By Paul Robicheau

The 2025 edition of Boston Calling largely appealed to a younger demographic, despite highlighting some older bearers of nostalgia.

Brad and Matt Shultz of Cage the Elephant at Boston Calling 2025. Photo: Paul Robicheau

As a steady denizen of suburban summer sheds, Dave Matthews Band rarely plays Boston proper, and some non-fans likely didn’t find it proper for the 30-year-odd group to close out Sunday’s Boston Calling Music Festival with its jammy vibes. “Eat, drink and be merry,” its namesake leader sang in kickoff “Tripping Billies” — a far cry from hip-hop agitators Public Enemy calling to “Fight the Power” at the other end of the Harvard Athletic Complex.

Matt Reilly and Avril Lavigne at Boston Calling 2025. Photo: Paul Robicheau

That seemed about as sharp a contrast as one could find at the 2025 edition of Boston Calling, which largely appealed to a younger demographic despite highlighting some older bearers of nostalgia. The big exception came on a drizzly Friday with country-changeup headliners Luke Combs and Megan Moroney (who teamed up for his saucy “Beer Never Broke My Heart”), though Sheryl Crow represented compatible veteran ranks, sporting a Bruce Springsteen T-shirt while hitting clear high notes of positivity on “If It Makes You Happy.”

In keeping with themes, Saturday leaned to pop-punk faves from the early aughts. Pyrotechnics boosted boisterous sing-alongs like those of headliner Fall Out Boy in “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down” (while gigantic screens flanking the single main stage showed bare-chested Andy Hurley’s tattoos more than his drums) and Avril Lavigne, who ignited fan choruses in “What the Hell,” hinting where Chappell Roan drew influence. Lavigne duetted on “Fake as Hell” with Alex Gaskarth of pop-punk contemporaries All Time Low, who played earlier. Cage the Elephant, led by brothers Matt and Brad Shultz, also cranked up the main stage with moody alt-rock magnified with frantic stage moves and visits to fans along the rail, closing with the melodic trails of “Cigarette Daydream.”

Chris and Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes at Boston Calling 2025. Photo: Paul Robicheau

Saturday offered other alternatives — in addition to local bands on a side stage exposed to crowds traveling between the bigger stages, plus an arena where people could chill out to jazz programmed by Berklee College of Music. The red-clad band Lucius rode the blend of flamboyant singers Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig. James Bay mixed soulful pop vocals with crisp guitar licks. And reunited brothers Chris and Rich Robinson’s revamped lineup of the Black Crowes finally hit their rock ‘n’ roll groove, the thumping drums of Cully Symington pushing through the thick riffs of Rich Robinson and his new guitar foil Nico Bereciartua and longtime bassist Sven Pipien (a keyboardist and two female backup singers were half-hidden behind amps). Lead singer Chris Robinson came across as a later-era Rod Stewart, with spiky short hair and tinted glasses to match his red jacket while spinning the mic stand around, the Crowes truly locked in for “Sting Me” and a stretched-out “Thorn in My Pride.”

Sunday not only offered the weekend’s best weather (if still mainly cloudy and cool), but its strongest dichotomy. Fans enjoyed a run of groovy levitation at the main stage, whether in the ska-punk-reggae of a retooled Sublime (with curly-haired Jakob Nowell singing well in place of his father Brad, who died of a 1996 overdose), the chirpy college-rock of Vampire Weekend (its core trio expanded to eight players) or the pocket virtuosity of Dave Matthews Band.

Tom Morello and Chuck D at Boston Calling 2025. Photo: Paul Robicheau

Yet at the other end of the site — and spectrum, the second stage erupted with revolutionary bedfellows Public Enemy (the tag-team of rappers Chuck D and Flavor Flav donning Celtics jerseys in one local nod) and guitarist Tom Morello from incendiary rockers Rage Against the Machine. Fronting a four-piece electric band at his alma mater, Morello was especially fired up, welcoming fans to “the last big event before they throw us all in jail” and unleashing such bone-rattling RATM morsels as “Testify,” “Bulls on Parade” and “Killing in the Name” to incite a thankful mosh pit. Morello turned hammer-ons and whammy bar on his guitar into the blues, led a singalong of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land” with long-censored lyrics, and paid tribute to late Audioslave bandmate Chris Cornell with “Like a Stone.” Chuck D came out to rap the title track from their Prophets of Rage project. And in words and visuals, Morello gave President Trump and ICE the middle finger.

Chris Tomson of Vampire Weekend at Boston Calling 2025. Photo: Paul Robicheau

The preppy style of Vampire Weekend (each player even dressed in white or beige) seemed tame in contrast, yet the musicianship and sound were likewise clean, despite added drums, multiple guitars and keyboards, sax, and violin. The band began with newer material before finding a mid-set fulcrum to old hits when “Capricorn” (pushed by Chris Tomson’s angular drum rolls) moved to the hoppy “A-Punk,” “Campus,” and a pinpoint drop into “Oxford Comma.”

The table was set for Dave Matthews Band, which favored old-school classics across two hours. The throbbing swell of the new “Madman’s Eyes” (about a school shooting) gave way to the puppy-love balm of “Crash into Me” and funk-twisted “So Much to Say.” A wicked climax of “Ants Marching” (powered by drummer Carter Beauford) and an ominous buildup of cover “All Along the Watchtower,” where Tim Reynolds’ guitar solo segued into the crushing finale of “Stairway to Heaven” and back (with Matthews exclaiming, “No reason to get excited!) would have been a finale for any other band.

Dave Matthews with Stefan Lessard of the Dave Matthews Band at Boston Calling 2025. Photo: Paul Robicheau

The singer paused, suggesting people could go or stay. Those who remained were treated to another strong half hour, including the Isley Brothers’ playful “It’s Your Thing” (sung by keyboardist Buddy Strong, much like trumpeter Rashawn Ross had sung Cameo’s “Word Up!”), the mysterious “Dancing Nancies,” and up against the clock, the brooding “Don’t Drink the Water,” about the persecution of Native Americans.

Matthews, who earlier had lamented the state of the world and posed that our leaders are “mis-leaders,” then ended the night by lifting two signs overhead: “Stop killing children” and “Stop the genocide.” A broadly fun weekend had turned more political near the end, and Matthews — who was born in South Africa before founding his biracial band in Virginia — apparently had more in common with Morello and Public Enemy than might have been expected.

Paul Robicheau served more than 20 years as contributing editor for music at the Improper Bostonian in addition to writing and photography for The Boston Globe, Rolling Stone, and many other publications. He was also the founding arts editor of Boston Metro.