Communion to present Christmas Special at Bluebird Nightclub

Communion, a live music promotions team and independent label, is taking the stage at the Bluebird Nightclub tonight as part of its Christmas Special performances.

The bands scheduled to perform include Rosco Bandana, the Stills, Pretty Boy Freud and Charlie Pattons War. Doors open at 8 p.m., tickets are $5 and the drink special is $2 Dirty Birds.

There will be a grand prize for “ugliest and most hip” Christmas sweaters, as well as a “bad present” for those who “rage the hardest during each set,” according to the show’s Facebook page and Bluebird Club Owner Dave Kubiak.

“The prize for the ugly sweater contest will be tickets to next month’s Communion show,” said Kaylie Starkey, Event Planner and Promoter for Communion. “We’ll also be giving away ‘horrible presents’ you’d get from your grandma to those who rage the hardest or spread the most holiday cheer during each band’s set.”

Originally founded by Ben Lovett from Mumford and Sons in London, Communion helped launch the careers of Ben Howard, Gotye, Daughter and Deap Vally among others.

Bloomington is just one city in the North American tour, and other stops include Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Louisville, Minneapolis, Madison, Wis., and Rock Island, Ill.

The music kicks off at 9 p.m. with three-member band Pretty Boy Freud. Then at 10 p.m., indie band the Stills, a band of IU graduates living in Chicago, will
perform.

At 11 p.m. headliner Rosco Bandana, “a seven piece Americana-rock band” as they call themselves on their website, will begin its set.

Rosco Bandana released its debut LP “Time to Begin” in 2012 and has since been touring the country before linking up with Communion.

Finishing off the show, Charlie Pattons War, a Bloomington-based blues and rock band, will play from 12 to 1 a.m.

“Rosco Bandana is the only non-local band,” Bluebird Strategist Jen Samson said.

Though Communion is an international event, three bands from this current leg of Communion are from the area and are set to tour around the United States, Samson said. This is the final show of 2013.

­— Janica Kaneshiro