LISTEN: Boston Calling 2018

Boston Calling Music Festival attendees wait for Jack White's headlining performance on May 26, 2018. Photo by Miranda Suarez / WTBU. — Boston Calling Music Festival attendees wait for Jack White’s headlining performance on May 26, 2018. Photo by Miranda Suarez / WTBU.

TRANSCRIPT
Gray and rainy skies loomed over the last day of Boston Calling. Not great weather to enjoy a music festival in, but about a hundred people had already staked out front row spots at the mainstage right when the festival gates opened at noon on Sunday.

Deondre Magnus from Toronto has been a fan of Eminem, Sunday’s headliner, for a long time. He just turned 18, so he decided to take advantage of it and head to Boston to see him. He was not planning on moving from the front row for the next nine hours, and he had prepared.

“I’ve dehydrated myself,” he said. “I brought protein bars, and that’s about it. Made sure I was full and used the washroom.”

Julie Amico and Abby Sullivan from Massachusetts sat huddled in sweatshirts against the barrier between the crowd and the stage. They had a shorter wait than Magnus–about three hours to go before the band Pond performed. They made their day longer by arriving two hours before the gates even opened, but they say the long day is worth it.

“Being in the front row, you get pushed around a lot, but at the same time you get a really, really good spot,” Amico said.

“Yeah,” Sullivan said. “Sometimes the chaos just adds to the excitement almost.”

Boston Calling will be back next year from May 24 to 26, once again at the Harvard Athletic Complex.

-Miranda Suarez