The second day of Boston Calling was interrupted by a brief lightning storm, halting the festival for a few hours. Around 6 p.m., festival-goers were told to exit the venue and seek shelter amongst surrounding buildings or restaurants. Those in the VIP area were able to take cover on site and wait out the storm.
Attendees waiting outside the venue were updated by the festival’s official Twitter account, @Boston_Calling. After a long couple of hours of waiting for the lightning to end and equipment to be checked for damage, the show resumed with Lorde taking the stage at 9 p.m. Unfortunately, the time lost by the weather meant that Volcano Choir and Girl Talk were dropped from the lineup.
Despite the disappointing weather, Saturday was full of unforgettable performances. Bleachers took the stage earlier in the day for a fast-paced, hour-long set. The band played the majority of their debut album, “Strange Desire,” and even covered The Cranberries’ “Dreams,” paying homage to the ’90s kids in the crowd. The highlight of the performance was “I Wanna Get Better,” the band’s debut single and first major hit. Everyone in the audience sang along and Bleachers frontman, Jack Antonoff, jumped down from the stage to lean over the barricade in order to sing the last chorus with fans. Bleachers was undeniably the most fun and crowd-oriented act of the day.
Right after Bleachers, The Hold Steady played on the Jet Blue Stage. They were the last artist to play before the lightning storm that put the festival on pause. Their set was very rock ‘n’ roll, which was a different vibe from the indie-pop bands heard throughout most of the day. Towards the end of the set, vocalist Craig Finn shared his love for Boston with the crowd, having attending college here after moving away as a kid. The Hold Steady finished their set just before festival-goers were ushered from the venue.
There was some disapproval amongst the crowd regarding Volcano Choir and Girl Talk being dropped from the lineup, but City Hall Plaza was still packed for Lorde and Childish Gambino once the show started up again. Lorde kicked the night off at 9 p.m., and brought some excitement back into the crowd after the long pause without music. She performed all of the hits off her debut album, “Pure Heroine,” including “Ribs,” “Team,” and “Royals.” Her performance was filled with a lot of flashy and jerky lighting, much like her notorious dancing. Lorde’s performance was worth the wait.
After Lorde restored energy back to the crowd, Childish Gambino came out to finish off Saturday night. He immediately got the crowd moving with his performance of “Sweatpants,” a track from his latest album, “Because The Internet.” He performed several songs from the new release, including “3005” and “Zealots of Stockholm (Free Information).” He also played some older crowd favorites, like “Heartbeat.”
Childish Gambino still had the crowd going wild, despite the rough weather that was dealt with all day, and ended the second day of Boston Calling on a positive note.

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A massive crowd stuck it out through the rain to catch the headliners