This edition of the bazaar also offers a marketplace score that’s unique to Roadrunner: fee-free tickets to upcoming concerts, purchased directly from the venue’s box office.
“The venue tells us that they get a lot of interest from customers at our market who are just passing through the building,” Gifford says, adding that there’s been a “noticeable” spike in ticket sales during past editions.
Gifford launched the Brighton-based series of marketplaces with business partner Emily Robertson in 2021, initially shifting the event back and forth between the Brighton Elks Lodge and the Charles River Speedway. Within a year, the pair were seeking a larger event space that could accommodate more vendors. Enter Roadrunner, a 3,500-person music venue on Guest Street that was looking to get fresh faces in the door.
“[Then-manager] Allison Finney had been wanting to open up Roadrunner to other types of uses during downtime and get creative with it a little bit,” Gifford explains, “especially because the venue had recently opened and they didn’t necessarily have a full calendar yet.”
Three years later, the Brighton Bazaar is still many guests’ first look inside the Brighton venue. As vendors and customers sprawl across Roadrunner’s first floor and stage, the second floor’s seating offers visitors a place to pause their shopping sprees and grab a drink from the bar. And while many markets these days feature folks spinning vinyl records, the bazaar’s DJs get the special privilege of using Roadrunner’s professional-grade sound system, which usually blares live music from touring acts like Jack White and Vince Staples.
For newcomers to the venue, it’s the ultimate preview of Roadrunner’s layout and acoustics, presented alongside the bazaar’s “wonderfully anachronistic” branding, as Gifford says. Music lovers in particular have ample reasons to break out their wallet as they peruse concert posters, rare T-shirts, and crates of records and cassettes. (At a past edition, Gifford says vendors competed to see who could sell the most copies of Fleetwood Mac’s iconic album “Rumours”; the winner allegedly hawked 14 LPs.)
The experience comes at a small price — $10 for admission — that pays for the expenses that come with using a larger venue. That’s roughly the same price as any cover charge to see Boston bands at spots like O’Brien’s Pub or Deep Cuts, if not less.
“From the perspective of music events, it’s a pretty cheap ticket,” Gifford notes.
GIG GUIDE
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats camp out at MGM Music Hall at Fenway on Friday and Saturday for the finale of their “South of Here” tour’s spring leg. South Korean singer HWASA rounds out the weekend with bouncy K-pop on Sunday.
At Passim on Friday, suave Boston singer-songwriter Chris Walton supports Brooklyn artist Louie Lou Louis during his “moonlit dream” album release show. The following night layers different eras of Boston music history with performances from Robin Lane and Adam Sherman. Lane, who currently releases solo Americana tunes, fronted the Boston group Robin Lane and the Chartbusters; Sherman’s résumé includes membership in Boston acts The Nervous Eaters, The Souls, and Private Lightning, plus his current solo work, including his new EP, “Nowhere But Here.”
Also in Cambridge, Boston acts TINKERTOWN and the Hilken Mancini Band head to the Lizard Lounge on Friday. Bassist Dean Fisher, part of the Juliana Hatfield Three, guides the groove of TINKERTOWN’s alt-rock, while the Hilken Mancini Band taps two prior members of the 1990s Boston rock group Fuzzy: bassist Winston Braman, and Mancini, their titular frontwoman.
Another diverse week at The Sinclair will see appearances from the stirring Canadian folk group The Weather Station (Friday), alt-R&B artist Bren Joy (Sunday), onetime pop pariah Rebecca Black (Monday), and Low’s former vocalist and guitarist, Alan Sparhawk (Thursday).
Two shows originally scheduled for Royale have been upgraded to Roadrunner; Canadian artist Connor Price continues his actor-to-rapper trajectory on Monday, while teen country crooner Ty Myers recalls tales from his new album “The Select” on Thursday. In between, mxmtoon jazzes up her placid bedroom pop with the new single “I Fall in Love Too Easily” at the venue on Wednesday.
Ablaye Cissoko and Cyrille Brotto swirl notes of Senegalese kora and traditional French accordion on Thursday when the duo bring their worldly collaboration to Crystal Ballroom. Also in Somerville that night, California duo Bubble Tea and Cigarettes serve up casual, lo-fi pop — like the dreamy new single “Lemongrass City” — at Warehouse XI.
NOW SPINNING
Perfume Genius, “Glory.” “What do I get out of being established?” Mike Hadreas — a.k.a. art-pop artist Perfume Genius — asks on “It’s a Mirror,” the opening track of his new LP. It’s a fair question for Hadreas’s seventh album, as he again adjusts his life’s public stage to fit a new era of delicate pop. “Glory” feels particularly ballad-heavy, but is no less potent for Hadreas’s unhurried vulnerability.
Dean Wareham, “That’s the Price of Loving Me.” Over 30 years ago, Dean Wareham cofounded the Cambridge band Galaxie 500, a dreamy but largely short-lived indie-rock project. With “That’s the Price of Loving Me,” Wareham reunites with the band’s former producer (and Shimmy-Disc founder) Mark Kramer to resurrect elements of Galaxie 500’s signature softness, further cushioned by Wareham’s gossamer vocals.
Aqyila, “Falling Into Place.” If you missed Aqyila’s performance opening for Pink Sweat$ in Boston last month, allow her debut album to demonstrate exactly what you missed. The Canadian singer makes her formal introduction with “Falling Into Place,” an 11-track pool of fluid R&B that reaches a boiling point on the danceable standout “Focus.”
BONUS TRACK
Here’s your chance to score some exclusive Lucy Dacus merch. As the singer-songwriter (and one-third of rock supergroup boygenius) releases her record “Forever Is a Feeling” this Friday, select record stores will host listening parties over the weekend, complete with goodies like themed posters and tote bags. Head to the Instagram pages of Tres Gatos, Village Vinyl & Hi-Fi, Wanna Hear It Records, and the Newbury Street location of Newbury Comics for details about each shop’s festivities.
Victoria Wasylak can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Bluesky @VickiWasylak.bsky.social.
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