Coming back to downtown Lowell for the evening portion of The Town and The City Festival, I knew I had to move between The Old Court and Thirst First. I started out at The Old Court just before Escape Durgin took the stage. The Old Court was a showcase for Lowell artists Saturday night, and Escape Durgin started it off with an eclectic set that spanned multiple genres, usually within the same song. The first song started off as more of a 90's second wave grunge power ballad in the vein of Candlebox, and quickly veered off into 70's psychedelia territory. They reminded me of a modern take on the college bands that dominated central Massachusetts in the 90's, and I don't mean that as a bad thing.
Gross Girls were up next, and they may end up being my favorite musical discovery of 2025. You know how most music is either happy, angry, or sad? Gross Girls' songs seem more annoyed than anything else. It's like they took the overall vibe of the 90's and recreated it into a modern indie rock form. Songs like "Punk Rocker" and "Dumb Tattoo" instantly won me over with this blend of noisy indie rock and almost a country/folk sound. When I sent their album Super Punk Rock Yeah Yeah over to Jeff, he commented that they sounded like "Pavement was fronted by Daria," and I certainly can't argue that. Be prepared for this to basically become a Gross Girls fanblog over the next year.
The Ghouls came next, and they're one of the most solid live bands in the Boston scene today. They have this perfect mix of playing loosely in that 90's cool way while also being an incredibly tight band. The two previous times I've seen them play have blown me away, and even though I knew what to expect for this third time, I was still pleasantly surprised by how great they are live. They play a great mix of punk meets alt-rock that is just mainstream enough to win over the normies but just unique enough to keep the music snobs happy.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to stay for all of The Ghouls since I wanted to make my way over to Thirsty First to catch the end of Winkler's set. After discovering them last month playing with Archer Oh, I knew they were a fun live band. Saturday night, something clicked a little more with them. It could have simply been that we all need some positivity these days, but there's something about their updated version of Jonathan Richman that worked particularly well for me this past weekend. The only negative thing about festivals like this is having to miss some sets you wish you could have caught.
Closing out this year's The Town and The City Festival for me was Senseless Optimism. As much as I enjoyed her set at last year's Boston Calling, Saturday night was an absolute revelation and near religious experience. Her set started off slowly and built as the night went on. Some performers just have a certain star quality, and Brittany Tsewole possesses more than enough. The small group of audience members dancing seemed to be having the time of their lives, and I only wish I was far less uptight and could have joined them. Senseless Optimism's music ranges through virtually all genres, from folk to hard rock to soul to indie rock and countless others. Plus, the set ended in one of the handful of true encores I've ever seen. As they ended their set, the sound guy ran up to the stage to tell them to play another, and they ended with a life altering version of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love."
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