We love Halloween; however, we’re also not always the greatest planners. For those who actually have a costume but still aren’t sure where they’ll be getting into trouble tonight, please allow us to make a few suggestions. Surprisingly, the weekend before Halloween was rather a disappointment this year. We’re guessing that with the holiday falling on Thursday, people figured that it was close enough to the weekend to make it a long one. Hopefully, you were able to take off work tomorrow to fully enjoy the festivities. Or at least, you have a cool enough boss who can forgive you smelling like a dive bar while still having some residue of zombie makeup on at work.
Well, a good place to be where there will be no judgment this evening is the 4th annual TJ Kong Halloween Costume Ball Rock N Roll Murdershow at Underground Arts with Kong and the Atomic Bomb, Cold Fronts, Johnny Showcase, Purples (ex-Teeth), Manterial Girl and DJ Breakfast (Jonas Oesterle). This will surely be the place for fine up-and-coming local acts, drunken debauchery and human sacrifices – if you’re into that sort of thing like we are. If you’re looking to spend Halloween in a bigger space, the Philly staple for live concert craziness, Man Man, will be closing out their two-night Halloween run at Union Transfer with King Khan & The Shrines, MELT-BANANA and Hell Shovel. Another traditional Philly favorite is Making Time with this year’s party dubbed “Pure Halloween.” You’ll find the usual suspects raging to futuristic sounds.
Now, those are the bigger events on our radar. So if you are feeling like doing something kind of off the beaten path, there is Mercury Radio Theater, who will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of their album The Death and Life of the Undead Boy, at Johnny Brenda’s with local burlesque mainstay Miss Rose and her lovelies. And for those who are in a giving mood on this unholy of evenings, you can find likeminded people at The Mitten for the Halloween Cover Show to Benefit the Philadelphia Student Union and at The Boot & Saddle, where our friends Iron will be hosting a benefit show for BuildOn.org, an organization dedicated to breaking the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and low expectations through service and education.
All these events should have you covered for tonight – just don’t get arrested. Have a happy and somewhat safe Halloween – cheers! – Q.D. Tran