Boston's Thriving Underground Entertainment

If you're in Boston and looking for something to do that's less ordinary, totally hip, and off the beaten path, hitting one of the various underground scenes might be just the ticket you're looking for. From supper clubs to techno raves, there's a thriving counter-culture that lurks just beneath Boston's surface. With a bit of digging and an adventurous spirit, you, too, can join the fun.

Underground Dance Club
RISE
When it comes to the after-hours club scene in Boston, RISE seems to have a corner on the market. One patron wrote, “To me, RISE is what a club scene should be about: fantastic music, cool people, and the chance, if just for a few hours a week, to immerse yourself in a different and almost magical realm.” Friday, Saturday, and Sunday each offer a different RISE experience.

Underground Supper Clubs
Anemochory
O.N.C.E.
Washburn Underground Kitchen
Wink
Most of these groups come together around the culinary notion of local, sustainable, seasonal ingredients. Here's how O.N.C.E. puts it: “Each event features the best food we can find grown and raised as near to our location as possible. Each ONCE is different and seasonally appropriate. They happen randomly, at short notice, when and where it makes sense for them to happen. At each dinner we recreate a one night, healthy-gourmet restaurant where we treat you to multiple courses prepared from the freshest, most healthy and local ingredients we can find.”

Underground Music Scene
BOW Shows
Homegrown Fest II
Spotlighting the hidden aspects of Boston's thriving music scene throughout the year and with their annual event (Homegrown Fest), the folks behind Bodies of Water provide a “guide to and never-ending quest for underground sounds, films, and things. Psych, punk, weird, pop, electronic, experimental, and awesome music with one eye looking back and the other forward.” Follow their lead if you want to be in the know.

Underground Film Screenings
Boston Underground Film Festival
The name sort of says it all with this one. More specifically, “BUFF is an annual film festival held in late March. BUFF is located at the Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge, MA. BUFF is a celebration of the bizarre and insane. BUFF is uncompromising, unflinching film and video. BUFF is the only film festival to award a demonic, vibrating bunny. BUFF is hazardous to your health. BUFF is also currently promoting events throughout the year. BUFF is hoping you will come and check us out.” Catch some – or all – of the festival as well as the BUFF events scattered throughout the year.

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