Even the most hard-core Harry Potter fans can suffer from wizard fatigue these days. What started as a seven-book series has exploded into theme parks, spin-off movies, and a flood of ill-advised J.K. Rowling tweets. (Please, someone, change her password.) But just when all seems lost, wizard-rock band Harry & the Potters return to save the day with Lumos, their first album in 13 years. The core members of this Massachusetts group are round-glasses-and-Gryffindor-tie-sporting brothers Paul and Joe DeGeorge. Since their inauspicious start playing for six people in their family’s backyard in 2002, Harry & the Potters have released four studio albums, toured all over the world (often playing punk houses and public libraries), and built a dedicated cult following comprising DIY kids and wand-toting nerds who enjoy sing-alongs about basilisks, first kisses, and defeating the Dark Lord. Lumos follows the plot of Deathly Hallows, the final book in the series, and mixes in sounds such as funky saxophone (“Hermione’s Army”) and honky-tonk twang (“Gone Campin’”). Kimya Dawson makes a cameo as Hermione alongside Paul’s Harry Potter in the duet “Where’s Ron?,” whose video features characters from viral mid-aughts web series The Potter Puppet Pals. Like the group’s previous albums, Lumos illuminates the power of earnest enjoyment and the sweet but goofy seriousness of caring very deeply about a bunch of teenage witches and wizards. So raise your lighters and your wands: in 2019, Harry & the Potters might be the best thing about Harry Potter fandom. v
Sun 6/30, 7 PM, Beat Kitchen, 2100 W. Belmont, $14, all-ages
