A New Home At Harvard: Boston Calling 2017 – Review & Photos

Words & Images by: Bryan Lasky

Boston Calling :: 05.26-28.17 :: Harvard Athletic Complex :: Allston, MA

Memorial Day Weekend is usually the unofficial start of festival season, and once again I found myself in Boston for Boston Calling. This year was different than previous years as the event moved from the concrete confines of City Hall Plaza to the athletic fields of Harvard, a necessary change for the festival to grow and become a power player in the ever-growing festival landscape. Food lines may have been long, vendors may have run out of food too quickly, and entry may have not been the smoothest, but all in all the festival went off without a hitch.

Moving sites let the festival increase the number of acts by adding a third stage and converting the hockey arena into a comedy tent. The lines were long each day for the comedy tent, culminating in the police and fire chiefs restricting entry to Hannibal Buress’ headlining Saturday set. The arena was always filled and the comedians were all amazing. From Eugene Mirman singing Bob’s Burgers songs to Pete Holmes making fun of the Boston accent to Hannibal joking about his own death, it was constantly striking people barrel over due to laughing so hard. Although Natalie Portman was supposed to curate a film experience, this worked a lot better and hopefully the festival keeps the comedy next year.

Having rained pretty hard all day Thursday and parts of Friday, the fields weren’t in the best conditions for the first two days, but by Saturday the grounds crew had really done a fantastic job to soak up what they could. They also constantly made improvements to entrances for regular general admission and V.I.P. as the weekend went on as well. Growing a festival is always tough, but Boston Calling did a commendable job on the fly to fix things as quickly as they could.

The music was astonishing all weekend. From Vundabar, the first band to christen the new grounds, all the way to Tool, every band brought a lot of energy and put a smile on many festival goers’ face. Lucy Ducas absolutely owned her time slot with little talk, but a lot of rock ‘n’ roll as the rain began to fall on Friday. Deerhoof brought their brand of freak-out music at the same time that Whitney threw down an unexpectedly funky set that stopped the rain for a while. While there were many conflicts over the three days for music aficionados, the overlaps were always on opposite ends of the music spectrum that split the crowds pretty evenly. It might have sucked if you wanted to see every single act, as you could in years past.

Car Seat Headrest was as impressive as expected, playing a lot of his album Teens Of Denial, much to the crowd’s pleasure. Mac DeMarco’s calm late-afternoon set was the perfect segue into the beginning of the night where Bon Iver put on a set that went over my head, but the crowd went absolutely nuts for. Sigur Ros closed down the Blue Stage with a transcending set of music that made the skies open back up with rain, while Chance The Rapper put on a clinic on the main stage of how one man can command an audience of over 30,000 people.

Day two picked up quickly with a one-two punch of Alexandra Savior and Kevin Morby. These two are must-see acts that will definitely be getting bigger in no time. Morby ended with a great cover of The Velvet Underground’s “Rock And Roll” that led into Strand Of Oaks stomping on to the stage next with smiles and got the crowd worked up in no time. Oh Wonder’s pop rock was slotted perfectly into the middle of the day. Another choice had to be made for Danny Brown and Brandi Carlile who were playing at the same time, and both delivered memorable sets. The xx put on one of the best performances of the weekend as the sun started to go down at Harvard. The 1975 closed down the Blue Stage with an epic light show and one of the largest crowds at that stage the entire weekend. Mumford & Sons closed down day two with a career-spanning set that had them going into the crowd and easily delivered the goods for everyone to go home happy.

Day three was probably the best day of music with Mondo Cozmo pulling out all of the stops to start the day, including a great cover of “Bittersweet Symphony.” Hiss Golden Messenger’s set gave some of the crowd who had been partying for two days time to relax and listen to some easy-going music. Mitski was an absolute blast and it was amazing to watch the three-piece make a huge amount of noise. Mitski has been getting a lot of buzz, and their live show did not disappoint. Converge came on stage and said, “We might be the loudest and ugliest band, we hope you’re ready for us” and they were true to their word on being the loudest. They were easily the most exciting band of the weekend, up to that point, and there were smiles on plenty of faces during their set, even if hardcore punk mixed with metal isn’t your thing. Flatbush Zombies followed that up, which saw the trio of rappers mosh with the crowd.

Glasgow’s Frightened Rabbit were happy to be in Boston, which Scott Hutchison said was the closest to home as they get when they are in the States. Their set was tremendous, starting the march to the end of the festival. Run The Jewels literally had the ground shaking for a raucous set that seemed to only get better as it continued. Cage The Elephant went unopposed next in the pre-headliner slot on the main stage and were constantly jumping into the crowd and back on stage. Their high-energy performance was among the best rock shows of the festival. Weezer and Major Lazer closed down the Blue and Red Stages respectively, splitting the crowd down the middle. Tool headlined the final night and they played a career spanning set that had jaws on the floor watching Danny Carey, Adam Jones and Justin Chancellor play their respective instruments with such perfection it was astounding. Maynard , of course, was his same old self in keeping to the background while singing every song. He did make one statement about respecting law enforcement, while also stating law enforcement should respect everyone else. His message was about unity and it was great to hear him speak to the crowd for once.

Boston Calling will hopefully be back Memorial Day Weekend next year at Harvard and if so it will undoubtedly continue to morph and change to try to meet expectations. If this first rendition at the university’s athletic complex is any indication, the entire team that puts on the festival is well prepared.

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