By the time Sunday afternoon rolled around, we were still reeling from Lorde’s spectacular performance on Saturday, but we kept chugging along to see Nas + the Roots, The Replacements, Spoon, The 1975, Twenty One Pilots, Lake Street Dive and The War On Drugs. Of the three jam-packed days, Sunday was the one catered most to rock-and-soul aficionados — and not just because it was punk rocker legends The Replacements’ first show in Boston since 1991. And, thankfully, after Saturday’s rain delay, we had a sunny, albeit slightly cooler day to enjoy the tunes.
Boston Calling Recap: The National, The Hold Steady & More
While we missed White Denim earlier in the day, we heard that the Austin, Texas rockers were trying out some jammier material during their set. Maybe they knew that they were warming up the stage for the buzzier The War On Drugs? Whatever the case, it’s worth noting their early fest slot considering they’ve regularly performed at major US festivals since 2012. The War On Drugs, who make brooding, layered shoegaze with the best, then cruised through a chill midday set basked in welcome sun, performing hits from their latest well-received and first charting LP “Lost In The Dream” including “Red Eyes” and “Under The Pressure.” Within the festival setting, it was more of a swell background track to spend a few minutes chilling in the Sam Adams-sponsored beer garden, play lawn games or revitalize yourself at the food trucks, but they did draw a moderate crowd to the stage.
More impressive, though, were Lake Street Drive who returned to downtown Boston after a breakout album (their third, “Bad Self Portraits”), extensive international touring, and several network TV appearances including Letterman. For the four-piece who originally met a decade ago while attending the New England Conservatory and now reside in Brooklyn, it must have been a trip to perform their Sharon Van Etten-esque soul to thousands in their former college town. 29 year old lead singer Rachael Price croons like she could’ve come out of another era, and with her flight attendant-like attire, she may wish that she did as well. Along with strong harmonies from her bandmates and fellow singers (Bridget Kearney, upright bass; Mike Calabrese, drums), highlights included the dinnertime standard-esque “Bobby Tanqueray,” “Hello? Goodbye!” and a couple of unreleased tracks. When Price told the crowd that they’ve made some bad decisions, especially over their weekend, we were surprised. Their set sure didn’t show it, and we’re sure they made many new fans yesterday.
On the flip side, rap rock duo Twenty One Pilots and UK power pop group The 1975 — the two bands that followed —probably had more difficulty making new fans at Boston Calling, although their fervent young crowds showed that they don’t need them. Twenty One Pilots are the more quirky of the two, combining theatrics (inclusive of head-covering full-body suits, performing some drum parts on an edge-of-stage platform, and smoke blasts) with lead singer Tyler Joseph’s Christian singing/rapping and pump-up-the-crowd directives.
The 1975 come from Manchester in the UK, and their accent alone is enough to make teenage girls swoon. Made for fans of The Neighborhood, Bastille and others who like their alt rock easily digestible, some of their cuts and harmonies border on ‘boy band’ pop. They had their teenage fans in one of the biggest frenzies of the weekend, performing songs including “Chocolate,” “Girls” and “Sex” to ever-blossoming crowds.
Following were festival warriors Spoon, who have perfected indie rock for the masses over the course of their eight album, 21-year career. Britt Daniels led the five-piece through a greatest hits-esque festival set inclusive of “The Underdog,” “Don’t You Evah,” “The Way We Get By,” “Don’t Make Me A Target, “I Turn My Camera On” and their single off of their latest LP, the catchy, rambling pop-oriented indie rocker “Do You.” They’re quite a solid band, yes, but it did seem as if they’re on autopilot this late into the festival season.
By the time The Replacements came onstage, many of the teenagers had left. This was most noticeable as the people in the front of the stage were middle aged balding men instead of screaming high schoolers. Most representative of the set, which the band in the latter-end of middle-age powered through while occasionally forgetting a lyric here or there (“I’m getting old,” explained lead singer Paul Westerberg) was an early set comment from the crowd: “I saw you at [now defunct historic Boston rock venue] the Rat, motherf***er!”
Westerberg may not have been on his A game, but for a reunion of a celebrated punk act — and, if you didn’t know, the Boston grit-and-cold made the city a punk town decades ago — it didn’t matter. The crowd filled in the lines to “Valentine,” “Take Me Down To The Hospital,” “Androgynous,” “Love You Till Friday,” “Bastards of Young” and a host of others. Westerberg and his band (which now features David Minehan of The Neighborhood on guitar) did their job, even slipping in a cover of The Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back.” One thing’s for sure: if his occasional comments are any sign (including “I smell weed / F**kin’ hippies!”), we think Westerberg would be a good hang.
Nas + The Roots closed out the festival, although what ended up happening to our disappointment was legendary New York rapper Nas opening up for The Roots. Touring on the 20th anniversary of his 1994 classic “Illmatic,” he did perform his impassioned “If I Ruled The World” from the classic, but only ended up performing a 30 minute set inclusive of hits including “N.Y. State of Mind” (changing N.Y. to Boston, in a nice gesture) and “One Mic.” With just a small overlap, The Roots then finished off the night with a somewhat improvised, chill-but-effective set. The “Tonight Show” house band are seasoned musicians and their musicianship showed, even in their covers of Kool & the Gang’s “Jungle Boogie” and Guns ‘N Roses “Sweet Child Of Mine.” Questlove pounding the drums, Tuba Gooding, Jr. making the sousaphone his own, jazz interludes and Black Thought’s rapping characterized the set for the crowd still thousands deep.
Considering Boston Calling is just two years old, and the fact that the lifespan of a new festival without major concert promotion-backing is typically tenuous (Crash Line, a local concert production company, runs the festival), the festival couldn’t expect to be any more successful in its second year. For the crowd of 45,000 over three days, we’re sure that each person left with their favorite act of the weekend. For day three, while we hoped and wished that there was more interaction between Nas + The Roots (and probably didn’t need to see Twenty One Pilots), we couldn’t have expected much more.
