Peter Mulvey and Friends Bring Back the Lamplighter Sessions Halloween Weekend at Club Passim

Costumes, candlelight, improvisation, and even baseball will fuel another year of The Lamplighter Sessions, returning to Club Passim October 30–November 3, 2025.

Curated by acclaimed singer-songwriter Peter Mulvey, the one-room festival has been a Halloween tradition at Passim for 14 years, bringing together musicians in inventive, unpredictable collaborations. 

“The whole vibe of the Lamplighter Sessions is to be as in-the-moment as possible,” says Mulvey. “Music is a great language for this state of mind, and it shakes the audience out of being passive observers, and makes their listening an act of true participation.”

Passim Managing Director Matt Smith adds, “One of the things I love about The Lamplighter Sessions is that it puts artists in new contexts. It breaks them out of tidy boxes and gives them the opportunity to experiment and live in the moment on stage.”

Schedule of Events

• Thursday, October 30 at 8 PM – Baseball-themed songs with Peter Mulvey, Sean Staples, and Red Sox Organist Josh Kantor, featuring Mulvey’s “The Knuckleball Suite” and Nina Simone’s take on Chuck Berry’s “Brown Eyed Handsome Man.”

• Friday, October 31 at 8 PM – A Halloween Party with Mulvey, Tim Gearan, Jesse DeNatale, Jeremy Moses Curtis, and Barry Rothman. Musicians and audiences alike are encouraged to wear costumes.

• Saturday, November 1 at 8 PM – The Lamplighter tradition continues with a full-album performance of Tom Waits’ Rain Dogs, reimagined by Peter Mulvey & The Crumbling Beauties.

• Sunday, November 2 at 8 PM – An evening of experimental, improvised, and unfinished songs with Mulvey, Kris Delmhorst, Rose Polenzani, James Rohr, and Barry Rothman.

• Monday, November 3 at 8 PM – Longtime Lamplighter contributor Dinty Child closes the festival with a fully improvised set, a surprise to both performers and audience.

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