The Bug Jar holds 120 people. That is the whole point. When a band like Elephant Stone — twenty years deep into blurring the lines between Western psych-pop and Indian classical tradition, with a brand-new album landing just weeks before they hit the road — plays a room this size on Monroe Ave, you stop treating it as a calendar item and start treating it as an event you have to be at.
About Elephant Stone
Elephant Stone is a Montreal psychedelic rock project anchored by Rishi Dhir, a sitarist and songwriter who built his sound at the intersection of raga-rock and airtight pop craftsmanship. The full ensemble — Dhir alongside Miles Dupire, Robbie MacArthur, and Jason Kent — has been at it since 2006, and the band’s tenth studio album, ASHA, drops August 28 via Elephants On Parade/Little Cloud Records. It is the most personal record Dhir has made: asha is Sanskrit for “hope,” and the album is named for his late mother, who passed away earlier this year. He produced, engineered, and mixed every note at Sacred Sound, his Montreal home studio.
The lead single, “Everything Evil,” runs under two minutes — a proto-psych-punk jolt that Dhir described as “short, it’s angry, and it gets straight to the point.” The album closes with “Spirit, Take Me Away,” featuring Amy Millan of Stars and Broken Social Scene. By the time Elephant Stone hits Rochester, they will have had a few weeks to live with ASHA in front of audiences. That early-tour window is usually where things get interesting.
The Bug Jar
The Bug Jar is a 120-capacity bar and music venue at 219 Monroe Ave in Rochester. It is the kind of room where the sound reaches everyone and nobody ends up far from the stage. Doors open at 7:00 PM; show starts at 8:00 PM. This is an 18+ event — advance tickets for ages 18–20 are limited to 10 per show, and anyone 21+ can also buy at the door. Support comes from OHS and Bad Weapon, both working deep in the psychedelic pocket.
Tickets & Pricing
Tickets run $20.79–$24.91 and are on sale now. Pick them up at TicketWeb. For more upcoming shows in the area, check the Rochester / Finger Lakes concert calendar.