Boston Calling celebrated its 12th incarnation last weekend (May 26-28) at Harvard Athletic Complex in the Allston neighborhood of Boston. Headlined by the ubiquitous Foo Fighters, Paramore, Alanis Morissette, and The Lumineers, over 50 artists performed to 40,000 mostly-pleased fans.
Unless the Pats, Sox, Bruins and Celtics win it all in the same year, there is bound to be a furrowed brow somewhere. Also, no three-day rock fest will be without its hiccups. In this case it included some sporadic sound issues, long lines for merch, and lack of water stations. But one last-minute curveball ended up being a huge hit. When the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were forced to cancel at the last minute due to singer Karen O catching a nasty bug, organizers replaced the New York art punkers with local darlings, The Dropkick Murphys.
It was the Celtic punk rock group’s first foray into a Boston Calling, an omission that should be permanently rectified moving forward as the group won the jubilant crowd over from the opening bagpipe strains that segued perfectly into the anthem, “The Boys Are Back.”
Foo Fighters closed the opening night with a 20-song set in their second show with new drummer Josh Freese. Dave Grohl welcomed his daughter, Violet, up on stage for “Shame Shame” and “Rope.” Continuing the youth brigade, Taylor Hawkins’ son, Oliver Shane, filled his fallen father’s hi-tops by playing drums on “I’ll Stick Around.”
The National guitarist Aaron Dessner has been one of the co-curators of Boston Calling going back to its inception. The Grammy-winning NYC band has performed every year of the fest and this year was no different. A quarter of its set was gleaned from their latest offering, First Two Pages of Frankenstein.
read more at: Setlist.fm
