Sounding Off On Boston Calling 2023: Review & Photos — Foo Fighters, Alanis Morissette & More

Ten years after the first Boston Calling was held at City Hall Plaza, the event returned to the Harvard Athletic Complex in Lower Allston for a weekend of live music showcasing a majority female lineup that made good on continued efforts at being inclusive, even if the event was marred by some significant sound issues.

Between icons such as the Foo Fighters and Alanis Morissette, up-and-comers like The Linda Lindas (introduced by Mayor Wu) and Noah Kahan, spectacular weirdos like The Flaming Lips and local legends in the Dropkick Murphys, Boston Calling had a lineup loaded with heavy hitters. Yet it may have been the lesser known acts that stole the show.

Razor Braids was the first act to take the main stage on Friday and wowing audiences with a gritty sound that gravitated between modern street punk and spacy post-rock. Genesis Owusu has only released one full-length album to date but his Sunday afternoon set had many jaws dropped from the moment he took the stage. The Australian rapper born Kofi Owusu-Ansah was without question the most captivating performer of the entire weekend and while he may lose points for performing along to an instrumental recording as opposed to a live band, his showmanship, costumes and choreography are out of this world and anyone who says otherwise just wasn’t there.

The biggest story headed into this year was the long awaited performance by the Foo Fighters who had been booked to play in 2020 before COVID ruined everyone’s plans a few years in a row, only to cancel a week before the 2022 event following the tragic passing of longtime drummer Taylor Hawkins. The festival waived the Radius Clause and allowed the Foo Fighters to play a warmup show in New Hampshire the night before the festival, but other than that, this was their first performance as a group since Hawkins’ passing and the announcement of their new drummer, Josh Freese. Their set was bookended by new material off their upcoming release, But Here We Are, and an array of singalong classics like “Best of You,” and “Everlong” to close things out. Hawkins’ son Shane joined the group on drums for “I’ll Stick Around,” and frontman Dave Grohl’s own daughter Violet contributed vocals to a version of “Shame Shame” that featured a tease of the lead guitar lick from Van Halen’s “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘bout Love” as well as the ensuing “Rope.”

Saturday drew the biggest crowd of the weekend and the size of the audience in front of the Green and Red stages was so packed it felt scary at times. Between a social media search as well as conversations with ticketholders, it’s clear that the inability to extricate from the crowd was something that left a lot of people feeling scared and would be a clear area to work on next year.

Vermont native Noah Kahan played to a massive crowd on the Green Stage prior to a headlining performance by The Lumineers and between those sets, ’90s icon Alanis Morissette played to an enamored audience on the Red Stage alongside an extraordinary backup band who came in handy when sound issues made it difficult to hear Morissette’s vocals. Sound was a problem throughout the weekend and was without question the biggest wrong the event needs to set right in 2024. The night before, on the Red Stage, prior to the Foo Fighters’ headline slot on the neighboring Green Stage, The National put on the highest energy performance of the four they’ve played at the event over the years, and while their enthusiasm was fun to watch, all you could really hear was a vocalist, a kick drum and some kind of muddy mix of every other channel combined, sounding as though it was being played from the bottom of a pool.

One set prior to The National, the Dropkick Murphy’s took the stage, filling in on short notice for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs after Karen-O came down with a bug. For anyone wondering why the Dropkick’s had never played the event before, now-frontman Ken Casey made clear it had to do with their annual run of St. Patrick’s Day performances in the city coinciding with the event’s on-sale. Their set should have been a slam dunk but it was far from. Longtime vocalist Al Barr took leave from the act over a year ago to care for an aging parent and while founder, bassist and former backup vocalist Ken Casey did his best to fill in for him, Casey’s vocals and stage presence both came up short. Maybe the band had unfair expectations for their audience, but they were clearly not digging the set themselves, grilling the crowd more than once about the lack of a circle pit going for Boston’s most famous punk act. With that said, they were playing to a crowd with children on their shoulders, waiting for The National and thinking the crowd would be akin to what they have on St. Patty’s Day on Lansdowne Street is neither fair to the crowd or a realistic expectation.

While Morissette’s band played along with their silent singer, The Flaming Lips celebrated over 20 years since the release of their landmark album, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots with a performance of the entire album followed by classics “She Don’t Use Jelly,” “A Spoonful Weighs A Ton” and “Race for The Prize.” The Fearless Freaks brought their usual theatrics in addition to giant inflatable pink robots and while anyone hoping to hear any newer material wound up disappointed, they nailed the full-album gimmick down cold, staying true to the studio material on the more instrumental-heavy tracks like “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 2” and reinforcing their message of universal love and an appreciation of living in the moment during “Do You Realize??”

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard closed down the Blue Stage Sunday evening, competing against both the second half of Queens of the Stone Age and the first half of Paramore headlining slot. The aggressively eclectic Australian garage rock psychonauts have put out 23 albums in their first 10 years as a group, including five in 2022 alone, and having made full-length releases dedicated to genres ranging from jazz and prog rock to fantastical spoken word death metal and psychedelic microtonality (requiring customized instruments), it’s not hyperbole to suggest you have absolutely no idea what to expect prior to a performance.

At Boston Calling, they kicked things off with “The Dripping Tap,” a 15-minute single off 2022’s Omnium Gatherum, before working through another hour or so of material off a handful of albums that lean towards the heavy metal end of the Gizzverse spectrum before an abrupt and unusual break to the performance halted their momentum. The audience was notified that a 17-year-old girl was missing in the crowd and security proceeded to instruct the entire audience to sit down on the ground so they could more effectively search for the missing girl whose picture was being displayed on the screens on the stage. During this break, someone freaking out on the Ferris wheel was rescued while at the same time, the missing girl was found having the time of her life in the front row at Paramore. King Gizz had been playing “Gaia” before having the plug pulled during a performance of a new song called “Gila Monster,” and once they got the go ahead to continue playing, they served up a brief reprise of “Gaia” before calling it a night.

Boston Calling’s Memorial Day Weekend scheduling always makes for a great start to the Summer and the 2023 incarnation was no different but if changes could be made for next year, better sound and improved foot traffic patterns would be the place to start. True, the acts on the bill sell tickets but it’s the logistics that really make the weekend a success. With that said, once you get passed mega events like Coachella, Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits and Lollapalooza, your second tier of large scale events like Outside Lands, Governors Ball, Firefly, BottleRock and Life is Beautiful are the bread and butter of the live music business in the summertime and after starting out in City Hall Plaza, Boston Calling’s expansion immediately placed them in that category. Even with its faults, this year’s event solidified its standing as an elite East Coast event. We’re already looking forward to next year.