Boston Calling Can’t Catch a Break

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A nasty break from Mom Nature and a pair of COVID-related cancellations put a little bit of a damper on the three-day music pageant because it makes its grand return to the Harvard Athletic Complicated this 12 months, however that’s reside leisure within the 12 months 2022 for ya.

After a sizzling and hitch-free first day of the pageant on Friday, issues bought just a little moist for day two as a extreme thunderstorm rolled via mid-afternoon, simply because the festivities had been getting began once more. Boston Calling runs rain-or-shine—and the pageant has actually seen its fair proportion of the previous over time. However there’s solely a lot you are able to do when there’s lightning within the forecast at an outside occasion.

As menacing thunderclouds rolled in over the Harvard Athletic Complicated, followers had been advised over the three phases’ loudspeakers just a little after 3:30 p.m. that they wanted to evacuate. Followers spilled out into Harvard Sq., or into the empty Harvard Stadium constructing close by, to take shelter. Safety guards had been additionally turning folks away outdoors the doorway.

Some folks, clearly, made essentially the most of it.

The present resumed at 5:30 p.m., when the pageant gates re-opened, and the music began up once more at 6 p.m. However by the point followers bought that excellent news, they bought a little bit of not good information when Australian rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard introduced that they had been dropping out of the present after a constructive COVID case.

It was one other bummer for Saturday ticket holders on the three-day pageant, who discovered yesterday that deliberate headliner The Strokes additionally needed to again out on account of a constructive COVID case.

Of their place, 9 Inch Nails stepped as much as take the stage but once more on Saturday after headlining Friday evening. Nice information in case you’re actually into 9 Inch Nails (and this reporter can verify they crushed it on Friday), however a buzzkill in case you had been actually hoping to lastly see “Reptilia” reside.

9 Inch Nails had already been a last-minute addition to the lineup, after authentic headliners Foo Fighters needed to cancel after the tragic sudden demise of drummer Taylor Hawkins.

In all, The Strokes canceling marked the fourth change on the prime of the invoice for the reason that pageant introduced headliners again in 2020, and Pink Sizzling Chili Peppers and Rage In opposition to the Machine had been alleged to be the primary sights.

So, actually a pair sudden hiccups this 12 months as Boston Calling makes its large return following its COVID-induced hiatus.

In any other case, the pageant was off to a contemporary new begin this 12 months following all that downtime. For one, Boston Calling has actually doubled down on its efforts to focus on space musicians and provides the fest an actual sense of place. Living proof is the new-this-year Orange Stage, the place the lineup is completely New England-based bands (you possibly can see our round-up of them right here). The stage is way smaller than the others, which means crowds that cease by to get a really feel for some hometown bands get extra of an intimate mini-festival-within-a-festival vibe.

Additionally this 12 months, the pageant has opted towards reserving any comedians, and not makes use of the indoor Harvard enviornment as a efficiency venue. Which is okay—this is an outside music pageant, in spite of everything. However! It does imply followers have one much less place to get beneath a roof in case it’s scorching sizzling outdoors. Or if, nicely, an enormous thunderstorm rolls via.

Right here’s hoping there are not any extra curveballs for Boston Calling 2022, and town can put the buzzkills behind us and simply have a good time the return of the most important musical occasion of the 12 months.