Music

A three-day recap of the best and worst of Boston Calling 2025, from the electrifying sets to the rain that just wouldn’t go away.

There wasn’t much sunshine at Boston Calling 2025. 

Despite early weather reports calling for “scattered showers” on Friday followed by dry conditions for the rest of the weekend, concertgoers at Boston’s premier music festival were treated to six straight hours of rain on Day 1, sporadic rain on Day 2, and windy, muddy conditions on Day 3.

But just because the sun rarely showed its face doesn’t mean there weren’t plenty of bright spots at Boston Calling 2025.

Though the larger structure of the festival remained the same, there were a number of changes at Boston Calling 2025 aimed at improving the concertgoing experience following complaints of overcrowding in 2024.

Organizers ditched the Red Stage and moved the VIP area that caused a chokepoint during Sunday’s set last year, leading to vastly improved flow throughout the grounds.

The eliminated stage meant that organizers didn’t book quite as many A-list acts as previous years, which led to lower ticket prices and a blissfully uncrowded festival for all three days. Given that tickets were still on sale throughout the weekend, perhaps organizers would have preferred it to be slightly more crowded, but the difference was noticeable (and welcome).

Also on point this year was the food lineup. Though I stuck with an old standby for my dinner (the Green Muenster from Roxy’s Grilled Cheese), everyone I talked to raved about a different menu item, whether it was the sushi nachos at Love Art Sushi, the pierogies from Jaju Pierogi, or the shrimp from Summer Shack. The lines were extremely reasonable, and the food was incredibly fresh given the demands of a festival crowd.

Then there were the performances themselves. Every day of the festival had multiple standout performances, with Sunday being my personal favorite. My only complaint in a run of Tom Morello, Vampire Weekend, Public Enemy and Dave Matthews Band was that I couldn’t see Sublime, who played at the exact same time as the Rage Against the Machine guitarist.

That doesn’t mean the festival was without issues. The rotating Green Stage was a technical marvel, allowing bands to change over with a minimal amount of setup time. But in practice, the Green Stage seemed to have more technical issues than the other stages. The Maine had audio issues throughout its set, and Remi Wolf, one of the most exciting young acts on the weekend’s bill, was interrupted after a glitch-filled opening song, forcing her to do improvisational crowd work while her microphone was fixed. The issues seemed to crop up more often earlier in the day, when crews were only given 10 minutes between sets instead of 20 or 30.

Overall, however, Boston Calling 2025 was another success for organizers. In the profit-driven world of music festivals, Boston Calling 2025 listened to fan feedback and improved logistics, all while trimming ticket prices without completely degrading the quality of the lineup.

Borrowing the template I created for my review of last year’s festival, here’s an unconventional review of all three days of Boston Calling 2025.

Friday

Who Friday was for: Country fans and aquatic life forms

Taking a page from last year’s playbook, organizers picked Friday as a day for country music. Megan Moroney and Luke Combs were the biggest draws of Day 1, and thanks to the last-minute cancellation from TLC, there was an unbroken stretch of country-adjacent acts on the Green Stage from 4:40 onwards (Max McNown, Sheryl Crow, Moroney, Combs).

Friday was also the day that never stopped raining, forcing those poor denim-clad, cowboy-boot-wearing souls to seek shelter at one of several covered brand activations. 

Local Act to Watch: Latrell James

Alternating between harder rock and smooth jazz with the help of a backing band, 2024 Boston Music Awards Album of the Year winner Latrell James brought the fire to the Orange Stage.

One of my favorites from the Boston Calling Orange Stage: BMA winner Latrell James. pic.twitter.com/Xdot8iluCl

— Kevin Slane (@kslane) May 26, 2025

Gratuitous Brand Activation of the Day: Subaru of New England

The most popular fashion accessory of the day should have been the Miller Lite cowboy hats, but thanks to the rain, Subaru’s blue ponchos were the garb of choice. The rain gear proved so popular that Subaru eventually ran out, leading scalpers on JFK Street to hawk glorified trash bags as ponchos for five bucks a pop.

Best Set: T-Pain

On a cold and rainy day, T-Pain turned the Blue Stage into a sweltering club atmosphere during his evening set. Running through a medley of his greatest hits, the singer had the audience bumping and grinding throughout, and dropping low on his command. He even got the whole place to sing his chorus from a Kanye West song (“Good Life”) without a second thought.

Read more: T-Pain’s fun and finesse outshines the rain

Saturday

Who Saturday was for: Anyone who had a goth/emo/punk phase

Saturday’s lineup was probably the most thematically cohesive, with All-Time Low, Avril Lavigne and Fall Out Boy uniting millennials and Gen Zers whose teen angst was given a voice (and a rhythm) by tracks like “Complicated” and “Sugar We’re Goin Down.”

Local Act to Watch: Rebuilder

Punk group Rebuilder didn’t take itself too seriously during Saturday’s set, telling the crowd about how excited they were to play for everyone searching for port-a-potties and all the cars on Storrow Drive.

Gratuitous Brand Activation of the Day: Dunkin’

Should Dunkin’ really get this award after scaling down the multi-story Dunkin’ Lounge of the last few years? With their retro-themed shop modeled after its original 1950s location in Quincy, the local staple still had plenty of free sugary and caffeinated goodies to keep concertgoers running.

Best Set: Fall Out Boy

The Chicago band has outgrown its scenester origins and become more of an arena rock group in their 40s, but Patrick Stump, Pete Wentz, Joe Trohman, and Andy Hurley can still make heartbreak feel triumphant. 

From a reporter whose first real concert as a teenager was FOB, All-American Rejects, and Hawthorne Heights at the Centrum Center in 2006: Thanks for the memories.

Read more: Fall Out Boy thanks fans for the memories with fiery, career-spanning set

Sunday

Who Sunday was for: Liberal Gen Xers and elder millennials

On Sunday, the Green Stage was for the chiller vibes (Sublime, Vampire Weekend, Dave Matthews Band) while the Blue Stage was for the heavy-hitting activist acts (Tom Morello, Public Enemy). What united the two stages was a target age demographic and a disdain for the current political status quo, which was openly expressed by a majority of the acts.

Local Act to Watch: Copilot

To echo what my colleague Heather Alterisio wrote, Copilot provided a joyful early-evening set on Sunday, elegantly blending the talents of its three lead vocalists — Maggie Hall, Ry McDonald, and Jake Machell — on tracks from its recent EP, “Vroom Vroom, etc.”

Gratuitous Brand Activation of the Day: Miller Lite

I can’t give this to Subaru for a second time despite the fact that I grabbed a pair of their sunglasses after being surprised by a rare sunny moment on Sunday. Instead, I’ll give it to Miller Lite, whose multi-level lounge gave a handful of fans the type of view that Platinum ticketholders pay thousands of dollars for.

Best Set: Dave Matthews Band

Unlike our resident DMB expert (who needed a vacation after ranking every single Dave Matthews Band song from worst to best), this was my first Dave concert. I came away wowed by the band’s technical proficiency, surprised by the lead singer’s lovable eccentricity, and filled with gratitude for getting to cover this festival year after year.

Read more: Dave Matthews Band makes every minute count at Boston Calling

Source