In honor of Valentine's Day week, I've decided to review a bar that's not in any way romantic (unless your idea of romance is hanging out with a bunch of hipsters in a basement with your arms crossed listening to the latest, trendiest underground music while sipping on oversized cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon).
As much as I love the Middle East, it's a very hipster scene. When I say "hipster," I mean that it's full of people who spend a lot of time listening to various obscure bands and spend between $10 and $25 to go see one of said bands at the Middle East only to stand motionless in the back and complain that the band has "sold out." And of course, due to its placement in Cambridge, the Middle East attracts a large amount of super-smart hipsters (read: savvy on more bands than Ruckus can offer) who all "go to school in Cambridge," (which we all know is code for "Harvard").
Yet, apart from the plethora of horn-rimmed Weezer glasses, the Middle East is a great place. There's live music every evening, usually in multiple locations. Upstairs offers a much more intimate concert setting, while the larger downstairs basement reminds you of house shows from high school with concrete walls and Christmas lights wrapped around the rafters. And if you don't feel like paying for a concert ticket, the main classical "bar," Zu-Zu, is a great place to stop by and chill. The bars are all decently priced, and there's usually a Boston game playing on a TV somewhere off to the side (which is clutch if you find yourself forced to sit through another awful, overly dramatic "hip" band with two bassists and a cello player). The Mid-East is definitely a place to check out, where underground music is literally played underground. A-
The Middle East 472 Mass. Ave Cambridge, MA (617) 864-3278
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