From September 24 to the 26, about 19,500 people entered and left Boston’s City Plaza. No, not for a Patriots game, but instead for an alternative music festival.

I was lucky enough to attend Boston Calling for the second year. Once again, this alternative festival continues to be one of my favorites. This is the third year for Boston Calling, from starting in May of 2013. Since then, the festival is held every May and September.

I arrived at festival by myself on Saturday at 4 pm by car. I was already familiar with the area from last year, but it is hard to miss City Plaza and the music coming from the venue. One of my favorite things about Boston Calling is the easy access to and from. The lines to enter are always short to enter, and you are given a wristband that allows you to leave and reenter at any time.

The festival also gives you the times all of the artists are playing, that makes planning for the trip very easy. For example, I chose to go to Boston around 4 pm because of a school event I had earlier, but Sunday I had less to do so I went around 11 am. I met with the Current Wave staff members Alexa, Cat, and Sara, who had saved spots in the second row for the Walk The Moon concert. They were easy to get to, given the small venue and friendly crowd. Walk the Moon gave an upbeat and lively concert, playing songs from their old album, including “Anna Sun”, and their new album Talking is Hard. 

After the concert ended, we immediately rushed to the blue stage to ensure a spot close to the stage. There are two stages at Boston Calling, the red and blue stage. Another positive of the festival is that when one concert ends, another begins within 10 minutes on the other stage. This provides constant music all day for the festival goers.

We stood in the back of the crowd, waiting for electronic artist Chromeo to finish so we could advance to the front of the stage for the English alternative band Alt-J. Once Chromeo ended, the crowd began rushing to the red stage to watch Chrvches perform.

We then took our opportunity to advance closer, pushing past the thousands of people in order to get to row 10.

Although the festival is during chilly September, I would recommend wearing layers including a short sleeve shirt because the area becomes humid to the small space and large amounts of people.

Alt-J, an English rock band, was my favorite performance from that day. The visuals were memorizing, and the stage was drowned in dark blue light as they performed songs from Alt-J’s album, This is All Yours. An unusual name, Alt-Js band symbol is ∆, which can made on a computer by pressing the key alt and the letter j. After Alt-J performance, we caught a train and then drove home, arriving home at around 1 am.

I returned again the next day for my final day of Boston Calling. It was similar to the first, with alternative music constantly playing and a large amount of vendors. I was able to see acts such as MisterWives, Fidlar, and Nate Ruess. However, unlike the first day, I left the festival in between acts to get food at Faneuil Hall with friends from Emerson College, and left earlier at around 8 pm.

Boston Calling will return to City Plaza again this May 27-29. The lineup has not been released yet, but should be released around winter.