Dodging Raindrops at Boston Calling’s Beer Garden

For most of us, the recent Memorial Day weekend was a time for sunshine, grilling, and beers – the kind of day that outdoor festivals were made for. Not so much for Boston this year, or for its debut music festival, Boston Calling.

The Boston Calling Music Festival premiered on a dark and rainy Saturday afternoon much more in line with its namesake, “London Calling” by the Clash. Thousands of indie rock faithful huddled together for warmth while crowd favorites such as The Shins, Fun, and The National gave them fuel for dancing and sticking it out. Notably, Of Monsters and Men lead singer Nanna Bryndís sympathized onstage – “We’re from Iceland; we know cold.” Then she followed that up with “This is REALLY cold.”

City Hall Plaza is an open cement-and-brick structure with few places to hide from the downpour, so the designated beer garden areas became a safe haven for attendees to cluster over a can or a pint. The scene was pretty grim on Saturday, when poncho-ed festival-goers reportedly requested room temperature beers to keep their hands from getting any colder. Fortunately, Sunday cleared up enough that fans were able to enjoy the leafy beer garden by the main stage without catching drops in their cups. After a bumpy first day, it was a relief to see people sunning themselves and enjoying ice cold brews in between sets.

I took a brief break from rocking out to catch up with the folks in charge of Beer Summit, a craft beer tasting organization dedicated to bringing 60-70 breweries to local events in the spring and fall. They’re also responsible for putting on the Sam Adams Octoberfest in conjunction with Boston Beer Company. Their hard-working staff (150 members strong) was busy pouring Harpoon IPAs and UFOs, Woodchuck ciders, and wine as I asked about their vision for the festival and how they thought it was going.

“Even with the bad weather yesterday, we still had unbelievable crowds,” said Mike Munnelly. “We were all soaked, changed our shoes three times, but we were ready.” He added that the Harpoon IPA was a best-seller in the green garden, and Carlsberg was kicking butt in the can garden. When asked about the selection at the event, Mike explained, “We were trying to keep it to one craft, one cider, and a lager.” Conor Brennan added, “We’re sticking with categories. Logistics-wise, first show, we want to get this under our belts.”

Based on the crowds I saw both days, it looks like Beer Summit nailed their first run at a music festival. I attribute their success in part to their simple philosophy, which Shawn Rich shared with me: “When you’re drinking beer, are you having fun? When you’re drinking wine, are you having fun? That’s what it’s all about.”