The Local Bands Show Live
New England Brewing Company
Woodbridge
Oct. 4, 2026
Posters, photos, drawings, shirts, beer cans, and more displayed on tables to the left of the stage at New England Brewing Company in Woodbridge on Sunday offered memorabilia of The Local Bands Show’s memorable run.
To the right of the stage was another table set up with more shirts and beer cans, as well as seats and microphones for three.
Those three — Frank Critelli, Rick Allison, and Dennis Lamar — are the current trio hosting the local-music-only radio show that has been on WPLR for the past 38 years. The show originated back in 1988 with Rick Allison and the late James Velvet as its hosts.
Sunday afternoon saw colleagues, friends, musicians, and music fans all fired up to celebrate those 38 years and pay homage to local music and the show that celebrates it with three bands (local, of course): Wolf Harbor, Eddie Seville Band, and The Manchurians.
Wolf Harbor — Jesse LaBranche on vocals and guitar, Bobby Dyckman on vocals and guitar, Mike Voyce on bass, and Austin Rivera on drums — sang and danced their way through a set that got audience members singing and dancing as well. Newly released songs were shared as well as old favorites from the band’s 13 years together, even one dedicated to Critelli, who cheered them along from the side with a smile as wide as a proud parent watching their kids do good.
The band’s delicious jam-filled punk rock was made for experiencing live. They do have a new album coming out soon and that should be pretty tasty as well. LaBranche said there was nowhere in the world he would rather be than playing music with this band; even if he hadn’t said it, their joy was quite obvious.
On a similar note, Critelli said it was “one of the honors of my life to do radio with these guys” as the three hosts chatted with each other and the crowd between sets as if they were doing their radio show, making each other and everyone laugh and smile. My favorite comment of the day was from Lamar about Wolf Harbor: “Come for the music. Stay for the choreography!”
The trio reiterated often how these were some of their favorite bands playing today, and the joy they themselves experienced being a part of the radio show, reminding everyone that the show has been on CygnusRadio.com for 14 years where it is replayed every Monday afternoon at “noonish” and where Allison and Lamar also have their own shows.
Before the next set began, new Local Bands Show shirts were thrown into the audience by Critelli, who also came in from outside carrying a New Haven Advocate box over his head as he told the crowd about the newly revived quarterly paper.
“We’re going to attempt to play some rock and roll,” joked Eddie Seville, who along with his band — Billy K on guitar, Donnie B on bass, and Chad Oliver on drums — delivered on that promise tenfold. With a set of no-nonsense rock with a crispy bluesy edge, Seville and the band offered the perfect music to throw back a beer or three to on a sweet fall weekend.
Songs about Saturday night, running from town to town, and a woman named Carol Ann got the crowd and the three hosts even more revved up. For those of you who complain that you don’t hear rock music all that much anymore, look up Seville and his vast discography. You’ll find it there.
Speaking of a vast discography, The Manchurians finished the day with another banger of a set. Critelli joked that they would not be introducing them because if everyone there didn’t know who they were, “I don’t know what to tell you.”
Absolute legends of local music and beyond, the band — Roger C. Reale on bass and vocals, Dean Falcone on guitar, Bob Orsi on harmonica and vocals, and Rich Suarez on drums — showed why their music has endured with a ripping set of originals and a cover of a Steve Cropper and the Midnight Hour song called “Ticket First.”
Reale and Critelli traded jokes about getting old and praised each other over and over again. Falcone shouted out the late James Velvet, whose presence in everything The Local Bands Show does continues to be as large and lovely as the Kathleen Cei photo of him — borrowed from Allson’s studio — that oversaw the proceedings of the day.
Life, love, and legacy: these three were all apparent throughout the afternoon, in the music, in the memories shared, in the connections and reconnections made.
Friendship and community through music, made a priority by these people and this show for so long, is what keeps them and so many of us going.
At one point there was a birthday cake and song for Jesse LaBranche’s grandmother who was there dancing and singing along with her grandson and shouting him out, “Let’s hear it for Jesse!”
Yes, let’s hear for all of those who keep adding to this community, who keep the music playing, who keep art alive so we can celebrate years 39 and 40 and beyond.
The Local Bands Show can be heard every Sunday at 10 p.m. on WPLR and is replayed every Monday on CygnusRadio.com at “noonish.” Past shows are also archived at CygnusRadio.com and can be listened to anytime. And yes, they play all local music.
