Attention Boston musicians: There’s an opening in the holiday concert calendar, and your city needs you. After 22 mostly consecutive years (not including a five-year gap between 2002 and 2007), the pandemic put a halt on the Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ Hometown Throwdown in 2020, and this year’s implosion of the band suggests that the pause might be permanent.
That leaves the Hub without an annual end-of-year musical mainstay. But since nature, and merriment, abhor a vacuum, there are plenty of local options available for folks looking to kick 2022 to the curb in the presence of a band that didn’t get the night off. Whether any of them step up to become Boston’s new New Year’s tradition remains to be seen. But there’s something available for just about everyone, whatever type of music makes you want to celebrate.
Funk: George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic at House of Blues, Friday. George Clinton’s contributions to the culture are, not to get too hyperbolic about it, immense. Just staggering to contemplate, really. Consider that his influence runs through both Dr. Dre and Talking Heads, and now think of all the artists that hold up two — and only those two! — as lodestars, and recognize that Clinton has legitimately few peers when it comes to rewiring the last half century of popular music to match his vision. He’s also an 81-year-old man, with who-knows-what amounts of willingness and weakness afflicting his spirit and his flesh. So give him his flowers now, while the Mothership still flies with Dr. Funkenstein at the controls. houseofblues.com
Singer-songwriter: Madeleine Peyroux at City Winery, Friday. After years spent chasing the ghost of Billie Holiday, thanks to cracked vocals that bore some surface similarities, Peyroux has mellowed into relaxed grown-up pop that suits her voice and sensibilities better. There are some sonic shades of Aimee Mann in her most recent material, but as evidenced on songs like “On My Own,” she can still swing. Some old habits die hard. citywinery.com/boston
Metal: Killswitch Engage at the Palladium, Worcester, Friday. For those who hope to ring in the new year with a ringing in their ears, Killswitch Engage has you covered; even though they take the stage Friday, the Western Mass. metal heroes come with enough power to provide at least one case of tinnitus that will reach into the new year. (Reports that the Worcester show will be audible all the way in Boston were unconfirmed as of press time.) thepalladium.net
Rock: Caspian/Junius/SOM/the Burning Paris at the Sinclair, Cambridge, Friday. The show is billed as “Last Night on Earth ‘22,” which is both a) factually incorrect — Dec. 30 was, last we checked, not New Year’s Eve — and b) kinda dark! But for those who are in the mood for catharsis rather than celebration (or folks who intend to bunker on the night itself in anticipation of whatever fresh nightmares the new year will unleash), the dramatic post-rock of Caspian ought to do the trick, abetted by the heady churn of Junius and SOM and the cleanly deliberate knottiness of the Burning Paris. bowerypresents.com
Folk: Ellis Paul/Laurie MacAllister at Passim, Cambridge, Friday and Saturday. Worried that locking in plans for either Friday or Saturday means limiting your choices on the other night? Paul and MacAllister have got you covered by being available to you on both dates, so whenever you find yourself free, they’re ready for you. Paul’s sharply delineated songwriting has netted him accolade after accolade from his first Boston Music Award (of a great many) in 1992 to a pair of International Acoustic Music Awards in 2020. As for MacAllister, even absent the harmonies that buoy her work in folk trio Red Molly, her songs retain a clear-eyed yearning reminiscent of Lori McKenna. passim.org
Jazz: Andre Ward at Scullers, Saturday. Ward’s quiet-storm sexyphone jazz will help set the mood for a different kind of midnight celebration than the one that most revelers will be having when the ball drops, but that’s OK. It’ll keep until 1 a.m. scullersjazz.com
Hip-hop: Motivate Merren at Zuzu, Saturday. The bulk of the New Year’s Eve events at the Middle East’s phalanx of clubs offer DJs and dance parties. But Zuzu’s “Masquerade” is being headed up by rapper Motivate Merren, whose own tracks are built on underpinnings of rich ‘70s soul. Whether he’s performing, spinning, or doing some combination of the two, expect him to play out 2022 to hip-hop stylings run through with fire and heart. mideastoffers.com/zuzu
More funk: Tower of Power at the Cabot, Beverly, Saturday. Way back in 1973, the Oakland band asked the immortal question: What is hip? And while 50 years later it may seem like that should change to “Where’s my new hip?,” the band is still playing its funk tight and, thanks to the wall of horns that gird the front of the stage, brass-heavy. Its 2018 Tiny Desk Concert crammed the band into a small corner of NPR headquarters and, packed in like sardines under fluorescent lighting during office hours, absolutely cooked. Now imagine what Tower of Power can do with both a ready-to-party New Year’s Eve vibe and enough room to move without bumping into your neighbor and accidentally releasing his spit valve. thecabot.org
Adult pop: Lake Street Dive at Roadrunner, Saturday. 2021 was a transitional year for the New England Conservatory-bred band: They released their first album with keyboardist Akie Bermiss on board as an official member weeks before losing founding guitarist Mike Olson, after which they had to break in his replacement James Cornelison. That left 2022 as a year to settle back in, and they’re capping it off with a sold-out show at Boston Landing’s still-new Roadrunner. The last time the versatile band — which pulls appealingly from classic pop, R&B, and jazz — played New Year’s in Boston was 2018, and it’s maybe the local act best positioned to claim the throne vacated by the Bosstones. We’ll have to wait and see what Lake Street Dive does in 2023 to be sure. roadrunnerboston.com
Marc Hirsh can be reached at officialmarc@gmail.com or on Twitter @spacecitymarc.
Work at Boston Globe Media