While alternative music festivals used to just be the province of Great Britain (QRO U.K. Festival Guide), they’ve long since expanded to all four corners of North America (QRO North American Festival Guide) – well, almost all four corners, as the Northeast has been mostly overlooked. There have been some stabs from elsewhere, like the ill-fated American version of London’s Field Day back in the nineties, or Coachella coming east in All Points West, but they haven’t stuck. But now the Northeast is taking care of itself, as New York’s alt-star concert promoter Bowery Presents came to Beantown in Boston Calling, two great days of music right in the center of town at City Hall Plaza (in the shadow of City Hall itself), Saturday & Sunday, May 25th & 26th.
After the cold weather of Day One, the skies cleared up for Sunday, though there were definitely some strong, cold breezes at times. The wind-but-no-rain did flip the script on the VIP area – nestled on the mezzanine under City Hall, the space worked well on Saturday, as it provided cover from the rain, but on Day Two the higher area was whipped with winds. Yet more of a detriment to the area was that it completely could not view the City Hall Stage, without even a big screen for the video feed like on both sides of the Main Stage. But you can’t fight City Hall…
Caspian
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For a festival located directly in front of said City Hall, with ‘Boston’ in the name, there were surprisingly few local acts at Boston Calling, just the two that started off each day of the fest – Bad Rabbits on Saturday (see Day One) and Caspian on Sunday. While Caspian didn’t have quite the crowd that Bad Rabbits had pulled the prior day, they still had a healthy turnout – and their epic post-rock fit for the gusty day.
Youth Lagoon
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Youth Lagoon has been getting a lot of indie-buzz as of late (including being booked to open for The National – see below – on their big Brooklyn date, after playing The National-curated All Tomorrow’s Parties last December – QRO photos), though were still playing pretty early at Boston Calling – and their performance explained the latter, if not the former. Singer Trevor Powers’ voice got very nasal, almost like he was trying to sound weird (especially with his synth accompaniment). Really the only out-and-out unlikable act of the otherwise very well booked festival; certainly there were a lot of people in the nearby media tent waiting for the set to be over. At least the sun came out…
Dirty Projectors
QRO’s review of Dirty Projectors at Aladdin Theatre in Portland, OR on September 29th, 2010
Photos of Dirty Projectors at Bijou Theatre in Knoxville, TN on August 11th, 2012
Photos of Dirty Projectors at Emo’s East in Austin, TX on August 2nd, 2012
Photos of Dirty Projectors at 2010 Sasquatch! in George, WA
Photos of Dirty Projectors at 2010 Norman Music Festival in Norman, OK
Photos of Dirty Projectors at 2010 Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, TN
Photos of Dirty Projectors at Lincoln Center’s Allen Room in New York, NY on February 19th, 2010
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It’s kind of impressive how big Dirty Projectors have gotten, considering their experimental, idiosyncratic sound. That the band works with such impressive harmonies no doubt has a great deal to do with it, but it’s still something to see such a large crowd turn out for them, and be so appreciative. Singer/guitarist David Longstreth asked the people to give it up for City Hall (the building), noting that it was a 1961 example of Brutalist architecture – there are very few acts that would know the date & style of a building, a modern building, and ugly one at that, as ugly as Dirty Projectors’ sound is beautiful.
Ra Ra Riot
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Awesome as always were Ra Ra Riot, but QRO could run our mouths off about them. They seem to have a standard set list at this point, mixing all three full-lengths, The Rhumb Line (QRO review), The Orchard (QRO review), and latest, this year’s Beta Love (QRO review). Playing at the City Hall Stage, the arc of steps leading down to their stage created an amphitheater-like affect, with the crowd seemingly going on to the horizon. Interestingly, the audience wasn’t just psyched for old songs (though singer Wesley Miles’ – QRO interview – replacement of Gloucester with Boston on “St. Peter’s Day Festival” did get a special cheer), but also for new ones like “Beta Love”.
But the best local tip of the hat had to be Mathieu Santos (QRO interview) wearing a Boston Bruins strap on his bass – the the local team had just defeated the Rangers the night before at TD Garden; the T heading back after Boston Calling on Saturday night had been filled with hockey fans shouting “Go Bruins!” and even just “U.S.A.!” (despite the Rangers being from NYC…)
The Walkmen
Photos of The Walkmen at CMJ 2012 in New York, NY
Photos of The Walkmen at 2012 Osheaga Music Festival in Montreal, PQ, Canada
Photos of The Walkmen at The Lawn at White River State Park in Indianapolis, IN on July 29th, 2012
Photos of The Walkmen at Louisville Waterfront in Louisville, KY on June 27th, 2012
QRO’s review of The Walkmen at Bowery Ballroom in New York, NY on June 6th, 2012
Photos of The Walkmen at 2012 Sasquatch! Festival in George, WA
Photos of The Walkmen at 2012 Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona, Spain
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While some may say that The Walkmen have mellowed, and it’s true that they’re not as drunk as they used to be, the band still has a fire live. This came out behind even their mellowest of newer songs from Heaven (QRO review), but they did still play “The Rat”, too – you’ve got a nerve to be questioning that number…
Singer Hamilton Leithauser also did the best namecheck of all of Boston Calling, mentioning Jonathan Richman of The Modern Lovers, who had a great song called “Government Center”, about & named after the area/nearby T stop. That should make the secretaries feel better / When they put the stamps on the letters.
Andrew Bird
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A mere fourteen seconds after The Walkmen ended, Andrew Bird began. Admittedly, he started solo, so had less set-up time, but throughout Boston Calling it was amazing how quickly one act would start after the prior one ended. It’s essential for downtown festivals to have sets that don’t overlap, because the festivals don’t have the space to spread out stages far enough apart that the performance on one stage doesn’t interfere with the performance on another (also, downtown fests have tighter noise regulations). Last year, New York’s Randall’s Island had two festivals with no overlapping sets, Governors Ball (QRO recap) and Catalpa (QRO recap), and both had serious downtime between acts/stages, where no one was playing & nothing was going on – Boston Calling nicely avoided that.
Even though it was just Bird on stage for most of the set, with his violin, whistling (unaided), and loops, there was a huge crowd around him, stretching well into the beer garden (which also saw lines for beers there stretch). Fans were even climbing into trees (before security eventually told them to get down) – or, as @Boston_Calling put it, “Bird-watching from a tree? That’s next level…”
Of Monsters and Men
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But perhaps no massive crowd was more surprising than for Of Monsters and Men. A year ago, no one outside of Iceland had heard of the indie-folk collective, but then came hit single “Little Talks” and the group took off (admittedly, one of their biggest shows ever is still last year in Boston, at House of Blues – QRO review). And the crowd knew them beyond “Little Talks”, from one fan waving an Icelandic flag to everyone’s whole-hearted embrace of latest single “Mountain Song”, a great slice of indie-pop/folk. Of course, everyone went crazy for “Little Talks” – which surprisingly wasn’t the group’s set-closer.
Young the Giant
Photos of Young the Giant at 2012 Osheaga Music Festival in Montreal, PQ, Canada
QRO’s review of Young the Giant at Murat Egyptian Room in Indianapolis, IN on July 10th, 2012
Photos of Young the Giant at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, GA on May 19th, 2012
Photos of Young the Giant at People’s Court in Des Moines, IA on March 29th, 2012
Photos of Young the Giant at Stubb’s in Austin, TX on March 25th, 2012
Photos of Young the Giant at The Backyard in Bee Cave, TX on October 1st, 2011
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The popularity of Of Monsters and Men created a huge audience migration to the City Hall Stage for Young the Giant, leaving some space on the far side of the crowd for a couples dance party during Young the Giant’s own second single, “Your Apartment”. Singer Sameer Gadhia had been seen at times in the band area to the side of the City Hall Stage during prior acts there – and that meant fans coming up to him to have their picture taken with him. The downside to being a non-white frontman of an indie band is that you’re particularly easy for fans to spot…
The National
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And capping off Boston Calling were headliners The National. It’s gotten to the point that whenever the ultra-acclaimed & now hugely popular band of brothers (literally – the bassist & drummer are brothers, as are the two guitarists) put out a new album, it’s in line for record of the year, and the just-released Trouble Will Find Me (QRO review) is no exception. Particularly great at Boston Calling was “Sea of Love” – not that “Mistaken For Strangers” wasn’t amazing as well. Oh, and they didn’t fuck you over by not playing “Mr. November” or the equally as great live “Abel”.
Singer Matt Berninger was in particularly good spirits, after a kind of awkward interview on The Colbert Report (QRO Indie on Late Night TV), where Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, DFA made the worst mistake in music interviewing by asking where the band got their name from (and he’d made that mistake before interviewing bands, like Ben Folds Five – QRO live review – and even Day One headliners fun. at ColbChella – QRO recap). Berninger went from noting that the ugly City Hall looked amazing with the festival lights at night to going about thirty rows deep into the crowd.
