Boston showed its true colors during day two of Boston Calling: teenage girls screaming along to their idols, the elements causing an extended rain delay and a day’s lineup which bared a minor likeness to a top 40 radio-sponsored fest. Yesterday, though, none of that — aside from the rain, which cancelled Volcano Choir and Girl Talk’s sets, and threatened to cut the night entirely — detracted from catching Lorde, Childish Gambino, The Hold Steady, Bleachers, and Sky Ferriera in an impressive way.
Recap: Boston Calling Kicks off With The National, Neutral Milk Hotel & More
Our day began ordinarily enough with unremarkable performances early on, although we did have to chuckle while listening to Clifflight’s brostep. When Boston Calling began last year, it did receive some backlash for not slotting very many local acts in the lineup. It is called “Boston Calling,” after all.
It’s a difficult act to balance, though, as the festival needs to draw large numbers and marquee acts bring large crowds. This edition of Boston Calling focused in on festival-type local acts for its opening slots, including dance rockers Gentleman Hall and the aforementioned Clifflight, former Berklee College guys who compose radio-friendly live electronic music.
We also caught S. Carey early on, and while we were looking forward to the Wisconsin-based indie folk act whose claim to fame is supporting vocalist for Bon Iver, his sometimes ambient folk didn’t translate well in a large, outdoor setting. That said, his hushed voice and intricate chamber arrangements are worth giving a listen.
Crowds starting filing in right around the time Sky Ferriera, the LA-based electropop singer whose secondary gig as a model sheds some light on her personality and live performance. Ferriera certainly has the pop star charisma, but she also has that lackadaisical, laid-back approach to performing. Even while the teens who look up to her scream the lyrics along with her. The persona worked well for her self-written, well-crafted pop songs including “Boys” and hit “Everything Is Embarrassing.” It didn’t, though, for “You’re Not The One,” in which she stopped short and restarted because of monitor issues.
Jack Antonoff (lead singer of commercial indie pop act fun.) had better luck, as his side project Bleachers pulled out all the stops for their first performance in Boston. As evidenced by passionate performances of “Wild Heart” and “Take Me Away,” the group has lots of respect for expansive classic rock ballads ala Foreigner or REO Speedwagon. And they sang a surprisingly not-too-cheesy cover of The Cranberries’ “Dreams” in the midst of the pre-storm summer heat. But by no means are they a throwback act, as pop appeal is first and foremost. If there’s any question about that, just listen to radio jam “I Wanna Get Better.”
Following was The Hold Steady, the veteran bluesy alt rock act whose demographic mirrors themselves: the middle age white man looking for redemption. If you saw the 43-year old lead singer Craig Finn on the street, you’d never expect that this plaid shirt-clad guy was an accomplished rocker with some (awkward) dance moves. The decade old act ran through career spanning hits including “Chips Ahoy!,” singalong “Southtown Girls” and “Your Little Hoodrat Friend.” On the latter, the Boston-bred Finn reminisced on his past saying, “I was born here. I went to school here. I never thought I’d be a rock star here.”
While waiting for Volcano Choir, we were notified that the festival was being delayed due to incoming thunderstorms. Although the general crowd was evacuated out of the festival, media and VIP were allowed to stay within the covered mezzanine area. Until they shuttled us out of the grounds as well. While worries of Saturday’s performances prematurely ending were abound, it did resume (with similar-sized crowds) two hours later, although we missed out on Volcano Choir’s grand indie rock and the Girl Talk’s glittery remixes.
When the action resumed and Lorde came onstage, we were quickly glad that we stuck around (and the weather did hold up). We found that New Zealand-born pop starlet, whose quick rise to fame as an alt-leaning idol is impressive, is still just as cute and unassuming as her hit “Royals” in which she sings “We’ll never be royals / we crave a different kind of buzz.” With her unorthodox, girl-in-a-mirror-like dancing and uplifting monologues on feeling alone and wondering if she’s an adult (FYI: she is only 17), she sure pulled on the heartstrings of her fandom. And ours too. By the time big blasts of bass cued “Royals,” and Ella Yelich-O’Connor reappeared on stage wearing a sweeping red dress, we were sold. Other highlights from her set included “Tennis Courts,” “Ribs” and “Still Sane.”
Closing the night off was Childish Gambino, the hip hop outfit of actor Donald Glover, who appeared on the mere seconds after Lorde made her exit. Glover, who has only developed his hip hop act since 2011, has made large strides since we saw him last. Using the entire stage, and often whipping off his shirt to cheers, he does have a super solid rap flow for someone best known as a comedian. We enjoyed “Worldstar” and “IV. Sweatpants,” and the crowd that stuck around for his set was quite pumped. But it just wasn’t Lorde.
