A little rain couldn't stop Boston Calling from launching with a country-fied opening night

Boston Globe

24-05-2025

There was also a ramped-up focus on country music on Friday, where every artist that played the Green stage was either a Nashville star like Luke Combs (or rapidly on the way like Megan Moroney) or was arguably country-adjacent.
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Dalton and the Sheriffs perform at Boston Calling.
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Curly-voiced singer/songwriter Bebe Stockwell kicked things off with a fair amount of indie drama, with Holy Rollers following with churning and triumphant roots-rock. Two hours after receiving the call to fill in the hole in the schedule left by TLC's unplanned absence, Dalton & The Sheriffs showed up with two acoustic guitars and one burly voice, and they were were exactly what Combs means when he sings that he's still be doing this if he wasn't doing this.
Megan From Work performs at Boston Calling.
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Battlemode, on the other hand, represented local music on the Orange stage with the most screw-around performance Boston Calling may have ever seen, fueling its chaotic chiptunes by twisting dials, throwing in violin, and just generally seeing what they could get away with. Earnest but cutting, Future Teens were sprung and power-pop-adjacent, with a questioning, urgent undertow. Megan From Work, on the other hand, elevated nondescript punk-lite bash with the pleading wide-eyed enthusiasm of singer Megan Simon, who transformed it into a charming blast. Latrell James closed the local stage out with crisp, jazzy groove-rap.
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Latrell James performs at Boston Calling.
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Dressed like he was about to challenge someone to a breakdance battle to save the community center, Kyle Dion was loose, flirty, and fired up as he opened the Blue stage with '80s-style funk-R&B. The vaguely cosmically-minded indie rock of Infinity Song and the watery Curtis Mayfield throwback soul of Thee Sacred Souls followed. With a genial, laid-back flow, rapper Mike. came off like a discount Jack Harlow, and T-Pain largely spun his wheels before kicking into 'Buy You A Drank (Shawty Snappin')' and 'All I Do Is Win' to lock the crowd back in fully.
Sheryl Crow performs at Boston Calling.
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Back on the country side of the complex, Wilderado built up a springy, warm churn, while Max McNown's easygoing road-trip country was a little too casual and green. Sheryl Crow, on the other hand, performed with the absolute confidence and skill of an old pro, with the advantage of a dozen surefire crowd pleasers like 'Every Day Is A Winding Road' and a by-then ironic 'Soak Up The Sun.'
With the self-contained confidence and glammed-up production touches of Maren Morris, if just a little more wide-eyed, Megan Moroney nailed the sassy kissoff of 'Man On The Moon' and the wit and disappointment of 'Sleep On My Side.' But she also used the bottom of her range in a way that women country singers usually don't, and she hit it for heartbreak and vulnerability in 'Girl In The Mirror.'
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Luke Combs performs at Boston Calling.
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Having already performed in the rain the last time he played Massachusetts in 2023, Luke Combs took the stage to the charging zip on '1, 2 Many' (and, naturally, 'When It Rains It Pours') and didn't let up for an hour and a half. Unlike Moroney's glittery double staircase, Combs didn't have much in the way of a stage set, though the phalanx of lights and lasers beaming off the rain created little aurorae above the audience. Songs like 'Houston, We Got A Problem' were earnest and heartfelt without being cloyingly sentimental, and with the Moroney-assisted spirited grind of 'Beer Never Broke My Heart' and metallic riff of 'Ain't No Oklahoma,' Combs showed that maybe there's not much distance between country and the standard Boston Calling headliner after all.
Marc Hirsh can be reached at [e-mail] or on Bluesky @spacecitymarc.bsky.social.