Concert Review: Boston Calling (Day 2)-- Allston, MA-- May 26th, 2018

Lineup: Jack White/Queens of the Stone Age/St. Vincent/Royal Blood/Daniel Caesar/The Menzingers/Lillie Mae/Several others including Tyler, the Creator, Brockhampton and Manchester Orchestra
Venue: Harvard Athletic Complex, Allston, MA

Lillie Mae: Pure country/folk isn't my thing, but Lillie Mae's decision to close out her set with an 8-minute hoedown that featured multiple fiddle solos is an all-time flex move that I immensely respect.

The Menzingers: This festival served as the introduction to The Menzingers that I've somehow managed to avoid since they dropped their widely-acclaimed third LP On the Impossible Past back in 2012. While they're not an act I can see myself listening to with any degree of regularity, I get why they're arguably the most beloved midlife crisis punk band on the planet right now. With their sincere emotion, amusing stage banter and collection of relatively catchy songs, the Pennsylvania-based quartet made for a nice, early afternoon diversion.

Daniel Caesar: While watching Daniel Caesar play, I couldn't shake the feeling that he'd arrived in 2018 via a wormhole. The 23-year Toronto native's smooth voice, lush, guitar-driven instrumentals and romantic lyrics are straight out of the early R&B/soul playbook. Sadly, Caesar couldn't parlay his distinct nostalgic vibe and considerable vocal talent into a memorable performance. After the first couple of songs, everything began to bleed together and that lack of variety ended up making his set kind of a slog to sit through.

Royal Blood: After sitting with relative indifference through the first few hours of the festival, the block of artists that I came to see to play had finally arrived. Royal Blood made that wait worth it with an energetic set that showcased the riff-driven joys the British hard rock duo have delivered in spades during their relatively brief career thus far. The straightforward catchy grooves their songs are built around sound absolutely massive in person and their tightness as a unit is pretty impressive. Special shoutout to vocalist/bassist Mike Kerr for soldiering through the final quarter of the set after he clearly sustained a foot or ankle injury following a jump off the stack amps.      

St. Vincent: Annie Clark is a mad genius. Her absurd vocal range, commanding stage presence, bizarre video backdrops and occasional bold rearrangements of her songs (ex: tropical guitar on "Rattlesnake", upbeat synths on "Slow Disco") resulted in a mesmerizing show that only got better as it went along. Even with the greatness that hit the stage after her set, this beautiful, eccentric display of virtuoso musicianship managed to be the day's undisputed top highlight.

Queens of the Stone Age: I've voiced my dissatisfaction with the recent output of Queens of the Stone ad nauseam over the past several years, so I was pretty fucking shocked that I ended up really enjoying their live show. The combination of thunderous riffs, stoner weirdness and vintage rockstar attitude that made them such a uniquely destructive force in the late 90's to mid 2000's was present during every moment of their hit-filled 75-minute set. I left their performance with a big smile and an overwhelming sense of regret that my stubborn ass emphatically passed on multiple opportunities to see them over the past five years.

Jack White: As strong as his dense studio catalog is, the live environment brings out the best in Jack White. The spontaneity that this setting allows for gives White the opportunity to tap into his blues/jazz/punk roots, which makes his shows an authentic, fun as all hell throwback to the days where talented people got together and created music on the fly. Being on a stage with several other gifted musicians grants him the freedom to improvise with each composition in interesting ways without completely disregarding the feel of the original studio track while also beefing up the rawness that has made him one of the most influential figures in rock music over the past 15-20 years. It was abundantly clear that this simple sense of freewheeling adventure is why he feel in love with music and it made his set a triumphant, joyous finale for the incredible stretch of performances that closed out the middle day of this year's Boston Calling.

Stray Observations:
-Jack White's guitar tone belongs in the Louvre.
-Despite the fact it was over 90 degrees and sunny when he was on stage, Daniel Caesar still felt compelled to wear a hoodie on stage. I guess Canadians are actually coldblooded.
-Josh Homme didn't kick any fans in the head! #progress
-Most WTF-inducing festival moment of the day: A 50-something couple that looked like Sons of Anarchy extras carrying folded up Razor scooters during Queens of the Stone Age's set.
-Boston Calling doesn't get enough credit for how well run it is. Nearly every set starts on time, the grounds are easy to navigate, there's good sightlines at every stage and just about every small issue from last year's festival (long entry/concession lines, PA issues on the main stage) were solved this year. If this level of near-universal proficiency continues, this festival is going to be on a Coachella/Bonaroo/Lollapalloza level in no time at all.
     
Scores:
Lillie Mae: C
The Menzingers: B-
Daniel Caesar: C+
Royal Blood: B+
St. Vincent: A
Queens of the Stone Age: A-
Jack White: A-

Setlists:
The Menzingers:
Tellin' Lies
Good Things
House on Fire
The Obituaries
Thick as Thieves
After the Party
In Remission
Your Wild Years
Burn After Writing
Lookers
I Don't Wanna Be An Asshole Anymore

Daniel Caesar included:
Japanese Denim (opener)
Hold Me Down
Best Part

Royal Blood:
Figure It Out
Where Are You Now?
Lights Out
I Only Lie When I Love You
Little Monster
Come on Over
You Can Be So Cruel
Hook, Line & Sinker
Loose Change
Out of the Black

St.Vincent:
Sugarboy
Los Ageless
Pills
New York
Savior
Masseduction
Huey Newton
Year of the Tiger
Marrow
Cruel
Cheerleader
Digital Witness
Rattlesnake
Young Lover
Fear the Future
Slow Disco

Queens of the Stone Age:
You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, but I Feel Like a Millionaire
No One Knows
Feet Don't Fail Me
The Way You Used to Do
Smooth Sailing
In My Head
My God is the Sun
The Evil Has Landed
Make It Wit Chu
Sick, Sick, Sick
I Sat By the Ocean
Domesticated Animals
Little Sister
Go With the Flow
A Song for the Dead

Jack White:
Over and Over and Over
Lazaretto
Wasting My Time (The White Stripes cover)
Corporation
Hotel Yorba (The White Stripes cover)
Love Interruption
Hello Operator (The White Stripes cover)
I Cut Like a Buffalo (The Dead Weather cover)
Black Math (The White Stripes cover)
Steady as She Goes (The Raconteurs cover)
Freedom at 21
The Hardest Button to Button (The White Stripes cover)
Connected by Love

Encore:
Little Bird (The White Stripes cover)
I'm Slowly Turning Into You (The White Stripes cover)
Ice Station Zebra
Why Walk a Dog?
Sixteen Saltines
When I Hear My Name (The White Stripes cover)
Blunderbuss
That Black Bat Licorice
Ball and Biscuit (The White Stripes cover)
Seven Nation Army (The White Stripes cover)

Concert Review: Boston Calling (Day 3)-- Allston, MA-- May 28th, 2017

Lineup: Tool/Weezer/Major Lazer/Cage the Elephant/Run the Jewels/Flatbush Zombies/Converge/The Hotelier/Numerous Others
Venue: Harvard Athletic Complex, Allston, MA
Date: May 27th, 2017

The Hotelier: As someone who hadn't heard a note of their music prior to seeing them live, I can say that the hype The Hotelier has picked up in indie/emo circles over the past few years is completely justified. The emotion that drives every one of their songs reminds me of The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me-era Brand New and vocalist Christian Holden has a really distinct voice that fits the melancholy tone of their music incredibly well. After blindly ignoring the praise for their last two LP's (2014's Home, Like Noplace Is There and 2016' Goodness), this set was all the convincing I needed to finally check out The Hotelier's studio material.

Converge: Mathcore pioneers Converge they didn't let their status as an extreme metal outlier on an indie rock-heavy festival prevent them from wreaking their typical levels of havoc. Despite playing on a massive stage in front of a pretty scarce crowd, this show contained every ounce of the beautiful, unrelenting chaos that defines their headlining shows. Even though this was my third time seeing them, the level of intensity that Converge brings to the stage continues to floor me. They're one of the few acts whose I would describe as a force of nature and that gift for creating pure musical destruction paired with their mind-blowing technical prowess makes them one of my favorite bands to see live.

Flatbush Zombies: Screw trying to be eloquent, Flatbush Zombies are fuckin LIT live. The New York hip-hip trio's 50-minute set was exactly the type of non-stop party I wanted at a big festival like this. The rapping from Meechy Darko, Zombie Juice and Erick the Architect was spot-on, the setlist was full of bangers and perhaps most importantly, they possess the authentic punk-rock aesthetic that so many other rappers right now try to emulate with little-to-no success. I've rambled on and on in the past about how frustratingly erratic live hip-hop performances can be, so it's always great to see an act that doesn't fuck around and puts forth 110% effort the entire time they're on stage. If it wasn't for the crowd's relatively low energy level, this would've been my favorite set of the day.

Run the Jewels: Death, taxes and Run the Jewels kicking all sorts of ass live are life's only guarantees. The dream team of Killer Mike and El-P delivered an hour-long set of hardcore hip-hop perfection and unlike Flatbush Zombies, the crowd matched their energy every step of the way. The near-identical setlist and rehashing of a majority of the stage banter from their headlining tour in February made this the least enjoyable of the four times I've seen them, but RTJ was still dope as hell.

Cage the Elephant: I only watched these guys because I needed to kill some time before Weezer went on, but they ended up being pretty decent. They had some solid bluesy riffs and their singer's Mick Jagger-esque mannerisms were entertaining to watch. I don't envision myself ever becoming a Cage the Elephant fan, but their live show was a perfectly adequate, inoffensive way to spend 45 minutes at a festival.

Weezer: In my eyes, Weezer was the biggest wild card on this entire festival. I've been nothing more than a casual fan of theirs since my teenage years and they've released a grand total of two albums that I've enjoyed (2014's Everything Will Be Alright in the End and 2016's The White Album) since Y2K hit, so I wouldn't have been the least surprised if they ended up not making much of an impression on me. Not only did Weezer not underwhelm, they ended up putting on one of my favorite sets of the day. Their set was essentially a 75-minute journey through the biggest hits of their nearly 30-year career and while you could certainly accuse of them pandering to the festival crowd, it was an exhilarating blast of pure nostalgia. The combination of the band's musical precision and frontman Rivers Cuomo's geeky energy made me feel like I was seeing them on the Blue Album or Pinkerton tour. I'm a moron for doubting Weezer's ability as a live act and I would go see them again without hesitation.


Tool: On a day that was full of excellent performances, a letdown was bound to happen. Unfortunately, that letdown came in the form of Boston Calling's top headliner Tool.

To be fair, the issues that bogged down Tool's set had pretty much nothing to do with the band itself. The combination of the spot I was standing in near the back right of the festival's main stage area (I wasn't willing to skip out on Weezer and Run the Jewels in order to secure a spot near the front) and a wonky PA system made around 90% of Tool's set an auditory nightmare. The first two songs of the set ("The Grudge" and "Parabola") were borderline inaudible and after they turned the sound up to a more reasonable volume prior to the start of "Schism", the guitars and vocals alternated between being super loud and really quiet for the next hour or so. By the time these issues subsided shortly after the start of "Vicarious", the set was pretty much over and the damage had already been done. Tool clearly can't be blamed for problems with the festival's sound system, but those issues with the PA still put an undeniable damper on the quality of their set.

Of course for a band of Tool's caliber, a shitty sound mix wasn't enough to completely derail their performance. Tool is the closest thing the metal community has to a jam band and their live show emphasizes why they are the biggest psychedelic weirdos in heavy music. The parade of inexplicably strange imagery that floods their wall-to-wall video backdrop and vocalist Maynard James Keenan's minimalist, oddball stage presence (he stood in the back of the stage next to the drum riser for the duration of the set) perfectly matches the trippy, instrumental-driven vibe of their music. The restrained, hallucinatory vibe that drives Tool's shows is the complete antithesis of the genre's traditionally high-energy atmosphere and I doubt I'll ever experience anything like it from another metal band as long as I live. 

Tool's musicianship was also unsurprisingly outstanding. Their rhythm section of bassist Justin Chancellor and drummer Danny Carey was among the tightest I've ever seen play live and when I could actually hear him, Keenan's vocals sounded fantastic. I've always admired Tool as musicians, but seeing them pull their material off without any hiccups has sent that respect level into the stratosphere. While it was far from perfect, it was cool to finally get to experience Tool's renowned visual/laser show and superb musicianship in person.

Scores:
The Hotelier 7.5/10
Converge 9.5/10
Flatbush Zombies 9/10
Run the Jewels 9/10
Cage the Elephant 6/10
Weezer 9/10
Tool 8/10

Setlists:
Converge:
Dark Horse
Aimless Arrow
The Broken Vow
Trespasses
All We Love We Leave Behind
Worms Will Feed/Rats Will Feast
Reap What You Sow
Glacial Pace
Eagles Become Vultures
Concubine
Jane Doe

Flatbush Zombies:
The Odyssey
Bounce
New Song
This is It
Trade-Off
New Song
Glorious Thugs
New Phone, Who Dis?
New Song
Bath Salt (A$AP Mob cover)
Palm Trees

Run the Jewels: 
Talk to Me
Legend Has It
Call Ticketron
Blockbuster Night Part 1
Oh My Darling Don't Cry
Nobody Speak (DJ Shadow cover)
Hey Kids (Bumaye)
Stay Gold
Don't Get Captured
Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck)
Panther Like a Panther
Lie, Cheat, Steal
A Report to the Shareholders
Down
Run the Jewels


Weezer:
Hash Pipe
My Name is Jonas
Pork and Beans
Feels Like Summer
Memories
Hey Ya! (Outkast cover)
(If You're Wondering If I Want You to) I Want You to
Perfect Situation
Troublemaker
Thank God for Girls
Beverly Hills
Dope Nose/Back to the Shack/Keep Fishin'/The Good Life/Surf Wax America (medley)
Undone-The Sweater Song
Island in the Sun
I Took a Pill in Ibiza (Mike Posner cover)
King of the World
Say it Ain't So
Buddy Holly

Tool:
The Grudge
Parabola
Schism
Opiate
Aenema 
Jambi
Third Eye
Forty Six & 2
Sweat
Vicarious
Stinkfist