The Boston Calling Music Festival was met with plenty of skepticism in the months between when it was announced and when it went down this past weekend. Drawing crowds of around 20,000 to the center of the Hub for two days of an all-ages music festival would be sure to clog up traffic, mob the MBTA, and result in more headaches than it was worth, it seemed. As it turns out, Boston Calling’s first run was a pretty impressive success (although the T was certainly mobbed).
While Saturday’s miserable weather gave guests plenty to complain about, each artist to perform that day made withstanding the low temperatures and persistent rain more bearable. Matt & Kim, Marina & the Diamonds, Fun., local guys Bad Rabbits, and more took turns taking over the two stages, and huge poncho-donning crowds remained until the 10:30 p.m. finish time, trading in their shivers for dance breaks. Remarkably, each performance started at the time promised on the setlist and ended just as punctually, which seemed to be quite the feat when dealing with a slew of big-name artists and inclement weather. In proof that the city of Boston (if not Mother Nature) was on Calling’s side, Mayor Menino made an appearance on the main stage before The Shins’ 6:30 p.m. set to commend the young people of Boston (and to say some more inaudible mumbles).
Sunday saw actual sunshine and somewhat warmer weather, and the smooth execution of the festival kept rolling throughout the day, despite much denser crowds. Boston’s own Caspian kicked off day two, and up until The National closed out the weekend starting at 9 p.m., no major mishaps or unexpected messes were to speak of. The festival brought families and friends to the otherwise barren, and somewhat depressing, City Hall Plaza, and for two days, that brutalist architecture softened up in the glow of the festival’s lights, and looked a little less, you know, brutal.
Naturally, some things could use some reconsideration before next time – which will be sooner than we thought, taking place in September of this year. The second stage, which was nestled into the space on the left of the City Hall building, had very limited visibility, and considering the massive crowds and tight schedule, it was difficult to breeze from one set to another if you wanted to be able to see anything on the smaller stage, where Ra Ra Riot, Young the Giant, Marina & the Diamonds and more performed. The main stage, on the other hand, provided a decent view from the majority of the festival grounds, if you were OK with not being in the thick of the up-front action.
As for the rest of the festival, the food trucks were not incorporated as one would have expected considering their promotion – Mei Mei, Kickass Cupcakes, Roxy’s, and a few more were set up outside of the festival gates rather than within them, and signs pointing to the food trucks seemed to lead instead to a gathering of Porta Potties. Inside the grounds, hungry guests could line up for Chipotle, flatbreads, and the standard festival fare: lemonade, fried dough, hot dogs, etc. And unlike most events that want your last dollar, guests could pack their own lunch, or leave and come back, which was an appreciated touch, especially considering the weekend forecast (nearby Dunkin Donuts’ lines stretched out the door, of course).
As a whole, Boston Calling was a welcome reason to gather in the city (in a location where no one would gather otherwise) and celebrate with live music. With a few tweaks, the festival will become a successful, lasting force for the future. If Boston can’t house a massive music festival like Lollapalooza or Coachella, two scaled-down festivals might be just the right answer to put our city on the musical map.
For an inside look at some of the performances of the weekend, check out the videos in the slideshow below via Burst, an app that allows easy video sharing and uploading.
