Ed Sheeran, Tyler Childers and The Killers will headline Boston Calling this year, but they are not the only notable acts taking the stage at the three-day festival.

The headliners will be joined by more than 50 artists, including more than 20 acts from the Northeast.

To highlight these local artists, MassLive will publish profiles on the acts leading up to the festival’s May 24 start date.

The Thing

Since they were childhood friends, members of The Thing have dreamt about being in a band.

The Brooklyn-based group is made up of Zane Acord, Jack Bradley, Michael Carter and Lucas Ebeling. Everyone in the band started playing music at a young age, had parents who were musicians and played in bands during their youth.

Acord, Bradley and Carter all met in middle school and high school, and “always shared a dream of starting a band,” the group told MassLive. The trio moved to Brooklyn and formed The Thing in 2022. The band then “stole” Ebeling from the New York jazz scene to go on tour and the rest is history.

“Committed to doing everything they can in-house, the band records at their East Williamsburg studio Onion Records, creates their own visuals, and has crafted a visual identity that marries the grit of the ‘90s with the effortless temptation of the ‘70s,” a press release about The Thing reads.

The band’s sophomore album “The Thing Is” was released earlier this year. Before recording “The Thing Is,” the band members quit their jobs and gave up their stable homes to commit themselves to being out on the road.

Now, The Thing is embarking on their biggest headline tour thus far, which includes the band’s first-ever Boston Calling performance on Sunday, May 26 on the Blue Stage.

“We’re humbled to share the stage with so many great acts,” the band said. “We usually play in smaller energetic rock clubs and we’re excited to bring that to the bigger stage.”

Bradley also went to school in Boston, so the musician is extra excited to play at a festival he heard so much about for so long. But that’s not the only tie the band has to Boston.

The group attended Boston Calling last year and said their favorite memory was watching the Dropkick Murphys. This year The Thing is excited to watch The Heavy Heavy, which they called “one of the best live acts and great people.”

You can learn more about The Thing by visiting the band’s website.

Boston Calling will take place Memorial Day Weekend from Friday, May 24, until Sunday, May 26, at the Harvard Athletic Complex in Allston.

Fans looking to purchase tickets for Boston Calling can visit StubHub and VividSeats. More information about this year’s lineup and how to purchase tickets can be found here.

Jrue Holiday has not been counted on to produce big scoring numbers while performing all of the other duties required of as starting point guard in the NBA playoffs.

Holiday put together another complete game in the Celtics 133-128 overtime victory over the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday night at the TD Garden.

“It definitely was a battle and the type of team they are, they are never going to give up,” said Holiday. “They were like that all year and especially in their playoff run.

“I think we have been trying to be consistent as possible on the boards and trying to stop them in transition. They pass the ball up and use the clock well, especially off the rebound. That is something we are going to go back and look at.”

The 6-5, 220-pound, 15-year pro out of UCLA had his best game of the playoffs by the end of regulation. Holiday shot 10-of-16 from the floor with four treys, six rebounds, six boards, three steals and season-high 26 points. His average in the Celtics previous 10 playoff games against Miami and Cleveland was 10.4 points per game.

“Jrue is the that kind of guy, and credit him for making the (NBA) All-Defensive (second) team,” said Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla. “He is the kind of guy that can impact a game in different ways every night and tonight it was his scoring, his playmaking and his defense and his all-around game.

“I thought his poise and his demeanor through out the game was instrumental for us.”

Holiday played the entire overtime frame to lead the team with 48 minutes. He added three assists and a rebound to his regulation stats and iced the game with two free throws with 16.7 seconds on the clock. His previous high this season was 22 versus San Antonio on Jan. 17 and his career high is 51 against Indiana on March 29, 2023. The Celtics outscored the Pacers 16-11 in the extra frame but needed some lucky turnovers to force the OT.

“I think we knew there was always a chance, we’ve seen crazy stuff happen all the time,” said Holiday. “I don’t think we’ve lost the game until we lost the game and that is part of the reason why we are so resilient.

“Like I said, anything can happen and we made some shots when we were wide open and we win the game.”

Holiday had some big moments during the course of the game. He hit his first 3-point shot from 26 feet during the Celtics’ opening 12-0 run.  He had another to make it 74-71 at 9:12 of the third and opened the fourth quarter with a pair of short jumpers.

“I’m just continuing to be aggressive and continue to work on my game and continually have the coaches and my teammates and my coaches in my ear telling me that they are going to need me,” said Holiday. “Just being aggressive no matter what end of the floor, we are on. If we continue to do that, we will see what happens.

Holiday had been building for this moment as one of general manager Brad Stevens key offseason team building additions. He appeared in 69 games in the regular season, all starts, and averaged 12.5 points with a career high 5.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game.

BOSTON – If you want to learn a lesson in courage and going after a dream, look no further than 17-year-old Fahad Yasin. He’s part of the STEM Aviation program at the Jeremiah E. Burke High School in Boston. Now, he’s the program’s first student to take flight. 

“When I was younger, I really wanted to fly, but I never had the opportunity to do it. But now I can, so I’m going to do it,” Yasin smiled.  

Yasin has been part of Burke’s Pathways Program since September. For the past nine months, Yasin’s been taking aviation classes twice a week. On Tuesday, it was time for the real thing. Yasin took off from Norwood Memorial Airport with family and school officials cheering him on all the way. He  was calm and cool in the cockpit. “You feel the motion. You feel the wind. You feel the plane shake under turbulence,” Yasin said. He flew for about 45 minutes – over Gillette Stadium and back. 

And after a comprehensive safety check with his instructor Harry Scales, it was engine start and skies the limit.  

“This is something awesome. The program is doing exactly what it was intendent to do – exactly. It’s getting the kids from the classroom doing simulation into the aircraft,” Burke Stem Aviation Program Director Marcus James said.

“The goal of these programs is to help students connect with what they are passionate about and hopefully help them develop skills within those passions and help them decide what to do after high school,” Burke High School Career Pathways Coordinator Jennifer Lillis said.

 After a perfect landing, there is no question what Yasin wants to become. “It was surreal. It’s something else. My favorite part about it was when you take off, there’s nothing underneath you – just you, the plane and everything else became small,” Yasin said. He hopes to get his pilot’s license and work for a commercial airline.

He hopes his classmates also follow his lead. “It does take a lot of work, but if you really want to do it, there is nothing stopping you. The opportunity is right there – just go for it. The hardest part is starting it,” he smiled. 

The Boston school district says it hopes to expand the Aviation program to other schools so more students can be exposed to careers in aviation.