Boston Calling to relocate to Harvard Athletics Complex in 2017

On the first day of their bi-annual music festival, Boston Calling announced they have a new home for their May 2017 event: Harvard University’s Athletics Complex

“This change of location will allow us to expand and enrich Boston Calling while still keeping it proudly located in Boston,” said co-founder and Crash Line CEO Brian Appel in a statement. “Before we move, however, we plan to host a fantastic festival on the Plaza this weekend, and look to continue to produce a range of other events on the plaza for years to come, beginning with Copenhagen Beer Celebration this September.”

Most notably, the fall 2016 edition of Boston Calling is a no-go, and the organizers are whittling down the event to once a year on Memorial Day weekend. Crash Line will continue to produce the aforementioned Copenhagen Beer Celebration in the concrete playscape that is City Hall Plaza, the festival’s home for six editions.

“This relocation will allow us to expand the capacity, range and diversity of the festival’s programming, adding additional performance spaces and cultivating a unique multi-disciplinary profile for the festival,” said Aaron Dessner, the Founding Curator of Boston Calling’s lineup and a member of The National. “I am particularly excited about being able to include more underground and eclectic music and about our new partnership with Natalie Portman to develop a unique film component for the festival. We can’t wait to unveil the expanded festival next year.”

Oh right — Oscar-winning actress and Harvard alumna Natalie Portman will be curating a new film component for the festival. Additionally, the festival will grow its newly instated comedy components and ongoing visual art efforts.

Says Portman’s statement: “I’m proud to be curating a new film section for the festival, and feel lucky to celebrate the art form I love in a place that means so much to me.”