For the second day of Boston Calling, festival goers traded in their cowboy boots for Doc Martens in anticipation of headliners Avril Lavigne and Fall Out Boy.
Music For The Soul: Mon Rovîa
Despite the early afternoon rain, the sun came out especially for Mon Rovîa on the Green Stage. Opening up his set with “Oh Wide World,” the singer-songwriter immediately captivated the audience with his smooth, honest vocals and relaxed stage presence. With his ukulele in hand – which had the lyrics “day breaks sorrow / and I still feel the edge of this cold knife” from “crooked the road.” inscribed on it – Mon Rovîa performed songs about pain, healing, love, and community, often inspired by his own experiences as a Liberian refugee raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee. “To Watch the World Spin Without You,” he explained, is about how community is crucial to ending suffering, while “crooked the road.” is about “not falling in love with the pain.” He closed his performance with “Big Love Ahead,” and for those who were not previously aware of Mon Rovîa’s music, surely they walked away with love for him.
Most Headbang-Worthy Set: PINKLIDS
For a set full of pure, unadulterated rock, one needn’t look any further than PINKLIDS on the Orange Stage. The five-piece band from Wareham, Massachusetts brought an indescribable energy, performing songs like “JUNKY GARDEN” and “SAX,” in addition to a number of unreleased tracks. Their enigmatic frontwoman, Amber Lawson, hypnotized the crowd, leading them through the heavy rock set. “Do you think you can handle a few more?” she asked as the band approached their final two songs. The crowd definitely could handle it, ready to headbang to more from the band’s unreleased repertoire.
A Little Folk, A Bit of Country, and A Hint of Irish Trad: Amble
For Irish band Amble’s US festival debut, Boston Calling sure wasn’t too shabby. The festival was the last stop on their US tour, and the folk trio told the crowd that they “couldn’t think of a better place to finish this tour than Boston.” After opening with “Little White Chapel,” they continued to play songs from their debut album Reverie, which was just released on May 23. The five instrumentalists on stage switched between guitars, basses, mandolins, and banjos throughout the set, providing a layered acoustic sound. They tugged at the crowd’s heartstrings with their raw storytelling, from “Of Land and Sea” about one of their little villages in Ireland to “Lonely Island,” which tells the story of an elderly man returning to his homeland. Though they’ve only been a band for a couple of years, they’ve surely found their footing in the folk world. Amble will be back in Boston on June 23 and 24, opening for Hozier at Fenway Park.
Most Committed to the Bit: sidebody
A theatrical performance and rock concert in one? Sidebody does it all. The Somerville art punk rock band started their Boston Calling set with a ringing telephone on the stage, with vocalist Hava Horowitz answering, “this is Boston calling? How’d you get our number?” The four-member band played songs like “up/down” and “quantumly entangled,” entertaining the audience with their funky dance moves and energetic vocals. Their outfits, created by a local designer, reflected the unique personality that the band possesses – full of color, pizzazz, and a DIY attitude. During their song “no commercial enterprise,” they shared what they described as “a live transcript of the biggest fight [they’ve] ever had as a band,” and they threw t-shirts and kitchen sponges into the crowd with a Bandcamp link and code. Before ending their set with “sponge time,” the band gave out the number to the sidebody hotline: (617)564-1180. Share your craziest Boston story via call or text, they explained, and you might be on their next single.
Most Stylish Alt Rockers: Cage the Elephant
Kentucky-born alt rock band Cage the Elephant brought the 2010s Tumblr classics with their Green Stage set at Boston Calling. Playing songs like “Spiderhead,” “Cold Cold Cold,” and “Social Cues,” the band seamlessly transitioned between the albums in their discography. Vocalist Matt Schultz shared that he was unable to hear what he sounded like due to trouble with his in-ear monitors, but that didn’t stop him from putting on a lively performance of the band’s top hits. The crowd sang along at the top of their lungs to “Trouble,” “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked,” and “Cigarette Daydreams” – alt rock classics that have cemented Cage the Elephant as icons in their genre.
Not a Clone, but the Original Punk Princess: Avril Lavigne
“Somehow it feels like nothing’s changed / I’m just a kid, still a pop-punk skater,” Avril Lavigne sings in her latest single, “Young & Dumb (feat. Simple Plan).” Seeing her perform at Boston Calling felt exactly like that: nothing’s changed, and she’s still the same talented pop punk rocker that she’s always been. With lime green hair and a matching green guitar, the Canadian singer-songwriter played songs old and new, opening with “Girlfriend,” “What the Hell,” and “Complicated” and showing archival footage of her early career on the screen behind her. Even with the crowd singing along loudly to these anthemic tracks, Lavigne’s incredible vocals still shone through. She even surprised audiences by inviting All Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth – who performed at the festival earlier in the day – on stage for their collaboration, “Fake as Hell.” She ended the set with “Sk8er Boi,” “Head Above Water,” and “I’m With You,” sandwiching hits from her 2002 debut Let Go with a track from her 2019 album Head Above Water. She truly is a masterful performer, and she showed everyone why she is the queen of pop-punk.
The Eras Tour, but Pop-Punk: Fall Out Boy
Move over, Taylor Swift: there’s a new Eras tour in town. In support of their 2023 album release, So Much (For) Stardust, Fall Out Boy crafted a set that was sure to include all of the fan favorites from across their career. Using a motif of waking up from the hospital into different Fall Out Boy phases, the band traveled through their discography, starting with their 2003 album, Take This to Your Grave. Throughout their set, they played hits like “Grand Theft Autumn / Where Is Your Boy,” “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down,” “Thnks fr th Mmrs,” “I Don’t Care,” ‘My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up),” and more. With each era evolution, the set changed, from showcasing the curtains that appear on From Under The Cork Tree to floating a winged sheep above the stage for Infinity on High. They even included the 8-ball surprise song bit that they did during their last tour, playing “Fame < Infamy” after shouting out their crew for making the show possible even with all the set changes. But with this show being in Boston, they couldn’t help but do what lead singer Patrick Stump described as “a dumb tourist thing:” playing a cover of Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” for the crowd to sing along to. Fall Out Boy is over 20 years into their career, but their talented musicianship and spectacular stage presence never get old. It was not only a perfect show for fans of all ages, but a fantastic end to the second day of Boston Calling.
