Concerts

Spend a NICE weekend in Somerville’s Davis Square

NICE, a fest will cram a year's worth of live music into three days in late July.

By Blake Maddux

2 minutes to read

Fans of local music, local venues, and the local economy should clear a large swath of their last-three-days-of-the-last-week-of-July schedule.

From the evening of Thursday, July 28 through the end of Saturday, July 30, Davis Square’s Crystal Ballroom and The Rockwell will simultaneously host a total of 49 music-makers between the two of them.

NICE, a fest – organized by Get to the Gig: Boston – kicks off that Thursday evening with a five-act lineup that will culminate in a headlining set by Cerce.

Pronounced “sert-zay,” as its Instagram helpfully clarifies, this Boston-formed quartet released a collection of 11 new songs called “Cowboy Music” last October. Two days after their appearance at NICE, Cerce will be among the top-listed acts at Toronto’s New Friends Fest. This cross-border trek will constitute the extent of its World Tour 2022.

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Still, not bad for a band who played its “last show” in 2018 and whose Facebook reads, “you can write to us at [email protected] but it will probably take a long time for us to respond since we aren’t a band anymore.”

Self-described “bummer pop” purveyors Future Teens will serve as Friday night’s main attraction.

Suffice it to say that the past three years – worldwide pandemic notwithstanding – have been anything but a bummer for the band. 2019 brought them a Boston Music Award for Alt/Indie Artist of the Year and four other major category nominations. At last year’s BMAs, the group was honored just to be in contention for Album/EP, Song, and — for the third consecutive year — Alt/Indie Artist of the Year.

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In June, Future Teens released a new single called “Same Difference” and completed a two-week tour of Europe and the UK.

Speedy Ortiz will wrap up NICE on Saturday night. Formed by Sadie Dupuis in 2011, the lil’ ol’ band from Northampton (and now based in Philadelphia) has garnered praise on the national level from Pitchfork, The A.V. Club, NPR, The New York Times, and Noisey.

In December 2015, its four members headed home from The Sinclair weighed down by BMA trophies for Artist of the Year, Album/EP of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Charitable Effort.

New material from the band has been scant since 2018’s “Twerp Verse.” However, reason for old and new fans to delight came in the form of the November 2021 release of “The Death of Speedy Ortiz & Cop Kicker…Forever” in vinyl and digital formats. This generous collection comprised the combined 14 tracks from the LP and EP that Dupuis independently released in 2011 and eight others that “showed up on compilations but were otherwise unreleased.”

Of course, NICE is about much more than the headliners. These three days will allow local music lovers to see artists they’ve heard of, learn of ones that they haven’t, and be rejoiced by personal faves who are paying their dues.

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And if you can make it until midnight on Friday or Saturday, stick around for a screening of “Wayne’s World” at Somerville Theatre.

Available tickets include $20 Thursday passes, $25 Friday passes, $28 Saturday passes, and $70 three-day passes.

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