Concert Review: Lorde & Childish Gambino Take Boston Calling Day 2

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Lorde performing at Boston Calling Music Festival on September 6th, 2014 (Benjamin Esakof/Roman's Rap-Up).

The energy has risen with the temperature: it's time for day two of Boston Calling Music Festival!

The day kicked off with three incredible acts:  St. Nothing, Clifflight, and S. Carey.  These bands brought completely different energies, giving a taste of what was to come later in the afternoon.

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Sky Ferreira performing at Boston Calling Music Festival on September 6th, 2014 (Benjamin Esakof/Roman's Rap-Up).

Next came Sky Ferreira.  Ferreira walked on stage with a calm, cool confidence, kicking the concert off with "24 Hours".  Her sound had a big synth pop vibe, with a borderline-punk hint.  She rattled song after song, such as "Ain't Your Right", "Boys" and "Everything is Embarrassing".  The bass synths were bone-shakingly loud, complimented with Sky's strong, fluttery vocals.  

Bleachers was a huge hit at the festival.  "Fun." member Jack Antonoff's new project was a huge success.  The audience went crazy for their hit "I Wanna Get Better", as well as their cover of "Dreams" by the Cranberries.

With The Hold Steady came an unfortunate storm, causing both Volcano Choir's and Girl Talk's sets to be skipped over.  Nevertheless, the Boston Calling staff handled the hiccup with grace, getting everything back in shape for Lorde and Childish Gambino.  Those who witnessed the storm understand how impressive this was for them to have recovered, especially since the only visible damage was the red stage's banners and the stand for one of the video screens.

Now for the final acts of the night:

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Lorde performing at Boston Calling Music Festival on September 6th, 2014 (Benjamin Esakof/Roman's Rap-Up).

Lorde took the stage around nine o'clock to loud cheers from all.  Despite her being one of the most pop-oriented acts of the night, Lorde brought a sound, an energy, and an image that was uniquely her own. Performing her hits "Royals", "Team" and "Tennis Courts", Lorde put her fans in a frenzy.  Her recordings simply don't portray how earth-shatteringly heavy her sound is.  Her black and white imagery had a nice contrast in comparison to what was to follow. 

Enter Childish Gambino, the final act of the night.  The setting was surreal: his floral print clothing set in front of a bright screen portraying a room of arches and columns.  He performed stunningly, with an almost possessed look in his eyes.  While many musicians tend to have a performing persona, few fully immerse themselves in that character as well as Childish Gambino does in concert.

See more photos from Day 2 of Boston Calling Music Festival in the gallery below:

Concert Review: Boston Calling Day 1

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Boston Calling Music Festival (Benjamin Esakof/Roman's Rap-Up).

The Commuter Rail is packed, Faneuil Hall is a buzz & great music is resonating through the streets surrounding Government Center, meaning only one thing... it must be time for another Boston Calling Music Festival!

Little has changed in the setup from last fall to now, with both stages relatively close together opposite Boston City Hall.  Most of the setup was familiar: the beer garden, lemonade stands, food trucks-turned tents, even a small convenience store.  There's nothing revolutionary this year, but Boston Calling has refused to lose its charm in its fourth rendition.

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Future Islands performing at Boston Calling Music Festival on September 5th, 2014 (Benjamin Esakof/Roman's Rap-Up).

Now to the acts:  The night was kicked off by a passionate performance by Future Islands.  This performance had the quintessential festival sound: loud, ringing synths, echo-y guitars, etc.  However, up their sleeve were unique, deep, growly vocals which added a bit of texture to that familiar concert vibe.

Up next was the long awaited Neutral Milk Hotel.  The crowd erupted in cheers as lead singer Jeff Mangum opened the performance with nothing more than his voice and a guitar.  Shortly after, the band ran on stage to join in for "Holland in 1945", and the night was off.  The clear crowd favorite was the collective three-part of "King of Carrot Flowers", especially with the heavy rock tempo of part 3.  Their setup was simple, nothing more than a lit stage with instruments and microphones.  Nevertheless, this is a band that needs nothing more than their music to captivate the audience.  Mangum performed solo again for "Two-Headed Boy", marking a lull before the final few songs.  In a clever attempt to start a singalong, Mangum claimed to have a virus making it conveniently hard to sing the hugely popular "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea".  It was an honor to see the elusive Neutral Milk Hotel in concert, and words can only do a poor job to explain how amazing a performance they put on.  If you have the chance to see them live, don't even hesitate.  Just see them.

The night ended with an old friend to Boston Calling: The National.  A mellower performance, this performance was a great end to a great night.  Highlights included calls from the audience of "Everything I love is on the table/Everything I love is out to see" during "Don't Swallow the Cap" and their hit "Bloodbuzz Ohio".  The National released viewers back into the night in a trance-like haze, making it the perfect ending for this surreal first night at Boston Calling.

See photos from the first day of Boston Calling below:

Concert Review: AMP Radio's Birthday Bash

Yesterday, I had the chance to attend Boston radio station Amp Radio's Birthday Bash Concert. Last June, CBS Radio decided to make the switch from an "oldies" station to the new Amp Radio, featuring Top 40 music. In celebration of their one year birthday, they threw a completely free concert for listeners and fans which gathered a crowd of over 50,000 at Boston City Hall Plaza. The concert featured performances by Ariana Grande, Drop City Yacht Club, Timeflies, Sammy Adams, Selena Gomez, and Jason Derulo. I arrived at City Hall Plaza at around 11am (concert time was 2pm). At that time, there must have been about 10,000-20,000 people already, pressed up against the stage I barricade.

I walked around the area until around 1:45, when it was time to find a place to watch the show. Thankfully, I had VIP passes to the upfront party pit so I did not have to brave crowd.

Come showtime, Nickelodeon star Ariana Grande came on stage, and was greeted by thousands of screaming fans. She was wearing a white quinceañera-like dress, and sang only her hit song, "The Way" featuring rapper Mac Miller. Grande was also joined by a group of peppy backup dancers.

Next up was California trio Drop City Yacht Club. They sang a variety of songs that seemed like the majority of the crowd were familiar with. However, when they said their last song would be their biggest hit "Crickets", everyone started screaming and singing along. Definitely my favorite moment of their act.

Now it was time for Timeflies, a freestyle rap/pop group. Personally, I hadn't even heard of them before this event, but I thought they were an immense talent. Amp Radio had done a promo on twitter earlier in the day, where listeners tweeted them the topics that they wanted Timeflies to freestyle rap about. When they brought the topic on stage, it was incredible. They were able to freestyle right on the spot as if they had memorized lyrics. Just amazing!

Boston's home boy Sammy Adams was next on the lineup, and greeted the crowd with his hits "Blow Up", "Only One", and his newest single, "LA Story".

It was now Selena Gomez's time to perform.  She came to the stage, and really owned it. The crowd went insane for her. She sang her hits "Love You Like A Love Song", and "Slow Down". But, it was not until her last song, "Come and Get It" that the crowd appeared to be reawakened. It was obvious that there were a large amount of people in the crowd who came to see Selena, based off of the volume of screams during her whole performance.

Last up, Jason Derulo. When he first came on, Amp must have turned the volume WAY up because it seemed to get a lot louder. Jason sang the majority of his hits like "Whatcha Say", "Other Side", and more. Without even looking at the stage, you could tell he took his shirt off due to all of the girls in the audience screaming at the top of their lungs.

Overall, it was a great concert, especially since it was free. I think Amp Radio worked well with local officials and security, as there were no large problems during the show. Everyone there was pleasant, and was there for the same reason I was; to watch the show. Music was great, and there was the station's DJs to entertain the crowd between acts.

So what didn't I like about it? Well, not a whole much. My biggest complaint is how the radio station handled the VIP tickets. Majority of VIP tickets and wristbands were won via call in contests, which were almost impossible to win. I understand that Amp wanted to make it a free show, whether you go VIP or not. But, maybe for next year, they could figure out a way to distribute them more fairly... perhaps a lottery system?

If Amp Radio Boston decides to make this an annual event, you can definitely expect us to be there!

Check out the photo's in the gallery below.