Review by Steve Gisselbrecht

It's another one of those ridiculous nights of music in Boston, where I have to miss two different great shows to see this unmissably great show. Up first, The Volume are clearly the odd band out on this bill. They are spacey and psychedelic, with a lot of emphasis on subtleties. The rhythm section is slinky and supple. They keyboard is wonderful and surprising, but unfortunately it's turned up way too loud, and it drowns out most of the vocals and guitar. I get them to turn the guitar up, because it's too good to miss, with lots of effects for a wide range of sounds and feels, but there's no saving the vocals.

Which makes the contrast with the next band shocking. The Silver Lining is not really a subtle band, and I'd like to see the technology that could drown out these vocals. Soaring, powerful, turbocharged vocals. The combination of a sweet tenor and a power alto makes for gorgeous harmonies; I'm a little reminded of Lennon and McCartney at a couple of points. And when Anna really cuts loose and wails, it's glorious. With excellent drumming and bass lines and tastefully flashy guitar solos, there is just absolutely nothing wrong with this set. I'm especially impressed with a song called "Well Dressed Blues," the lyrics to which seem delightfully dirty when I can make them out. And the last song has a slow, smokey Patti Smith intensity to it.

Scamper start out with one of their newest songs: minor key verses, and feedback! In fact, the feedback guitar solo is really quite good, but the heart of this band is all sweetness and major keys, pretty harmonies, and highly polished playing. But that sounds syrupy, when in fact they put on a high-energy show and they have a good-humored stage presence that makes it clear that they're not taking this too seriously and you shouldn't either. Tonight they do a couple of the Beatles songs that they learned for the recent Beatles tribute night that they participated in, which is also the source of tonight's extra-goofy version of "Sophie."

Aloud proceed to kick every ass in the place, with a set that's about half new material. (They just finished recording an album, which I am very excited to hear.) There's something really magical that happens when two dynamite frontpeople, each a great lead singer and lead guitarist, can get together without jockeying for position and take turns doing rhythm guitar and backing vocals. It seems like it's rare that it actually works, but when it does, you get a front line like Aloud's. Tonight is amazing, and I feel like they've fixed everything that was not perfect about this band. The drummer has really come into his own, achieving perfect steadiness without sacrificing wild flashiness. The bassist is singing more backup; this is not a band that needed more vocals, but since he sounds good, it gives them even greater harmonic capacity. Jen is now as confident and rich in the low and quiet parts as she is stunning when she wails and roars. And the new songs are excellent, with nicely balanced guitar leads and lots of fun fake endings. They don't do what's probably my favorite song of theirs, but I'm glad to hear new ones instead, and while I consider requesting it for the encore, it's a mellow and lovely one, and it's much more appropriate when they rip it up with a big honkytonk screamer instead.