TWIST AND SHOUT: CONTORTIONISTS AND MUSICIANS HIJACK THE MIDDLE EAST UPSTAIRS

Free your hands. This Friday, the Middle East Upstairs will host enough artistic talent to keep you juggling far past midnight.

On June 5, Doom Lover are changing the game by throwing their second ever vaudeville show. The rock act have turned their attention to out-of-state music, performance art, and comedy for a single show of creativity overload, promising to twist up the boring show format in favor of nonstop entertainment — and it only costs $10.

“We think people deserve more than to just stand and watch the same show they’ve been going to for years, so we’ve created an experience that is unique unto itself,” says guitarist and singer Jeffrey Vachon. He’s not kidding. In addition to three rising local acts–Matthew Connor, Cordelia & the Buffalo, and his own band, Doom Lover–they booked poet Jade Syivan, comedian Lillian Devane, and contortionist Dorothy Louisos (really).

The idea came about after they scheduled a past show for February 28 — the anniversary of the first Vaudeville theatre being opened in America. This wasn’t just a flyer gimmick. It was a theatrical rock band finding the perfect excuse to return to their roots.

“This time around, I’ve got a color coded spreadsheet with the whole night planned out in 15 minute increments,” he says, laughing a bit at his organization this time around. “During any booking situation, you can only hope that there is enough overlap between who says yes and what makes sense. We got very lucky.”

Louisos was handpicked straight from Dr. Bones’ Circus of Marvels, a local group of circus sideshow performers and human marvels. “One act in her repertoire is known as the sword basket, you can probably imagine what that is,” Vachon says of the Guinness World Records holder. “We aren’t going to have any swords at our show, but I’d expect to be amazed by Dorothy from the get go.”

Doom Lover are planning on dropping their most ambitious set to date, musically, thematically, and theatrically. Expect lots of surprises. That doesn’t just go for audience members, but for the band, too. “I’m also very excited to see what Jade Sylvan is going to do,” says Vachon, “as they’ve kept it a surprise even to me.”

DOOM LOVER W/ CORDELIA & THE BUFFALO, MATTHEW CONNOR. FRI 6.5. MIDDLE EAST UPSTAIRS, 480 MASSACHUSETTS AVE., CAMBRIDGE. 617.864.3278. 8PM/18+/$10. MIDEASTOFFERS.COM