The Boston Calling schedule dropped! Time for some ill-considered hot takes.
The three-day music festival arrives every May at the sprawling Harvard Athletic Complex and it’s the crown jewel of the Big Summer Fest calendar. Some of the biggest stars of the musical moment, along with plenty of local luminaries, make their way to the Land of Dunkin’ to strut their stuff. Each day of the 2025 edition has been carefully curated to provide a panorama of musical sensibilities, building depth and nuance into the schedule, while still offering broad-based appeal.
Now let’s take all that hard work and reduce it to a caricature.
Day One (Friday, May 23) is Nouveau Nashville, aimed at Gen Z. The old country headz don’t know or care who the top-billed Luke Combs or Megan Moroney are. But they’ll recognize Sheryl Crow, and they’ll figure out that there’s plenty of twang here to wet their whistle. Adding T-Pain, TLC, Mike., Thee Sacred Souls, and Latrell James, etc., feels like the organizers were throwing spaghetti at the wall to balance out the day with a little hip-hop, R&B and soul. T-Pain’s a hoot, but does anyone need that schtick at the quarter mark of the 21st century?
Day Two (Saturday, May 24) is Pop-sploitation, aimed at millennials. The top-billed Fall Out Boy and Avril Lavigne were so damn good at wringing rock and punk dry of every last dewy drop of subversion. Their fans don’t care, and neither do you. Just enjoy the aughtsy vibes and, pretty please, can we revive the Avril Lavigne Replacement Conspiracy discourse one more time?
Day Three (Sunday, May 25) is Lollapalooza Calling, aimed at Gen X. Ignore the Vampire Weekend feint. Perry Farrell’s personal assistant would have happily signed off on this bill in the ’90s. Dave Matthews Band, Sublime, Public Enemy, Tom Morello (of Rage Against the Machine) and the Spin Doctors? You’re going to feel like you’ve died and gone to Dot Com Boom heaven. Don’t go alone – bring your kids, they’ll enjoy pop newcomers such as Remi Wolf, Goth Babe and Sam Austins.
All for now. Digest and discuss. Let’s circle back later to shine a brighter spotlight on the “midlevel” acts, plus a strong crop of local musicians at the Orange Stage.
Hit this
Saturday: Kit Orion, Talk Chalk, Clamb (Lizard Lounge, Cambridge)
Nobody puts these babies in a corner. All three acts performing in Cambridge’s favorite ruby-lit basement stretch musical boundaries, splish-splashing their way around the experimental wading pool. Kit Orion is electro, and more. Talk Chalk is surf punk, and more. Clamb is fusion, and they’re not more than that – but if you grasp what they’re fusing, they don’t need to be. Make sense? Add in Digital Awareness, a light show extraordinaire that sets the local standard for underground atmosphere.
Jan. 16-19: Boston Celtic Music Festival (various venues, Cambridge and Somerville)
Too bad Ireland’s Orla Gartland couldn’t have timed her marvelous tour through Somerville during the BCMFest. The pop rocker would have fit like a glove into the 22nd edition of music fest, which charts a diverse musical lineage all the way from traditional folk to contemporary popular styles. There are performances, workshops and dancehall escapades happening morning, noon and night across various stages in Camberville for four days. Something for everyone. Dervish, described by the BBC as “an icon of Irish music,” will headline the Nightcap Finale at Somerville Theatre. And one of our favorite dance events, the Boston Urban Ceilidh, returns to the Crystal Ballroom on Friday. It’s a participatory (that means you!) clusterfuck of joy that has to be seen to be believed.
Jan. 17: Grass is Green, Speedy Ortiz, Pile (Arts at the Armory, Somerville)
Grass is Green, live in concert! For real this time. If you attended Nice, A Fest back in July, the only sadface emoji detectable by the naked eye was the absence of Grass is Green, who bailed last-minute. The experimental postpunkers must have split up at some point, because they were originally billed on the festival schedule as a “reunion show.” Brilliant inference! It’s good timing for them to find their way onstage together at the Armory, which will serve as the release party for the 15th anniversary reissue of their debut album “Yeddo,” available via Exploding In Sound Records. Guitar heroes Speedy Ortiz and Pile make it an extra special night.
Live: Don White at Club Passim
Local folk singer and storyteller Don White is an institution. A mental institution!
If jokes like that tickle your funny bone, you would have been rolling in the aisles at Club Passim on Saturday. The singer-songwriter returned for his 35th show at the garden-level hotspot in Harvard Square. From the look of the audience, an amalgam of gray hair and loose-knit wool, he wasn’t the only longtime frequenter in the house.
Case in point, I sidled into my reserved seat next to Mort, Jan and Nancy, three beautiful seniors who love life, folk music and good conversation. They were Don White regulars, having attended decades’ worth of his performances.
Mort, who works in computers, recalled the annual (and now extinct) “funny song” competition at the Somerville Theatre. Don partnered with Christine Lavin to win it every year. Jan, who ordered the banana bread pudding, speculated that the annual competition was canceled because the dynamic duo of White & Lavin could never be beaten.
Nancy didn’t say much at all, too busy doing battle with her Portobello Melt.
Although Mort, Jan and Nancy couldn’t recall any particular favorites from White’s discography, they were united in appreciation of the central theme that runs through his work: family.
Sure enough, when the lights dimmed and the headliner took the stage, White wasted no time shifting into confessional mode, telling tales of love, loss and the power of family.
If you don’t have strong opinions about Spiro Agnew, you might have had some trouble mapping all the cultural references. But the general thrust of White’s message was clear: Whatever the question, love is the answer. And the message hit home for Mort, Jan and Nancy, who all shed quiet tears at various moments during the set.
White is a singer who doesn’t sing that well, a guitarist who doesn’t play guitar that well and a comedian whose jokes feel tired. But none of that matters when the right storyteller finds the right message for the right audience. And it felt just right on a nearly sold-out Saturday night at Club Passim.
Get ready for Number 36.
Michael Gutierrez is an author, educator, activist and editor-in-chief at Hump Day News.
A stronger
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This made me chuckle and think. Love this local journalism
Thanks for reading, taguscove! MG