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Daylight Saving: 12 acts to catch at Boston Calling ’18 before the sun sets

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Studio 52 is a community artist space located in the heart of Allston, and is proud to support the Boston music scene and local artist community.


Editor's Note: This article has been updated with the latest festival info and set times. Featured Big Thief image by Shervin Lainez.

A day before Boston Calling Music Festival released its full lineup, the headliners were apparently accidentally leaked online by one of the FM radio stations in town. It gave an early glimpse into the top-billing anchors of this spring's festival, going down May 25 to 27 at the Harvard Athletic Complex in Allston, and fired up the usual debates over quality and relevancy.

But it turns out the real juice for Boston Calling '18 was hidden underneath the big-font bigwigs (Eminem, The Killers, and Jack White, with notables like Queens of the Stone Age, Paramore, The National, Khalid and Tyler, The Creator on Line 2). This year's Boston Calling has maybe its strongest undercard ever, meaning a lot of the anticipated highlights will be going down while the sun is still up.

RELATED: Mass Education: Natalie Portman rolls out guest lineup for Boston Calling

Sure, we can't wait to hear The Killers play songs off Hot Fuss, Eminem's first show in Boston in 13 years should be all sorts of "Fuck Trump" fun, and Jack White is gonna Jack White the shit out of all of us whether we like it or not. But those daytime hours are where the magic truly is, and we've picked 11 bands and artists, out of the overall 45, that we are most excited about. We might come up with another 11 by the weekend.

For stage information, hit the cheap sheet way down below.

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Belly, Saturday @ 3:45 p.m.

When we read the Coachella lineup, we saw Belly listed, and quickly learned it was the Palestinian-Canadian rapper and The Weeknd collaborator. Bummer! Then we saw the Governors Ball lineup, and realized the same thing. Double bummer! Turns out third time was a charm, as we confirmed before publishing that the Belly listed on the Boston Calling lineup was, in fact, the beloved and reformed Boston alt-rock band. Belly, our Belly, fill the sort-of legacy slot held by Buffalo Tom last year, reminding us of all that magic that was floating around Boston in the early- to mid-’90s. But like Buffalo Tom, this isn’t purely a nostalgia trip, as Belly released Dove this year, their third LP and first since 1995’s King. It’s also worth noting that their celebrated debut album, Star, turned 25 in 2018 as well.

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