The headliners on Day 1 of Boston Calling were all-out country stars Luke Combs and Megan Maroney, but the undercard too offered enough twang to lure fans of such music early to the Friday session of the annual festival at the Harvard University athletic fields.
This was a day for diehards, as the weather hovered in the 50s and a mix of drizzle and rain made ponchos the overwhelming fashion choice along with cowboy hats, boots, and dresses with fringe to spare.
Combs, prowling the stage in a camo jacket, kicked off his set in signature fashion, with “1, 2 many,” a drinking song that he punctuated by shotgunning a can of beer. After picking up his guitar, Combs followed that with the apropos “When It Rains It Pours,” given the weather conditions—he added “it sure does!” to the lyrics for the occasion. While Combs grew up in North Carolina, his band was sure to cozy up to the Boston crowd, with one member sporting a Red Sox jersey.
The closing act drew a big crowd, but the venue felt much roomer than in recent years because Boston Calling ditched its second large stage (the Red Stage) in favor of one larger Green Stage, adjacent to a faux Fenway Park Green Monster that lists all of the weekend’s acts.
Megan Moroney, all sparkles and heartbreak songs, led into the Combs set with one sincere or sassy song after another, devoting one tune to her mom, and others to those in the crowd who have been with the wrong partner for too long (she assured them the right partner is out there). Moroney and guitar took center stage throughout her performance, including on an elevated platform against an earthly backdrop. She powered through despite weather challenges: “I can’t feel my fingers,” she said at one point.
Her emo country style segued nicely into Saturday’s lineup with Fall Out Boy and All Time Low on the bill.
While Moroney is a star on the rise, Sheryl Crow starred at festival as an all-timer who’s still got it. Sporting a Springsteen shirt, Crow and band played her hits, plus covers, like Cat Stevens’ “The First Cut is the Deepest.” Covers were in vogue throughout the festival, with many of the bands working them into their mixes.
For something completely different, T-Pain attracted one of the bigger Blue Stage crowds I’ve seen over the years at Boston Calling, with the hand waving crowd taking over on lyrics from T-Pain originals like “Bartender” and covers like Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
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Not that there wasn’t plenty of enthusiasm earlier in the day. Boston-born singer-songwriter Bebe Stockwell kicked off the festival with a set that drew fans wearing T-shirts emblazoned with “Bebe Stockwell superfan” on the front and a a childhood photo of her on the back. Stockwell, whose sound wasn’t out of place on “country da” at Boston Calling, said playing the festival has been a dream of hers.
Wilderado, from Tulsa, Okla., and Holy Roller, from Richmond, Va., brought southern charm to the North at Boston Calling.
Wilderado’s stage presence is relatively calm, led by Max Rainer, who was bundled in a jacket during their set. Wilderado’s rousing song “Surefire” highlighted their performance.
Six-piece Holy Roller earlier in the day brought energy-plus to the Green Stage despite a 9-hour-turned-15-hour van ride to the venue. Brady Heck, wielding a guitar he pointed to the heavens, and Rebekah Rafferty, rattling a tambourine, belted out original numbers from 2024’s “Good Religion” and a killer cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain.”
The band, borne from a previous outfit called Big Mama Shakes, typically plays a mix of lounges and local festivals, but Boston Calling was their biggest break to date. Heck thanked a “guardian angel” for recommending them for the festival this year.
Holy Roller’s members balance playing in the band with other jobs, from construction to auto repair and software development. The variety of skills all come into play in moving Holy Roller forward, whether it’s upkeep on the van or building a studio in Heck’s basement.
Heck himself is celebrating a month into being a full-time musician, and says he’s loving it. Though he still plans to share the band’s workload with other members. He described a collaborative songwriting process that has literally involved members congregating in different parts of a house, working on parts of a song, then reuniting to select the best parts and meld them.
Asked how the band prepped for the festival vs. its usual gigs, Heck said “the best prep is just playing other shows.” You can’t replicate the festival experience in the studio, he said.
Members soaked up the unique experience of playing Boston Calling—one sign of that is that they stuck around for the Saturday after they played to catch some of the other performers before heading back south. Asked to describe the scene behind the scene in the artists’ area, Rafferty said they had a nice spread and a chance to meet other artists, though that the headliners mainly stick to their own buses. In a word, Rafferty termed the scene as “muddy,” and in fact one star’s bus got stuck in the muck.
There was nothing muddy about Holy Roller’s sound though, including on “Flat Track Tire, where the band pounded and Heck and Rafferty belted out “And I believe” despite darker times referenced in the song.
Look for the band to return to area this summer at the Middle East in Cambridge.
Also bringing soul to the festival were Infinity Song and Thee Sacred Souls on the Blue Stage.
Thee Sacred Souls also brought the brass, a welcome presence amidst the guitars, keyboards, and percussion more common across acts. Lead singer Josh Lane proved to be a man of the people as well, running not just down the protected runway, but right through the crowd, which circled around him.
Infinity Song, meanwhile, is a family band that gave attendees a chance to chill before the rowdier music to come later in the day.
Some of the most fun to be had at Boston Calling is at the Orange Stage, where locals and newcomers get a chance to shine before friends, family, and those at the festival looking to discover new music.
One of those bands was Battlemode, an electropop trio fond of 8-bit chiptune sounds. They invited fans to follow them on social, and “you can even follow us home since we live down the street.”
Another Orange stage band, Megan from Work, caught our attention during festival prep (that is, listening to all the bands on streaming services for months before) for their cheeky and punchy sub-3-minute bangers from debut album “Girl Suit.” Having recently attended concerts by bands like Illuminati Hotties and Beach Bunny, we knew this Manchester, N.H., group was right in our sweet spot.
Megan from Work was scheduled to play 40 minutes, which is 10 minutes longer than their usual sets. So they added in a cover of Tom Petty’s “American Girl” to help fill out the time slot and at least give people one song to sing along with if they don’t know any of Megan from Work’s material. The band cites 2024 Boston Calling headliner The Killers—lead singer Megan Simon was toting a water bottle with The Killers emblazoned on it—among its biggest influences, but also mentioned alt-rock bands like Third-Eye Blind and Taking Back Sunday.
We caught up with Megan from Work, typically a four-piece outfit that added a guitarist for the road so that Megan could go guitar-free at times during the show.
Given the name Megan from Work, we did broach the subject of what the members do for work outside of the band—we’d seen that they’d upped their practices to twice a week, so knew this was not a full-time occupation. Simon works at a brewery restaurant, while others in the band have jobs ranging from higher ed to landscaping and banking to retail (Apple Store).
Simon relayed a story of getting an email out of the blue about being invited to play at Boston Calling, narrowly missing it thanks to a spam filter. “It’s the fastest I’ve ever clicked ‘not spam,'” Simon said. The band members swear they don’t know how they got on the festival’s radar, but weren’t complaining. “I didn’t even know Boston Calling was a festival bands like us could do until last year when I saw Tysk Tysk Task was on the same bill last year as The Killers,” Simon said.
Simon gets inspiration for songs not by hunkering down at the guitar, but while driving, in the shower, or just zoning out. “It’ll start with a line or a melody… it’s very stream of consciousness,” they said. “Then I try to take it to a guitar and it’ll all come out from there.”
Megan from Work’s set at Boston Calling was performed against a plain backdrop. If the band were to get some funding, they’d love to play before a full-blown set, perhaps with “stars, clouds, and lightning bolts, like in a theatre setting… two-dimensional so you can see how it’s hung, a little DIY,” Simon said.
This band knows a little something about DIY, and the fact that they made it to Boston Calling shows it’s working so far.
Next up for Megan from Work: A new song called “Back on the Saddle.” And no, it’s not a country song.
Thanks for indulging this Beyond Wellesley coverage. A sampling of past music coverage on Swellesley:
- Norway-based Kaizers Orchestra’s loooong awaited U.S. return to start in Cambridge
- Jake Shimabukuro shows Natick that the uke has no limits
- Floating on at Levitate Music & Arts Festival
- Dispatch bringing locally recorded songs, push for civic engagement to Boston shows
- Boston Calling Musical Festival ’24: A celebratory mix of pop, country, hip-hop, indie rock & you name it
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