Lightning storms may have dampened the crowd, but not the spirit of performers like Lorde at the fourth installment of the Boston Calling festival. “You guys are officially my favorite crowd in America right now,” said the 17-year-old New Zealand pop star. “I hope none of you got struck by lightning.” The fest, an eclectic three days of music at Beantown’s City Hall Plaza, continued to bridge the gaps between music genres with a varied lineup mixing emerging artists and road veterans. As with the festival’s first three editions, the biannual event’s talent was once again co-curated by The National‘s Aaron Dessner, and the group returned after previously headlining the inaugural run in March 2013.
This year, The National made waves with lead singer Matt Berninger launching himself into the crowd. Saturday saw buzzing sets from Sky Ferreira and Bleachers before lightning caused two set cancellations, shelving performances by Girl Talk and Volcano Choir. The crowd quickly bounced back with evening headliners Childish Gambino and Lorde, whose A-list appearance ensured the only sellout of the weekend. Sunday brought closing sets by The Replacements, and a double-billing from Nas and The Roots: Nas celebrated the 20th anniversary of his debut album, Illmatic, and The Roots proved to the packed crowd to be much more than just Jimmy Fallon‘s backing band.