By Christie Young, News Correspondent
Looking for a way to celebrate the new year at Northeastern? Look no further. Boston Calling Music Festival will be held Sept. 7 and 8 at the City Hall Plaza. There’s a wide variety of bands and DJs performing, covering all types of musical tastes.
Saturday’s headliners include Vampire Weekend, Local Natives and The Gaslight Anthem, while the headliners on Sunday are Passion Pit, Kendrick Lamar and Major Lazer. There are many other artists performing, and the music begins at 12:50 p.m., continuing until the final acts end at 10:30 p.m. Saturday’s music is more tailored to rock and indie-rock fans, while the music on Sunday includes electronic acts as well as rap.
“We look for artists who are touring and who are really hot right now,” Boston Calling Music Festival co-creator Brian Appel said. He and partner Mike Snow worked together at radio station WFNX as well as the Boston Phoenix. “Originally we were going to do a music festival through WFNX,” said Appel, “But when the radio station shut down we thought it was a good idea and decided we still wanted to go through with it.”
Safety concerns have come to the fore recently after a string of high-profile overdoses on party drugs across the country, including a man who is suspected to have fatally overdosed on the party drug MDMA, commonly known as Molly, at a Zedd show at the House of Blues last week.
“We want to make every effort we can to prevent drugs from coming into the festival,” Appel said. “We have plenty of water to keep concert-goers hydrated and we will have an EMT team just in case.” That being said, the official Facebook page for Boston Calling issued a request on Tuesday encouraging people to “be smart and to be safe” during the event and to “keep illegal and illicit substances away.”
A list of those illict subtances and other prohibited items is available on the festival’s website at bostoncalling.com/info. The festival will go on regardless of the weather and has a readmission policy, meaning festival goers can come and go as they please.
The full lineup on Saturday is: You Won’t, Lucius, Okkervil River, Deer Tick, Bat for Lashes, The Airborne Toxic Event, The Gaslight Anthem, Local Natives and Vampire Weekend.
Sunday’s artists are: Bearstronaut, Big Black Delta, Flume, Flosstradamus, Solange, Wolfgang Gartner, Major Lazer, Kendrick Lamar and Passion Pit.
Two-day passes ($130) and single day passes ($75) are available. VIP packages are available to those over age 21. Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster and on the Boston Calling website at bostoncalling.com/tickets.
So why does Boston Calling Music Festival feature a bulldog in a top hat on their logo? Appel laughs as he answers, “It’s not anybody’s dog or anything in particular. We just thought it was cool and classic looking, and would translate well onto merchandise and the website.”
