4. Torche (Saturday, Jackalope)
Playing on a tiny stage in the back of a pizza parlor/bar (featuring a gigantic plastic jackalope at the entrance), the world’s most joyful metal band roared like the devil’s own brick oven. C.A.
5. G-Side (Saturday, Emo’s East)
Sandwiched between Andrew W.K.’s Bat Out of WTF routine and A$AP Rocky’s free-form clusterthug, the Alabama duo popped the restless crowd right between their glazed-over eyeballs with a barrage of stress-party throwdowns. C.A.
6. Debo Band (Friday, Speakeasy)
This Boston-based, Ethiopian pop outfit used their lively, off-kilter take on more traditional fare to whoosh a room of dreadlocked and fedora’d global groove-lovers through waves of rubber-limbed ecstasy. D.B.
