It’s hard to believe Boston Calling celebrated its 10th anniversary this past weekend, and that’s more a comment of how long it’s lasted than how quickly time flies. But the three-day music festival, which got it’s start as a two-day event in the heart of downtown at City Hall Plaza, has made all the right moves to thrive in an uncompromisingly fickle music landscape and plethora of similar spectacles across the country.
Now situated on the Harvard Athletic Complex grounds, Boston Calling has doubled its daily capacity to 40,000 since relocating to the 16-acre spot next to the Charles River. This year it felt like each day that number was met.
Day 1 – A new Foo
Before the festival could even plug in the amps on Friday, they were behind the proverbial eight ball. Co-headliners Yeah Yeah Yeahs were forced to pull out hours before their set due to an illness within the band. Thinking quickly, organizers were able to tap local Celtic punk rock favorites Dropkick Murphys – who shockingly had never played Boston Calling prior – and moved dad rock icons the National to the co-headlining slot alongside Foo Fighters.
And it was the Foo Fighters night to shine, as it was their first major show – following an intimate New Hampshire gig earlier in the week – with touring drummer Josh Freese, who was occupying the vacancy left when Taylor Hawkins died tragically following a show in South America last March. The vibe was a much more somber one, with frontman Dave Grohl often mentioning how songs like “Cold Day in the Sun” and “Times Like These” have taken on a new meaning lately.
The 20-song set was a solid mixture of hits and tracks from the new Foo LP But Here We Are, which lands on shelves this Friday. Freese, an in-demand journeyman drummer known for stints with Weezer, Nine Inch Nails and the Vandals, was expectedly rock solid. The surprise of the evening came when he gave up the drum seat during the hit “I’ll Stick Around” so Hawkins’ 17-year-old son Shane could bang it out.
Foo Fighters were originally slated to headline Boston Calling back in 2020 before the pandemic led to its cancellation. They were once again tapped for the top of the bill in 2022, but when Hawkins died in March, all touring ceased immediately. For the group, who seem to be performing at every music fest in the world this summer, from Bonnaroo to Riot Fest to Japan’s Fuji Rock, to begin this new chapter in Boston speaks to the status of the event and its importance in the festival landscape.
Elsewhere on the night, the National stepped into their last-minute role seamlessly. That shouldn’t have been too surprising; it was their fourth time playing Boston Calling. One Direction member Niall Horan drew such a response during his set earlier, Grohl commented on how loud it was from his trailer before the Foos took the stage. Though there was some expected grumbling at Dropkick Murphys replacing Yeah Yeah Yeahs, once they kicked into the anthem “I’m Shipping Up to Boston,” the crowd was too busy singing along to complain.
Day 2 – A sleeper of a second day
There was some talk about the second day of Boston Calling being a letdown with the Lumineers and Alanis Morrissette co-headlining, yet it felt even more populated than the night before. Chalk it up to gorgeous weather, sunny and highs in the mid-70s, or the fact that nobody accurately considered the appeal of New England native Noah Kahan and the once Philly-based folk rockers Mt. Joy or the effect the popularity of the Jagged Little Pill musical would have on Morrissette’s draw, but it was packed.
A tough decision needed to be made for some between the rumor of Morrissette performing “Jagged Little Pill” in full – which she did, albeit out of order – and the Flaming Lips doing their 2002 dream pop masterpiece Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots in its entirety, as both acts were on at the same time. Neither faction was left disappointed, between the angsty intensity of Alanis or the head-spinning spectacle of the Lips’ 20-foot pink robots, endless streams of confetti and mylar balloons spelling out “Fuck Yeah Boston Calling” that frontman Wayne Coyne paraded about the stage.
Day 3 – Hot Hot Hot
Front to back, and despite the swelter of a near 90-degree day, Sunday was the most talked about and solid of Boston Calling.
Belgian post metal unit Brutus were an early surprise, while the punk/power pop of L.A. all-girl quartet the Linda Lindas – oldest member 18, youngest 12 – somehow exceeded the buzz around them for their first show in the region. Bleachers mainman and New Jersey born Jack Antonoff channeled his best Springsteen vibes for a spirited and earnest run of songs. Indie rockers the Walkmen, returning from a near decade long hiatus, thrilled with a late afternoon set.
Stoner rock mavens Queens of the Stone Age, in only their second full gig in five years, skillfully played the sun down to “I Sat by the Ocean,” followed by the funky blues ode “Make It wit Chu” and a one-two-punch of “Go with the Flow” and “No One Knows.” The Josh Homme led band also debuted a brand-new song, “Negative Space,” off their upcoming album In Times New Roman… which comes out in the middle of the month.
Australia’s King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard appeared to have the largest amount of an audience “just passing by” who decided to stay and marvel at the guitar histrionics of frontmen Stu Mackenzie and Joey Walker. Known for experimenting with a wide array of music genres, the band leaned toward the heavier side of their catalog, which boasts nearly two dozen LPs, a staggering number considering the first one came out in 2012.
What had been an engrossing and multi-layered set came to a grinding halt suddenly when the band stopped mid-song so an announcement could be made that a teen girl was missing. Though she was later found safely, the lengthy delay with the lights up and lost concertgoer’s image beamed off the side stage screens, took all the wind from the back of the Gizzards momentum, and they ended with a brief jam before ending.
The same couldn’t be said for across the athletic complex where Paramore were similarly interrupted, though for a much shorter period of time, with unsubstantiated word making its way around the girl had been located rocking out in the front row for the emo pop act. The energy barely dipped, as the Hayley Williams fronted headliners tore through irresistibly singalong hits “Ain’t It Fun,” “This Is Why” and “Rose-Colored Boy.”
A version of this article appears in this week’s print and online editions of my syndicated Rock Music Menu column under the title “Rock Music Menu festival report: 3-day Boston Calling makes all the right moves.”
The Chronicles of Michael Christopher 
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