A handful of awards seemed a foregone conclusion - Dropkick Murphys’ reeling in both Artist and Live Artist of the Year showed the inherent conflict in a show like this - you want to include the newer talent, but you need a few bigger names for the draw.
Other awards were doled out to the deserving live acts that turned the venue into the best one-night showcase of Boston music the city has seen all year. Electronic Artist winners Freezepop were icy cool and dance-friendly in their synth-pop dance party, while Rock Artist winners Viva Viva proved, yet again, they’re good enough at what they do that they make me appreciate a genre I couldn’t care less about otherwise, with a gritty blues-based bar-rock set.
Fellow Rock Artist nominees MMOSS were an eye-opening highlight, with a set of trippy grooves that reached back to early Krautrock for its hypnotic flute-led vibe. Elsewhere, Pop Rock nominees the Wandas won over the crowd with a jangly Americana tunefulness, while Video of the Year nominees Bodega Girls (playing as the Bodega Sluts) tore through a Boston-indie-rock-hits-of-the-past set of palpable, sweaty rock energy.
The act that stole the show was Female Vocalist nominee Shea Rose, who came mostly unbeknownst to me, and proved herself the Boston artist most likely to make an impact on the national stage this year with a soulful set of hip-hop inflected funk and rock, and a crack band that showcased the vibrant singer’s star power.
