PHOTOS: What You Missed at Boston Calling, Fall 2013
Photo by Margaret Burdge
Transforming City Hall Plaza into a laid-back festival ground, this past weekend’s second installment of Boston Calling brought out flower headbands, countless Ray-Bans, and Boston’s most avid music-lovers. With the huge success of the first festival in May, the September festival was planned as a bigger and better follow-up to the inaugural event.
With Saturday’s lineup opening with a wide selection of alternative and rock bands—from headliner Vampire Weekend and indie band Okkervil River to Providence’s Deer Tick—and Sunday turning City Hall Plaza into a dance fest—infused with upbeat sounds from Major Lazer, Flosstradamus, and Passion Pit—this weekend’s Boston Calling catered to all music tastes, bringing the best of all music worlds to Boston.
Below, check out photos from the second ever Boston Calling music festival:
Day 1
Photo by Margaret Burdge
“I never thought I’d be drinking a beer in City Hall Plaza,” said Dave Vicini (left) of Viva Viva. “Usually we’d get arrested for this.” The local band was selected as one of the two Sonicbids “Emerging Artists” bands to open both days of Boston Calling.
Photo by Margaret Burdge
Crowds cheered as You Won’t introduced their set by singing “All hail to Massachusetts, there is no finer land,” from the state song. The Boston love was echoed by many of the performers throughout the day. (Photo by Margaret Burdge)
Photo by Margaret Burdge
The lead singers of Lucius took to the stage in matching outfits for their performance.
Photo by Margaret Burdge
Fans cheered for Texas indie rock band, Okkervil River.
Photo by Margaret Burdge
Deer Tick performed on Day 1 of Boston Calling.
Photo by Margaret Burdge
The Airborne Toxic Event got crowds roaring with an energetic performance Saturday afternoon.
Photo by Margaret Burdge
Bat for Lashes was all smiles as she performed material from her current album, “The Haunted Man.”
Photo by Margaret Burdge
Los Angeles Band Local Natives hit the stage on a high note after a special introduction from Mayor Menino.
Photo by Margaret Burdge
Gaslight Anthem burned incense and decorated the stage with plastic figurines for their evening performance.
Photo by Margaret Burdge
Vampire Weekend closed out the night on Saturday with the biggest crowd of the day.
Day 2
PHOTO BY OLGA KHVAN
Royal Teeth, a pop group from Louisiana and winner of the Sonicbids “Emerging Artists” competition, kicked off Sunday’s performances.
PHOTO BY OLGA KHVAN
Bearstronaut lead singer David Martineau proclaimed love for his hometown at the beginning of the Boston-based band’s set.
PHOTO BY OLGA KHVAN
Jonathan Bates of Big Black Delta danced on stage throughout his performance.
PHOTO BY OLGA KHVAN
Flume, a 21-year-old DJ from Australia, started a crowd-wide dance party on Sunday.
PHOTO BY OLGA KHVAN
Solange encouraged the crowd to dance with her, pointing out during one song that she wanted to “turn this festival into a high school grind fest.”
PHOTO BY OLGA KHVAN
Flosstradamus, consisting of Chicago-based DJs J2K and Autobot, kept the energy high on Sunday.
PHOTO BY OLGA KHVAN
A large crowd gathered for the Flosstradamus set.
PHOTO BY OLGA KHVAN
Wolfgang Gartner was one of the few DJs in Sunday’s electronic-heavy lineup.
PHOTO BY OLGA KHVAN
Diplo threw out whistles and asked the crowd to twerk and throw their shirts in the air during the Major Lazer set.
PHOTO BY OLGA KHVAN
Even outside of the crowd, festival-goers danced to Major Lazer.
PHOTO BY OLGA KHVAN
Kendrick Lamar performed at Boston Calling on Sunday night. He will return to Boston in November to perform alongside Kanye West at TD Garden.
PHOTO BY OLGA KHVAN
Sunday’s Boston Calling served as a grand homecoming of sorts for Passion Pit, whose members once attended Berklee and Emerson.
PHOTO BY OLGA KHVAN
Passion Pit lead singer Michael Angelakos dedicated the band’s set to WFNX and the Boston Phoenix.
