Emo and Millennial music was the theme for Day 2 of the Boston Calling festival at the Harvard University athletic complex, and fans showed their true colors in their hair (pinks, greens, purples) and fashion (black on black) as they readied for the likes of Avril Lavigne, All Time Low, and Fall Out Boy to take the stage.
Sofia Isella, caked in mud (on purpose, not from roaming the soggy festival grounds), was first to take the stage on Saturday, May 24, and delivered one of the more unusual sets of the festival. She tore at her oversized shirt, worked in some violin, sucked on a lollipop, and spent a decent amount of her solo show clawing along the stage floor while singing creepy and compelling songs like “The Doll People.”
Isella, one of whose claims to fame is opening for Taylor Swift at Wembley Stadium in England, ended by curiously telling the diehards: “Showers are for the weak. And I am not weak”… even as those of us in the crowd were showered by Mother Nature.
Bands like the poppy Valley and sweet Amble upped the positivity significantly as the afternoon went on. Valley, out of Canada, was determined to bring the sunshine to Boston Calling, playing against a cheerful, flower-filled and blue sky background. Lead singer Rob Laska at one point during the set exclaimed “The sun’s back out. How are we doing out there?”…though within the span of a song rain showers returned.
Irish band Amble, on the distant Blue Stage playing its first U.S. festival, got the biggest rise out of its audience when Ross McNerney sped his fingers on the mandolin (lead singer Robbie Cunningham at one point during the set noted that McNerney, sporting a blonde mullet, needed to play a mean mandolin to back that up). Amble, which just released its first album (“Reverie”) will be back in late June for two shows opening for past Boston Calling performer Hozier at Fenway Park. Lucius, a band with Berklee College of Music roots, kept the warm vibes going during their Blue Stage set. The Lucius set included music from their new self-titled album, with”Gold Rush” and “Old Tape” in the mix.
Edgier and quirkier acts took the Orange Stage. Wareham-based Pinklids exited the garage and rocked hard, including a cover of The Beatles’ “Helter Skelter,” while Somerville’s Sidebody later worked in comedy bits during its set, where it both protested commercialism then cheekily encouraged people to buy its merch.
Back to early 2000s, Arizona’s The Maine upped the energy on the Green Stage, and even invited an employee named Travis working the VIP area onto the stage to lead a back-and-forth “girls do what they want—boys do what they can” with the crowd.
Cage the Elephant rocked the Green Stage hard with a set full of songs that fans sang along to, no more so than during “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked,” with Matt Shultz leading the way with boundless energy throughout. Shultz told the crowd it was good to be back at Boston Calling: “It feels like it’s been a while.” Indeed, the band has released a couple of albums since first appearing at the festival in 2017.
Avril Lavigne followed and drew a huge crowd that sang along to hits like “Sk8ter Boi” and “Complicated,” while taking in new material as well. Keeping things collaborative, Lavigne invited members of “All Time Low” to join her on stage for a rousing rendition of “Fake as Hell,” and relied on the crowd to handle lyrics throughout her set. Orange set performer Simon Robert French had tough “competition” playing a set overlapping with Lavigne, but those who stopped by were treated to sweet and sad indie tunes like “Do They Have Internet in Heaven?” from the young singer and multi-instrumentalist.
If all those bands weren’t hard enough for fans, the Black Crowes took care of that on the Blue Stage, where lead singer Chris Robinson informed listeners that “that’s what rock n’ roll sounds like. Don’t forget that s—.”
Fall Out Boy completed the day’s music with a set spanning their career and spectacular stage pyrotechnics and artistry.
The Wellesley angle
It’s not uncommon at Boston Calling to run across artists watching each other’s sets. Though for Swellesley, spotting celebrities means people from Wellesley.
Among them, Wellesley Toy Shop’s Andy Brown, on Dad Duty with his daughter and a friend for two days.
Despite our best efforts to root out ahead of the show whether any current or former Wellesley residents were in any of the bands, we were surprised to learn at the festival that 2014 Wellesley High grad Jack Griffin was among the Boston Calling performers. A talented musician going back to his high school days, Griffin plays bass with Latrell James, a hip hop artist and producer who performed Friday on the Orange Stage. Griffin spotted us (because of our Swellesley swag) in the media tent and called out, letting us know he grew up in Wellesley. We had a chance to chat with Jack and his bandmates, and while performing at Boston Calling was a huge accomplishment for Jack, he said his parents would be really excited to see him in Swellesley, too. So here you go:
More: Boston Calling 2025 Day 1: Cowboys & cowgirls get their fix, but it’s not all country all the time
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