Saturday night at the Elk’s Lodge was not only a good time, ailment but reminded every member of the audience why they’re proud to be a part of the Boston music scene. Exploding in Sound records pulled some of their finest acts to celebrate Grass is Green’s new album. The night started with a set by Trespasser who brought strong post hardcore vibes, healing immediately followed by Krill, who not only brought out some favorites, but played some incredible brand new material that heightened the energy of the room. I’d like to think that even for folks seeing Krill for the first time, the experience feels like being finally reunited with a pal. They are consistently unpretentious and entertaining, and they make damn good music.

Then came Palehound, playing their first Boston show. They did not disappoint. They pushed confidently through both old and new songs, balancing thrilling instrumentals with powerful vocals, peppered with full band harmonies. Most of us walked away with a new sense of worship for Ellen Kempner’s guitar skills. Following Palehound was Ovlov, who got the crowd moving and amped for Grass is Green, who took the stage and did their new material justice. They represent this whole group of musicians well, with catchy guitar and a full, heavy sound. Not a single person in the room could keep from being totally immersed in their set and excited for their new album. by their  By the end of their set, we were blissfully exhausted from dancing, singing, and grinning wildly.

In all honesty, there’s a million things that could be said about every band and their performance Saturday night. Each one has their own sound, they’ve all released very exciting tracks recently, and have begun receiving  attention- their music isn’t so much a stranger to us anymore.

The truly beautiful part of Saturday night’s show at the Elk Lounge though, was seeing all these bands and supportive fans spend a few hours together in the same space. There are times that our city’s community can seem small. Almost everyone I know has spent some time complaining about the Boston “scene,” and those complaints are sometimes warranted. It’s true that there have been challenges to the house shows we know and love, it’s true that a great deal of our population gets tuckered out early and sometimes it’s hard to pull a crowd at shows.

But looking at the talented all-star line up Exploding in Sound has provided I realize that it doesn’t matter if we have complaints about the inner workings of our music community. Despite any criticism from inside or outside our community, Boston has a strong, talented group of very devoted musicians and music lovers.

As long as artists like Krill and Grass is Green  are recording, as long as people are excited to listen, as long as there are more nights like this one, we’re gonna be okay.