Flasher at Great Scott: A Welcome End to the Weekend

By Evan Zigmond Great Scott is one of my favorite venues in greater Boston, so I always jump at the chance to go to shows there. Recently, I got to see Flashe, with Halfsour and Dehd supporting, on what turned out to be very consistent Sunday night: a bill of three rock trios each sporting the same classic guitar, drum, and bass instrumentation. Opener Halfsour’s musical strength came in their reverb-drenched guitar riffs, and Dehd followed their set with an intriguing stage setup. The Chicago trio has decided to line up at the front of the stage during shows, with the drummer standing between the guitar player and the bass player and playing only a floor tom and a snare drum. It was fun and novel to watch the drummer, whom you sometimes have to work to see, right at the front of the stage. This is especially the case at Great Scott, where the stage is usually only dimly lit. Dehd demonstrated some cute vocal harmonies between the guitarist and the bassist, with the minimalist percussion driving each tune surprisingly well. Flasher was the third and final act of the evening, and I immediately noticed the array of guitar pedals at the feet of both the guitarist and the bassist. Despite the high potential for distortion, Flasher opted instead to keep their guitar tones largely clean, using maybe a pedal or two for each chorus. The band kept vocals almost to a whisper, which interestingly left the audience noticeably less rowdy than I’ve seen them before, but contributed to making the show feel quite intimate. At one point Flasher stopped mid set to ask why Boston was called Beantown (I guess we have good baked beans). Overall, the concert was a welcome change of pace. While I love Great Scott on a Saturday night when the concert-goers are out in force and the music is loud and rowdy, it was definitely nice to see the calmer side of things. I look forward to future Sunday night shows, hopefully the energy from this one persists!