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food lines are baaad. they werent prepared for a full weekend sellout
That was the other thing, IIRC they didn't have any additional food vendors in VIP. If the lines are bad, I'll go to whoever is the quickest even if it's something I'm mostly meh on. But no advantage to have VIP for that problem at BC.
Foo Fighters were really fuckin great. i knew way more songs than i expected too. National was eh, Matts voice sounded pretty off and strained. Beaches were good but i only caught a few song. honestly didnt catch any other acts today lol aside from being hella far for Dropkicks. It was a pretty fun day tho.
Some logistics thoughts: good: + porta potties were immaculately clean + never had to wait at water station + sound on red stage is actually decent + production in general went very smoothly this year ive noticed
Bad: - food lines were atrocious - merch lines were atrocious - a lot of restaurants ran out of the veg option pretty early - no mikeller tent?? - Vip expansion, such a bummer - theres now a huge bottleneck between green and red similar to 2017
i dont think they were expecting such massive crowds today. hopefully things are smoother sunday
Last Edit: May 26, 2023 23:55:54 GMT -5 by Deleted - Back to Top
*They significantly increased the number of porta-potties. No waiting, as long as you're savvy enough not to stop at the first couple of ones in a given "Relief Encampment."
*They set up some out of the way bleachers if you want to sit down for a while, on the path between Orange and Red. You really can't hear much from any stage, other than Orange, there, though. I sat out a chunk of the Dropkick Murphys set there. (Can't say that I really caught any of their set, since I spent much of it in a food line way at the far end of the Door Dash Food Court, as far from the stage as you could get. That was fine.)
*The "Epic Fail" this year is that they're not selling bottled water, only Liquid Death in cans. People drinking water may want to sip and hydrate, and not chug canned water like it's the latest TikTok challenge. The hack here is to bring in the allowed factory-sealed bottle of water (maybe something with a wide-mouth like Hint Water), and after you finish the bottle, pour each can of Liquid Death into the now-empty bottle.
*I can't recommend The Farmacy, in terms of value. The Cluckster that they sell in their restaurants is a mixed greens salad with pasture-raised chicken, shredded beets, roasted broccoli, pickled carrots, and spicy peanut dressing. That costs $10.50 in their cafes. For $14, what I got at Boston Calling was mixed greens, chicken, roasted broccoli, some barely-detectable sesame slaw, and spicy peanut dressing. I understand that no restaurant is doing the full menu at a festival, due to the need for speed in preparation and limited space, but make sure that your regular menu items which happen to be offered at the festival are the same versions sold in the restaurant. If they aren't, at least give them a different name. If you're a brick-and-mortar food seller located in the same city as the festival, you want to impress the local attendees and turn them into regular customers. (Healthy, vegetarian food-wise, I'd love to see Clover Food Labs come in. Their Chickpea Fritter sandwich -- what they call falafel -- is a work of art and they've always got a few interesting things on the menu.)
*The Naco Taco bowls looked good.
*The surprise musical guest at Fort Jersey Mike's was Welshly Arms, doing a short acoustic set. They aren't hosting an musical performances on Sat or Sun. Free mini-subs or something like that will be offered for 30 minutes beginning at the top of each hour between 2-6 pm. I believe that the choices are a turkey & provolone and ham & provolone.
*Yes, there were sound issues. The mix on Red sounded very bass heavy. Nothing's loud enough if you're off to the side, near the rail between the VIP section and Fort Miller Lite. But there's a great Red Stage hack. They're now hanging additional PA speakers at the back of the Red Stage soundboard. Stand near them, and the sound is very good. You'll only be able to see the performance on the video screen, but the sound can't be beat. I didn't catch much on Blue, but what I heard sounded fine as did the sound at the Orange stage.
Oh yeah, I saw some performers, too...
*I've liked The Beaches songs that I've checked out online and their set was a lot of fun. They strike me as being the closest thing to a modern version of The Go-Go's as exists today.
*I caught the second half of TALK's set. It was decent enough, and struck me as being more (classic) rock-sounding than the couple of YouTube videos I checked out.
*I saw all but the last song of Blue Light Bandits set on Orange. If a funk-jazz-rock-R&B mashup sounds like something you'd enjoy, they're worth checking out. FWIW, Orange had the best sound I heard all day.
*We've all seen shows where a band seemed totally off, but everything suddenly clicks at some point during the set, and the performance catches fire. That's exactly what happened with The National tonight. They really sounded off for the first third or so of their set, but everything took off with their performance of Abel. Still, I prefer the consistency of their 2018 set at the Red Stage. I love Bloodbuzz Ohio and was none too pleased that it was included in the pre-ignition portion of their set. FWIW, they wound up playing a tight 75 minutes, not the promised 90 minutes. Still, that was better than the originally scheduled hour.
*Foo Fighters were fine and dandy. They did their meat-and-potatoes middle of the road thing very well, and the two or three songs of theirs that I like gave me the requisite feels, but, by and large, I've never really connected with Dave Grohl's songwriting. I'm glad that I finally saw them, and it was nice seeing Josh Freese play live again with a third band. I don't think that I need to ever see them again, and that's perfectly alright with me.
Last Edit: May 27, 2023 11:12:09 GMT -5 by tw12 - Back to Top
Forgot to mention, despite the change in ownership, they're still using that quick, easy, and painless security system. Everyone got through so quickly that there wasn't even a line there when I arrived shortly after 3.
Had a pretty damn good time yesterday, even though I only really made it in for a few sets:
- First time seeing The National live and though it was a great show, I’m kinda glad they were on Red stage, I’m sure I would have enjoyed YYY but I think the National getting the extra 30 min and being separated from the folks waiting for Foos was a win
- Foo Fighters was pretty much everything I expected and fit the bill perfectly for this fest. Definitely interesting seeing them work through the whole situation, but I thought the vibes were pretty killer
Now I’ll be interested to see how today goes, but I think this is one of the first years they have had the bigger act playing on Friday and I wonder if that made some logistics like the food worse. I feel like Sun is usually the bigger day and places have Fri/Sat (or at least Fri) to get things dialed in. I guess we will see what this sold out Sat looks like
Celisse - her brand of soul/blues/rock was a nice kick-start to the day.
Talk - surprise great set of the day! I knew one song of theirs going in but enjoyed every minute of their polished, classic-rock tinged show.
Blue Light Bandits- the schedule shuffle allowed us to see this Worcester band’s full set, which was cool since by chance we met and rode the T into Harvard with band member Jay’s girlfriend and parents, who were bringing his guitar on the T! It’s great BC provides this opportunity for hard working local acts.
The National- I loved the whole set. They played my favorite-“England” and Matt came through the crowd right where we were standing! They’re an “acquired taste” IMO- and may not make as many new fans at a festival performance as other bands do…
Foo Fighters - fourth time seeing them, but this one was much different. So many of the songs took on a new- or renewed- meaning, as the band continues the healing process. Still a great set.
Logistics - no issues except the food lines. Our fault for waiting until 6:00. Most of our top picks would’ve meant missing an hour of music so I picked “Sausage Guys” since there was no line. My son got the chicken bowl TW12 described above, and that took 30”.
Overall- great time, friendly crowd. We’re looking forward to coming back.
it feels so weird to skip a day. i guess its nice to get a day of rest before i return sunday but theres nothing i’m interested in seeing today besides flips. Couldnt go anyways because i only have fri and sun bands but yeah, weird
Last Edit: May 27, 2023 8:53:51 GMT -5 by Deleted - Back to Top
Yeah but it’s understandable if there is really nothing you that floats your boat, you are far more likely just to get frustrated with the logistics and crowds.
Really looking forward to Joy Oladokun, Mt Joy and then the Flaming lips! Gonna be a wild nostalgia hit given I saw (but only have mild memories) them in my home town when they release this album
For only being there for 3, 2 acts (The National and Foo Fighters), I thought yesterday wasn't too bad.
- Yesterday was much more crowded early on than last year's Friday. Felt more like Sunday of last year with less black denim.
- The sound on red was much better than last year, Chelsea Cutler being the only exception. Celisse and The National sounded great and I could hear Celisse clear as day from the larger food court area. Not sure what the issue was with Chelsea Cutler's mix, but the vocals were muted and the backing electronic bass was turned up too loud, drowning out her voice and the keyboards.
- The Beaches were lively. Only knew a few of their songs before, but their energy had the crowd going for most of the set.
- Caught a few songs from GA-20 - meh.
- Caught a bit of Blue Light Bandits and they sounded great.
- It was funny watching some of the audience during The Dropkick Murphys. Opened with "The Boys are Back" and everyone was into it, then went into their library and many looked lost, only to perk back up with set closer "Shipping Up to Boston". It was a tight and energetic set, though.
- Loved The National's set and the new songs sounded great, although not sure how I felt about how Matt sung the chorus to Eucalyptus.
- Foo Fighters were great. You could tell that they are trying to navigate as a band without Taylor. Some of the song structure changes were good, but it did feel like every song had that false ending where there's a pause and then they go back into it. I don't remember that being the case the last time I saw them in 2018.
- Today is the sell-out day, and it will be interesting to see what a Lumineers/Noah Kahan/Alanis crowd is like compared to yesterday. Not that yesterday was bad, even the quick mosh pit for the Dropkicks was fun.
- There are a lot more acts that I am looking forward to today and I hope that Noah brings out Wesley from Lumineers to do the Jason Isbell track "If We Were Vampires" like he did in Colorado.
Yeah but it’s understandable if there is really nothing you that floats your boat, you are far more likely just to get frustrated with the logistics and crowds.
Really looking forward to Joy Oladokun, Mt Joy and then the Flaming lips! Gonna be a wild nostalgia hit given I saw (but only have mild memories) them in my home town when they release this album
I bet that you remember the Nun Puppet, though. Everybody remembers the Nun Puppet.
it feels so weird to skip a day. i guess its nice to get a day of rest before i return sunday but theres nothing i’m interested in seeing today besides flips. Couldnt go anyways because i only have fri and sun bands but yeah, weird
i havent missed a day of this fest since 2017, it felt very strange not going yesterday. Even stranger since I work basically on the fest grounds. I did walk to the river and hear a couple foo fighters songs, sounded alright
it feels so weird to skip a day. i guess its nice to get a day of rest before i return sunday but theres nothing i’m interested in seeing today besides flips. Couldnt go anyways because i only have fri and sun bands but yeah, weird
i havent missed a day of this fest since 2017, it felt very strange not going yesterday. Even stranger since I work basically on the fest grounds. I did walk to the river and hear a couple foo fighters songs, sounded alright
the last time i skipped a day was the Avett Brothers/Of Monsters and Men day in fall 2015. definitely felt strange. i’m hoping next year isnt as mid lineup wise but im not holding my breath
I'll post some proper notes in the morning, but I'm curious. Has there ever been a more crowded day at any of the Harvard editions of Boston Calling? I've missed a couple of days or left early over the years, so I can't say with certainty, but I don't recall ever seeing it as crowded there. If there does have to be one super hot day this weekend, I'm glad that it's the day with the fewest tickets sold. It would have been unbearable today with both extreme heat and those crowds.
A quick hack that worked wonders for me today...my feet were killing me on Friday and very painful when I got out of bed the next morning. So today, I used cannabis salve on my feet right before putting my socks and sneakers on, and I had a much easier time of it. I'll be doing the same for all long days of live music from now on, plus applying it right before bed, as well.
A quick hack that worked wonders for me today...my feet were killing me on Friday and very painful when I got out of bed the next morning.
Had a similar issue at Shaky Knees. Did a lot of walking and standing on Friday, sore feet after. Ended up going to the store to get the gel inserts for your shoes. Was a little helpful. For Georgia, probably one of the better options there.
I'll post some proper notes in the morning, but I'm curious. Has there ever been a more crowded day at any of the Harvard editions of Boston Calling? I've missed a couple of days or left early over the years, so I can't say with certainty, but I don't recall ever seeing it as crowded there. If there does have to be one super hot day this weekend, I'm glad that it's the day with the fewest tickets sold. It would have been unbearable today with both extreme heat and those crowds.
I think there was a similar crowd for Metallica, difference was this crowd showed up at 3pm and was there all day. I’d bet this was most attended/longest time attended. Navigating the Red/Green around Mt Joy and Noah was pretty wild.
I'll post some proper notes in the morning, but I'm curious. Has there ever been a more crowded day at any of the Harvard editions of Boston Calling? I've missed a couple of days or left early over the years, so I can't say with certainty, but I don't recall ever seeing it as crowded there. If there does have to be one super hot day this weekend, I'm glad that it's the day with the fewest tickets sold. It would have been unbearable today with both extreme heat and those crowds.
I think there was a similar crowd for Metallica, difference was this crowd showed up at 3pm and was there all day. I’d bet this was most attended/longest time attended. Navigating the Red/Green around Mt Joy and Noah was pretty wild.
i’m not surprised, you put 3 xfinity center level acts and 1 fenway level act back to back its gonna be hella crowded. hoping its not awful for Paramore/Qotsa today with everyone going to King Gizz
A quick hack that worked wonders for me today...my feet were killing me on Friday and very painful when I got out of bed the next morning.
Had a similar issue at Shaky Knees. Did a lot of walking and standing on Friday, sore feet after. Ended up going to the store to get the gel inserts for your shoes. Was a little helpful. For Georgia, probably one of the better options there.
Georgia...right. It would be a shame to wind up in one of those clickbait stories as the poor sap that's doing 5-10 in a Georgia state prison because a hotel cleaning staff member saw a tin of salve on the nightstand and showed it to the hotel manager, who called the police.
I think there was a similar crowd for Metallica, difference was this crowd showed up at 3pm and was there all day. I’d bet this was most attended/longest time attended. Navigating the Red/Green around Mt Joy and Noah was pretty wild.
i’m not surprised, you put 3 xfinity center level acts and 1 fenway level act back to back its gonna be hella crowded. hoping its not awful for Paramore/Qotsa today with everyone going to King Gizz
Once I saw the crowd, I realized that it was Noah Kahan who was the biggest draw yesterday, not Lumineers. The place was *crawling* with 15-25 year olds. (I get why they relate to the unabashed romanticism in his music, but a line like "Spend the rest of my life with what could have been" hits differently when you're in your sixties than it does when you're a teenager.)
I've quickly grown to love Kahan's music for the same reason that I love Westerberg, Tweedy, Costello, and Hozier, among others; they provide me with great emotional catharsis and it's always been the writers who consistently create songs which I easily connect to my hopes, dreams, loves, desires, fears, frustrations, and failures who wind up becoming my favorite artists. Like Hozier and Dawes, Kahan is going to become one of those artists who attracts an audience that spans generations.,
My chiropractor told me that his son, who's 15 or 16, loves Noah Kahan. I saw a ton of kids like him yesterday.
I loved the set, and not only because his music gets to me. He's got an engaging onstage personality and, as someone of Jewish descent myself who's troubled by the rise in open antisemitism in the U.S., I really appreciated the fact he talks about his Jewish identity onstage (calling himself "The Jewish Ed Sheeran" and excitedly mentioning that another member of the band is Jewish during the introductions), just like Karly Hartzman of Wednesday talks in interviews about growing up Jewish in the south. I'm happy to turn up for members of the tribe this weekend (Noah, the Dessner twins, Pat Smear...but sorry, Jack, Genesis Owusu sounds like a lot more fun, especially after hearing that horrible Bleachers cover of "Hard Day's Night.")
If he's not back as a full top line headliner next year, he'll be playing Fenway (or two nights at the Garden). Although I suspect that I'll wind up seeing him sooner; maybe in line at a dispensary or coffee shop. #TeamNorthOfTheCharlesSouthOf128
There's no way to know, but I suspect that the same lineup without Noah Kahan yesterday doesn't sell nearly as many tickets.
i’m not surprised, you put 3 xfinity center level acts and 1 fenway level act back to back its gonna be hella crowded. hoping its not awful for Paramore/Qotsa today with everyone going to King Gizz
Once I saw the crowd, I realized that it was Noah Kahan who was the biggest draw yesterday, not Lumineers. The place was *crawling* with 15-25 year olds. (I get why they relate to the unabashed romanticism in his music, but a line like "Spend the rest of my life with what could have been" hits differently when you're in your sixties than it does when you're a teenager.)
I've quickly grown to love Kahan's music for the same reason that I love Westerberg, Tweedy, Costello, and Hozier, among others; they provide me with great emotional catharsis and it's always been the writers who consistently create songs which I easily connect to my hopes, dreams, loves, desires, fears, frustrations, and failures who wind up becoming my favorite artists. Like Hozier and Dawes, Kahan is going to become one of those artists who attracts an audience that spans generations.,
My chiropractor told me that his son, who's 15 or 16, loves Noah Kahan. I saw a ton of kids like him yesterday.
I loved the set, and not only because his music gets to me. He's got an engaging onstage personality and, as someone of Jewish descent myself who's troubled by the rise in open antisemitism in the U.S., I really appreciated the fact he talks about his Jewish identity onstage (calling himself "The Jewish Ed Sheeran" and excitedly mentioning that another member of the band is Jewish during the introductions), just like Karly Hartzman of Wednesday talks in interviews about growing up Jewish in the south. I'm happy to turn up for members of the tribe this weekend (Noah, the Dessner twins, Pat Smear...but sorry, Jack, Genesis Owusu sounds like a lot more fun, especially after hearing that horrible Bleachers cover of "Hard Day's Night.")
If he's not back as a full top line headliner next year, he'll be playing Fenway (or two nights at the Garden). Although I suspect that I'll wind up seeing him sooner; maybe in line at a dispensary or coffee shop. #TeamNorthOfTheCharlesSouthOf128
There's no way to know, but I suspect that the same lineup without Noah Kahan yesterday doesn't sell nearly as many tickets.
Agree 100% on everything you say about Noah. Love his music and his lyrics run a lot deeper than the kiddie pool that the Lumineers wade in. His set yesterday was a lot of fun and, like you said, his personality and genuine graciousness really shines on the big stage. There were a couple of 6? year old boys on their fathers' shoulders right next to me and they were singing along to every song. It was pretty crazy.
I also agree that Kahan was a large percentage of the draw. While my 16 year old daughter was excited to see Lumineers, she was beyond ecstatic to see Kahan. About 30 minutes into The Lumineers set she said she was ready to go and we weren't the only ones. There was a fairly large exodus even that early.
As for the rest of the day -
- As Nterlude mentions above, probably the same amount of people as Metallica last year, maybe even more, but they were all there early and not a few hours before the headliner. This made getting around a little bit trickier/longer depending on where you wanted to go and all of the lines were long early and throughout the day.
- Caught part of Q-Tip Bandits. Fun music and a great way to start the day.
- Not sure what is wrong with the red stage sound issues. Was reading something on Reddit that there's some ordinance about that stage where the sound can't go above a certain level due to its positioning. Not sure what that means as the green stage right next to it normally doesn't have that issue.
- Anyway, while The National sounded great on Friday, The Aces had issues with their lead guitarist's sound. Mic barely worked (bassist's mic never worked) and couldn't really hear the guitar. However, you could hear the vocalist fine as well as her guitar when she played. Not sure if that's a BC issue or band's sound engineer issue.
- Mt. Joy sounded fine from the right of the stage and back some.
- Joy Oladokun was, for lack of a better term, a joy. Such positive energy and fun stage banter - "Some say I look like Lil John at his peak but he was a park ranger"
- Kahan, as mentioned, was phenomenal. I am seeing him in August at the Iron Blossom festival in Richmond, VA, so we'll get a chance to be closer (holds less than 10k), but even as far back as we were, he had the entirety of the 30k+ singing along at the top of their lungs.
- The Flaming Lips - tied for my favorite performance with Kahan, but maybe a slight edge due to the stage show and the nostalgia of hearing "Yoshimi" in its entirety. Wayne Coyne looked like he was genuinely enjoying himself and the crowd fed off of his energy. The giant pink robots were fun too!
Today will be a bit less crowded, but need to deal with the heat.
With Live Nation now in charge and seeing the sales from this weekend, I wonder what they will do in future years to spread things out to make the festival feel less cramped if they keep it at the athletic grounds. Or maybe the sound issues and crowd sizes keep people away in future years. Guess that's for the 2024 thread.
