Halloween brings out the corniness in everyone. It’s that time of year when excessive lameness is not only tolerated, but encouraged, and nowhere is said cheesiness on more prominent exhibit than in the trend of shows featuring grown adults–dressed in exceedingly silly costumes–covering classic sets by famous acts. Nevertheless, because the number of concerts featuring popular locals taking on the identities of more popular non-locals is growing exponentially, we wrangled up a roster of imposter shows at The Middle East and Great Scott that are highly exploitative yet minimally offensive.
The 11th Annual Pill Halloween Show (10.25)
The Susan Constant as Metric. The Daily Pravda as The Psychedelic Furs. DJ Ken and Michael V as Daft Punk. All promising. But wait–The Luxury as The Verve? Does that mean whoever dresses up like Richard Ashcroft will get sued by Jagger?
[Great Scott, 1222 Comm. Ave., Allston. 8pm/21+/$10. Event]
The Lights Out 5th Annual Halloween Extravaganza (10.25)
The band-goes-as-Green-Day (played here by The Field Effect) concept is the Sexy Sarah Palin costume of 2013–everybody’s doing it, but as much as you want may want to choke the fad to death, it’s still worth watching. The same goes for The Lights Out as Tom Petty and The Life Electric as Foo Fighters–all guilty pleasures on the guiltiest day of the entire fucking year.
[Middle East Downstairs, 472 Mass. Ave., Cambridge. 8pm/18+/$12]
Hell Night @ Great Scott (10.30)
How funny would it be if a Misfits cover band (in this case, an all-star ensemble featuring members of The Hidden, Blackhouse, Iron Mustache, and The Dividers) forgot to play “Halloween” on Halloween? They’d never be able to show their face at the comic book store again, and just forget about hanging out at Hot Topic. They’d be the laughing stock of the entire mall, but probably still a bit cooler than the guys from Hey Zeus, which is going as Deep Purple.
[Great Scott, 1222 Comm. Ave., Allston. 9pm/18+/$10]
Trick or Treat Yo Self! (10.31)
There comes a time in every Weezer cover band’s existence that they must decide between sticking with “Blue Album” and Pinkerton-era greatness or meandering into the post-Matt Sharp shit parade. Let’s hope the members of Flat Swamp, Grass Is Green, and Vending Machetes playing dress-up at Great Scott stick with the former. Also more, Green Day covers.
[Great Scott, 1222 Comm. Ave., Allston. 8pm/21+/$10]
AjDIO’s Halloween Spooktacular (10.31)
With members of Titanics and Upper Crust covering The Satanics–the most historically devilish of all local acts–we’re a bit less concerned about how this wave of cover band buffoonery bodes for the Boston scene. A cover group covering a band that has been all but scrubbed from the internet–if they ever made it there in the first place–is less of a Halloween show and more of a public service.
[Middle East Upstairs, 472 Mass. Ave., Cambridge. 9pm/18+/$12]
