

The band was sending out the Sex Panther vibes at a greater intensity than you’d expect in 2023, but it dovetailed nicely with some of the throwback covers, like The Cars’ “Just What I Needed.”

Extra points for the keys elevating the band’s sound above the usual grunge guitar sawmill. Shout out to the soulful vocals from Mystic River Funk, teaming up with the band for a sultry encore performance to put a button on the bill.

Will Wednesdays reign supreme at the Silhouette Lounge? Time will tell. In the interim, let’s staff a second bartender – or better yet, keep your tab open and just order ‘Gansetts.

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