Live Music Review: Fiddlehead played surprise pop-up show at Alewife Station in Boston
Hours after playing a once-in-a-lifetime bill at Portland, Maine’s Thompson’s Point with Dinosaur Jr and Turnstile, Boston post-hardcore legends Fiddlehead weren’t ready to end their weekend just yet. At 2:30 a.m. on the morning of Sunday, September 27, a post came across my social media feed announcing a pop-up show at the MBTA’s Alewife Train Station in Cambridge, MA – going down in 12 hours. The post read “we may get shut down, we may be able to get thru one song or maybe multiple…” – by the morning the post was gone – but the word was out. An Instagram story confirmed the band would be playing around 2:30 p.m., telling people to show up early, but not too early and encouraging attendees to respect employees and commuters around them.
After a weekend that was washed out by the first nor’easter of the season, I pulled into the garage of Alewife around 1:45pm – fighting through a sea of downed tree branches, whipping winds, and sideways rain on my way there. Luckily it didn’t take long to find other attendees walking in the direction of the platform, seeing a sea of Bane, Have Heart, and SSD sweatshirts.
Embracing my true Boston roots, I immediately hit the Dunkin’ Donuts for coffee and watched as the band discreetly began loading out their gear from one of the service elevators, to my surprise accompanied by an MBTA employee. The vibe in the concourse was calm, with people slowly trickling in, trying their best to spread out and not draw too much attention. There was almost this feeling that everyone was acting on their best behavior, still unsure if what we were about to witness would actually go down.
Around 2:10 p.m., people started to fill in and it was clear things had to kick off soon. The crowd pushed inwards, creating a circle of bodies surrounding the band as they turned their amps on and checked their tuning. After hanging up a banner remembering Boston hardcore legend Jimmy Flynn, singer Pat Flynn, checked the mic and calmly addressed the crowd. He mentioned a street in Brookline – the last place he saw his father and a place he found himself returning to often, then announced for guitarist Alex Dow, Alewife Station was the last place he saw Jimmy Flynn before his passing in 2023.
The band kicked off the set with the title track of their 2026 EP Baby I’ll Change – the microphone cutting out after the first few words only for the crowd to sing along to make up for it. Technical issues only lasted a few seconds, when “I just need some green, and a place to stay, in 21 days I’ll be so straight…” blasted through the P.A with a power in Flynn’s voice that can’t be matched by many.
After the song ended, attention was drawn to an MBTA worker having his hands – which for a moment felt like it was the end – the band looked around at each other wondering if they should continue. The crowd cheered in approval, and a friendly “keep going” was gestured by Haywire’s Austin Sparkman who was in attendance, and at one point was holding onto the kick drum as the band played so it wouldn’t push forward. Thankfully the MBTA worker was only informing folks to step away from the turnstiles and keep the path clear.
The set proceeded and for the second song, the band ripped into “USMA” from their 2018 debut LP Springtime and Blind – it was at this moment the crowd’s energy couldn’t be contained any longer. A wall of people in motion came towards me while I tried to juggle my camera with one hand, and prop up a crowd surfer with another. It was truly one of those moments when I asked myself, “this is really happening? Am I really seeing Fiddlehead play in a train station?”
The band then proceeded to get through “Get My Mind Right”, “Spousal Loss” and “Poem You” before declaring victory on the show and realizing they actually pulled it off. As they wrapped up they announced they were giving away free shirts that read “I survived Fiddlehead: Alewife Station” and handed them out to attendees. The band hung around afterwards chatting with fans and taking photos. I was lucky enough to chat with Flynn briefly as he took the time to go around to everyone around him to shake their hand, ask their names, and thank them for coming.
Not even 24 hours later, and I’m still buzzing as I write this. This will go down as one of those truly historic shows in the Boston hardcore scene, and I’m incredibly grateful to have been there to witness it. The last time I saw Fiddlehead play was last month at a skate park where they collected five box trucks full of donated school supplies for local districts. This band is a special one, and they only get better as time goes on.
All photos by Matt Bass
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