Big Country
Friday at Boston Calling, 23-25 May 2025
Additional photos by Julia Levine
The first few moments of a festival, like the first few moments of life, are a special time. We pass through the gates, open our eyes, find ourselves in a magical world of novel sights, sounds, and smells. It’s Boston Calling 2025. We’re excited, agitated, full of hope and wonder. We let out whelps of joy, of chagrin, of surprise. Some of us are ready to kick off the day’s itinerary of bouncing between stages, and some of us need a smack in the ass to get our motor running. Whatever your pleasure…
LINEUP
FRIDAY, MAY 23
Luke Combs / Megan Moroney
Sheryl Crow / T-Pain / TLC (canceled) / MIKE.
Thee Sacred Souls / Max McNown / Wilderado / Infinity Song / Kyle Dion / Bebe Stockwell / Holy Roller / Latrell James / Megan From Work / Future Teens / Battlemode
Day One was Nouveau Nashville, aimed at Gen Z. The old country headz don’t know or care who the top-billed Luke Combs or Megan Moroney are. But they’ll recognize Sheryl Crow, and they’ll figure out that there’s plenty of twang here to wet their whistle. Adding T-Pain, TLC, Mike., Thee Sacred Souls, and Latrell James, etc., feels like an effort to balance out the day with a little hip-hop, R&B and soul. T-Pain’s a hoot — but does anyone need that schtick at the quarter mark of the 21st century?
Bebe Stockwell
Bebe Stockwell (📷 Julia Levine)
She might be based in New York City these days, but Bebe Stockwell’s roots are local.
Her set marked the opening of the entire festival. First set, first day – which can be a tough slot to fill, since the only fans already on the festival grounds are the ones who waited in the long line out front, before the gates opened, then sprinted across the entire length of the Harvard Athletic Complex to find the gig.
On the plus side, there were no competing sets in that time slot. So every fan on the festival grounds who wanted to hear music was there. And there’s something to be said for carrying the mantle of opening a festival. You set the tone.
In what looks like a Boston Calling edition with plenty of country flavor, Stockwell got the ball rolling with Americana-fueled pop contortions. The setlist offered a mix of originals and covers, including a bracing version of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zero’s “Home,” which took advantage of the deeper shades of Stockwell’s vocal timbre.
Tiril Jackson
Tiril Jackson (📷 Michael Gutierrez)
Tiril Jackson broke the ice at the Arena Stage, a new edition to this year’s Boston Calling. The singer was backed by a half dozen musicians prepared to lay down all the soul that an off-season hockey rink could stand. The ensemble took its time leaning into jams, starting slow, building, and platforming Jackson’s larger-than-life voice with showpiece finishes. With swank (at least in the low light) bar-style tables dotting the floorspace and a red carpet walking you into the venue, the Arena Stage is aiming to be a sophisticated hideout for lounge lizards who want to escape the hot outdoor temperatures. But the temperatures weren’t hot on this cool, cloudy day, and I didn’t spot a single martini.
Kyle Dion
Kyle Dion (📷 JL)
Kyle Dion came as advertised: a shamelessly joyful throwback to 80s pop, RnB, and soul. When you trade in nostalgia, large portions of your act have been predetermined by the ironclad and immutable record of history. Apparel, dance moves, color schemes, hooks, and period-appropriate vocal come ons. More Tito Jackson than Michael Jackson.
The line between savvy reappropriation and outright theft can become hazy at times. Like William Burroughs always said: “Steal anything in sight.”
The vocalist and frontman traveled with a relatively light accompaniment of one guitarist and one drummer, supplementing the mix with backing tracks to fill out the sound. And the guitarist had at least one trick up his sleeve – somehow he could make his guitar sing on the low end with silky bass lines that should have been impossible on your average six-string.
But who said it was average?
Battlemode
Battlemode (📷 JL)
Everyone’s favorite local chiptuners Battlemode opened the Orange Stage with a flourish. Flourish after flourish – a digital sea of flourishes. What good is squeezing pop music out of the decaying code of Gameboys if you can’t do it with a flourish?
The electronic trio set the scene with a stage full of pixelated art cutouts of props from your favorite video games. A star from Mario, a key from Zelda, a pink donut from every single Simpsons game.
The crowd was treated to a live version of their recently released single “Game Over” as well as a previously unreleased track titled “Never Know.” Durrrty techno bangers whistled in the wind as band member Biff (or is it Astro?) leaped off stage and traded high fives with the chiptune hordes up front. The first artist-to-fan contact I’ve seen at the fest.
We’re officially post-Covid, if we weren’t already.
Infinity Song
Infinity Song (📷 MG)
This seven-piece Infinity Song brings a deconstructed take on soul, folk rock, and more than a hint of gospel. At least four of these musicians are siblings, lending the set a family jam feel.
The mindset is throwback, while the interpretation and arrangement of the material feels contemporary. Vocal harmonies as far as the eye could see. You could write a lot of nice things about this band, but let me get to the rub.
The male vocalist at stage right is absolutely winning Boston Calling thus far, rocking his own kind of dance groove onstage that I could describe – but I won’t. I won’t link a video clip either. He’s found his own plane of transcendence and you owe it to yourself to witness his magnificence live.
Future Teens
Future Teens (📷 MG)
Future Teens took the stage with confidence. The band has played most of the big fests available in the area, plus the medium-sized ones, and probably a bottomless margarita’s worth of the small fries. Their neatly-manicured pop punk sound travels well.
The setlist included “Double Down,” which the fronter described as a song about trans joy, about resistance, about facing your fears, about protecting the people around. Basically, a song about everything anathema to the current administration of hobgoblins that has taken over the White House.
What a time to be alive. An awful time. But also a time ripe with opportunity to do the right thing against the powers of stupid tyranny.
Megan From Work
Megan From Work (📷 MG)
The Manchester-based pop punkers started with a shout out to the Granite Staters. A decent amount of the crowd cheered back – presumably the New Hampshire contingent doesn’t mind the trip.
It’s just a hip, jop, and a skump down Interstate 93. Park your car at Alewife and train it the rest of the way. Walk the last 15 minutes from the Harvard T to the Harvard Athletic Complex. Travel by multiple modes lends an epic feel to the journey.
And the length of the trip means that you’re committed for the long haul, so that when it starts to rain – like it did before Megan From Work’s set – you don’t think twice about bailing. You’ve come too far to back down now, and a light drizzle won’t spoil the fun.
Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Crow (📷 JL)
The light drizzle turned into a medium drizzle for Sheryl Crow’s set. “Chubby rain,” as Bobby Bowfinger would say.
Crow performed at the Green Stage, which is blessed or cursed with authentic grass (as opposed to astro turf), depending on the weather. If it doesn’t turn to a muddy slop by the end of Friday, it will have done so by Sunday. The crowds weren’t scared off, turning up for the supremely recognizable sound of Crow, one of those former bluechip artists that can be scooped up at a value these days.
She shouted out the stalwart fans, braving the rain and squishiness underfoot, with an unbroken chain of radio hits to reward the faithful. The considerable price of admission doesn’t exempt you from a little adversity.
No one gets to Valhalla without shedding some blood.
Latrell James
Latrell James (📷 JL)
Dorcester-born Latrell James opened his set with an expression of gratitude to parents, and followed it up, appropriately enough, with a song called “Grateful.” It was the headlining set of the locals Orange Stage, always the epicenter of Boston pride at Boston Calling.
This year the hometown love felt like it was ramped up another notch. Maybe it was a side effect of the rain, weeding out the casuals and leaving behind a committed core of local music faithful.
The faith was rewarded with a set in which James performed at least two never-before-heard tracks off a forthcoming EP. The crowd didn’t mind the ToriTori cameo either. The RnB vocalist is a Boston Calling alum, and James’ sister. Her appearance returns the favor as James dropped in for a song at ToriTori’s 2024 Boston Calling set.
Mom watched it all from the front row with a smile that warmed up a dark and cloudy day.
The good news is that we won’t need Latrell James’ mom’s smile to warm up the next two days of Boston Calling. The forecast has improved for Saturday and Sunday looks flawless. Which should be music to all our ears, dear reader, because Friday turned out to be a real wet one. A “character builder,” as my dad used to say.
PHOTO GALLERY
by Julia Levine
RECAP // Friday, May 23 at Boston Calling 2025.