Over the last several years in Boston, Memorial Day Weekend has become the backdrop for one of the premiere live music events in the country, with some of the biggest names in the industry descending on the Harvard Athletic Complex for three days of musical madness across three stages.
The Boston Calling Music Festival, like so many other live events and social activities in 2020, had to make the unfortunate call to cancel amid the coronavirus pandemic. This year’s headliners were some of the most iconic rock acts in the business: Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Rage Against the Machine.
Since it launched in the spring of 2013, we have seen many different iterations of the festival, growing from a two-day event at City Hall Plaza that featured fun. and The National as headlining acts (not to mention, a wicked storm that blew through on Saturday) to a three-day blowout in Allston with two times the original attendance.
Over the next 10 days, the evolution of Boston Calling will take center stage with a retrospective celebrating the last seven years of shows, festival by festival, on the organizer’s Instagram. They will be sharing pictures, videos and memories of years past while looking forward to the 2021 festival, already slated for May 28-30, 2021.
WGBH will join the virtual festivities beginning this Monday, May 18 and we'll release some of our favorite moments from past Boston Callings throughout the week. And there's one day in particular circled on our calendar: Friday, May 22, on which we'll highlight the 2017 festival — a very special year for WGBH.
That year, our Front Row Boston concert series set up shop and captured six full sets throughout the festival. A nimble camera crew was stationed throughout the stage, photo pit, and crowd. Two sound engineers captured and impeccably mixed all the audio, with one of the performances earning a New England Emmy nomination for sound.
We will celebrate that year on Friday, May 22 at 7pm, with a Facebook Watch Party to relive an amazing Brandi Carlile performance. So get in your best festival garb, order your favorite craft brew, and follow WGBH on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to join us on this trip down memory lane.
