The Birkitt Transmissions head a three-band night at The Parlour

A packed local bill on North Main Street the Saturday after Thanksgiving, with John Larson & The Silver Fields and Chris Principe and the Forgotten in support.

Thanksgiving weekend has its own rhythm in Providence: everyone home, nobody cooking, and a Saturday night that needs filling. The Parlour just gave it three bands and 85 spots on the floor.

The Birkitt Transmissions headline The Parlour in Providence on Saturday, Nov. 28, at 9 p.m., with John Larson & The Silver Fields and Chris Principe and the Forgotten in support. The show was announced Nov. 3, and tickets are through OpenDate. The Parlour holds 85, so this is a small-room night by any measure.

The headliners are the mystery on this bill. The Birkitt Transmissions do not have much of a footprint online yet, which, for a Saturday at The Parlour, is part of the point: this is a room where you find out about bands by being there.

The support acts come with more of a paper trail. John Larson & The Silver Fields describe themselves as a rock and roll band with a power pop heart. Before this project, Larson spent eight years fronting The Marlowes, a Providence power-pop and rock band. The Silver Fields have a catalog on Bandcamp, a new album that got a write-up in the Cranston Herald, and a turn on Rhode Island PBS's *Ocean State Sessions*, where they played "Glass Full of Sand."

Chris Principe, who leads the Forgotten, has talked on The Best Stuff in the World podcast about his time in the band Hooray for Earth and a solo release under his own name.

The Parlour is a room where you find out about bands by being there.

The venue is half the reason to go. The Parlour, at 1119 North Main Street, is a Black musician-owned venue that books reggae, jazz, hip-hop, funk and rock several nights a week, and its Visit Rhode Island listing bills it as a place for local, national and international musicians seven days a week. Ocean State Media put it well in a look at the state's music rooms: it is only one floor, but the atmosphere and the act are what fill it.

That is the right frame for this one. Three bands on a single floor with 85 people is a show where the line between the stage and the bar is mostly theoretical, and where a band you had not heard of at 9 p.m. can be the one you are telling people about on Sunday.

Practical notes: the 9 p.m. start time is for the whole night, so if you want to see all three sets, get there at the top. With 85 tickets, this is not one to buy at the door. Grab one on OpenDate, and if you are home for the holiday, bring the friend who swears there is nothing to do in Providence anymore.

Sources: Sonicbids: John Larson and The Silver Fields (sonicbids.com); John Larson and The Silver Fields on Bandcamp (johnlarsonandthesilverfields.bandcamp.com); Cranston Herald: John Larson & The Silver Fields rock with new album (cranstononline.com); PBS: Ocean State Sessions, J. Larson & Silver Fields 'Glass Full of Sand' (pbs.org); The Best Stuff in the World: Musician Chris Principe (shows.acast.com); Visit Rhode Island: From historic halls to porch parties (visitrhodeisland.com); Visit Rhode Island: The Parlour (visitrhodeisland.com); Ocean State Media: Exploring Rhode Island's music venues of past and present (oceanstatemedia.org); OpenDate tickets (app.opendate.io); JamBase listing (jambase.com)