The third and final day of the 2025 Boston Calling on Sunday, May 25 felt like a return to past renditions of the music festival, with an emphasis on indie and pop performers, but also a solid dose of old school acts to make for an eclectic line-up and cross-generational audience.
The rain took a break, so I put my mud-covered shoes aside and went with a fresh pair.
Our first stop on Sunday was to hit the big Green Stage, which this year features a rotating set of two stages so that when one performer is doing their thing, another can ready their gear to go on shortly after. The next set just spins to face the crowd. The shift to one large stage seriously improved crowd flow at the festival vs. in recent years.
The first glimpse I got of opening act SNACKTIME was a band member in a shirt that looked suspiciously like a Philadelphia Sixers NBA shirt. “Bold move,” I thought, given the sensitive situation around the Celtics these days with the postseason continuing without the defending champs. But then I saw the whole Philly-based ensemble was swagged out in the same fashion (we were cheered up later to see Public Enemy’s Flavor Flav sporting a Celtics hat, and earlier he and Chuck D wore Jayson Tatum jerseys).
SNACKTIME is a fun soul and funk band that can head in any number of directions musically with its combination of vocals, brass, guitars and drums. The band even has its own theme song (“SNACKMFTIME”). The band kept its focus on the positive at Boston Calling, engaging the crowd in an “I got you, you got me” call-and-response to wrap up its set with “Together” (punctuated by singer Nico Bryant’s impressive split on center stage).
We met band members later on to chat about the Boston Calling experience (“it’s great being here with such legendary artists”) as well as their busy schedule, which has included serving as house band on a late night show hosted by former Philadelphia Eagles player Jason Kelce, and a July set at the Newport Folk Festival.
“We’ve been pushing,” said Sam Gellerstein, who plays sousaphone. “We’re thankful that people have trusted us to punch outside of our weight class.”
Performing on the Boston Calling stage was wild, they said, especially since they usually practice in a cramped studio where there’s no space to run around like they were able to do on the Green Stage. They also agreed that the staff at Boston Calling was really nice.
The band has come a long way since it performed at the Firefly Festival in 2022 not long after forming during the pandemic. At that festival, SNACKTIME only really had one song, so had to improvise big time to fill 45 minutes. Now they’ve got plenty of material, including the new and shimmery “Sunshine” single.
We encouraged them to come up with a Swellesley theme song on the fly since members really seemed to like saying the word “swell.” They instead recorded a greeting for our readers.
@swellesleyreport The band @snacktimeofficial shares a greeting from @bostoncalling ♬ original sound – swellesleyreport
The day lacked much actual sunshine, though performers and attendees were generally in an upbeat mood, with the exception of Tom Morello, co-founder of Audioslave and Rage Against the Machine. He raged against the current U.S. administration throughout his set. Public Enemy, performing one of the last sets on Sunday, delivered strong messages themselves with classics like “Fight the Power” and “Don’t Believe the Hype,” but saved some fresh disdain for up-and-coming artists. They urged people to “make those young [profanity] sweat.” Meanwhile, they had fun, and so did the dancing crowd.
Versatile pop artist Remi Wolf had a few things to say about audio difficulties near the start of her bouncy set, but she killed some time (“I’m not a stand-up comedian”) and that was forgotten soon enough as her dance party heated up. Wolf kept things upbeat, wearing a “Be Proud of Yourself” t-shirt and banging through hits like “Hello Hello Hello” and “Pitiful.”
Goth Babe, playing feel-good indie rock, insisted on summer fun despite the chill in the air. He pumped the crowd full of beach balls and tasty floats (a Pop-Tart and Cheeze-It) that had brave attendees surfing above the crowd.
Across the venue at the Blue Stage, Dallon Weekes of I Don’t Know How But They Found Me (IDKHow) thanked fans for wandering over there and delivered amusement along with his music. He encouraged guys to buy their girlfriends T-shirts from the merch stand to ensure “an extra romantic evening.” Weekes worked in music from another of his projects, the Brobecks, and even teased fans while wielding a megaphone with a little “Hot to Go!” from Chappell Roan, the breakout star of Boston Calling 2024.
For those hungry for more discoveries at Boston Calling, the Orange Stage provided that. The joyful harmonies of Copilot and the joyful-in-another-way shoegaze guitars of Vivid Bloom were among the highlights.
The re-invented Sublime, with Jakob Nowell as lead singer succeeding his late father, kept the party going with its ska-punk-reggae vibes. Nowell shared that Sunday was a special day for his family (his father, Brad, died 29 years ago that day), but “I’m glad you are all here.” Sublime, on a stage bookended with giant dogs, played its hits and made sure that audience members got close. “Let’s play something fast so we can all shove each other around a bit,” he said.
Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig’s voice sounded as sweet as ever for the indie band’s set, though he had plenty of help from fans who knew all the words and grooved to the band’s blend of guitar-keyboards-percussion, and yes, violin. Koenig’s far from being a chatty frontman, but he let Vampire Weekend’s music do the talking, both with songs released before the band’s Boston Calling debut in 2013, and since.
The Dave Matthew Band closed out the weekend with a nighttime set. Citing “unseasonably cold” weather, Matthews bundled up in jacket that he conjectured must be old because it was “confining.” But as usual, the Virginia band’s music was anything but confining, and served as a solid closer for the faithful and newly initiated.
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