These 21 local artists are a must-see at Boston Calling 2024

Here's a guide to all the artists and bands with local New England ties playing at this year's festival.

Boston Calling returns this Memorial Day weekend and fans of the New England music scene are sure to see some familiar acts on the festival’s main stages.

As with previous years, the three-day music festival features a long list of local acts in addition to big-name headliners such as Ed Sheeran, Tyler Childers, and The Killers. Whether you’re going to the festival for one day or three, you won’t miss out on any area performers.

Among the local acts and artists from the area are indie pop band Divine Sweater; hip-hop artist and Dorchester native kei, who is making her Boston Calling debut; “America’s Got Talent” contestant and singer-songwriter Kieran Rhodes, and R&B/soul band Bad Rabbits, who were the very first act to take the stage at the first Boston Calling 11 years ago.

Ahead, check out our guide to all the artists and bands with local ties playing Boston Calling 2024.

Friday, May 24

Divine Sweater

This close-knit, five-member indie pop band has been described as having “just-a-bunch-of-best-friends ethos.” Frontwoman Meghan Kelleher and Sean Seaver, lead guitarist and producer, met while at Boston College, with the other members of the band having formed their friendships in high school. Listen to their song “Deep Side,” which went viral on TikTok.

1:45-2:15 p.m., Happy Valley Red Stage

Madi Diaz

Diaz, an indie folk singer-songwriter, was born in Greenwich, Connecticut but grew up in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She later attended Berklee College of Music, where she met Kyle Ryan, a Nebraska-raised guitarist who would be her songwriting collaborator for her early career. Diaz released her sixth studio album, “Weird Faith,” in February of this year. Since 2023, she has been a member of Harry Styles’ band playing guitar and singing backup vocals.

2:20-2:55 p.m., Green Stage

Kieran Rhodes

Berklee College of Music student Kieran Rhodes appeared on the seventeenth season of America’s Got Talent in 2022 and planned to perform Billy Joel’s “She’s Got a Way,” but was stopped halfway through by Simon Cowel and encouraged to perform an original. Rhodes then performed his original song “Disengage,” which chronicles his struggle with depression. He was sent to the next round but was not selected as one of the 55 acts in the Semifinals. Still, he managed to find success outside of the show. This past fall, Rhodes was one of the artists at Connecticut’s Sound on Sound Music Festival alongside the Red Hot Chili Peppers and John Mayer.

2:15-2:50 p.m., Allianz Blue Stage

The Wolff Sisters

The Wolff Sisters is fronted by three sisters – Rebecca on acoustic guitar, Kat on keys, Rachael on electric guitar, and all three on lead vocals and harmonies. The sisters grew up just outside of Boston and were raised on Bob Dylan, The Band, and Little Feat, according to their website. The band’s sound has been described as meeting at the “crossroads of Americana, roots, and ’60s rock ‘n’ roll,” The Boston Globe reported in 2019, when it named their album “Queendom of Nothing” one of the fall season’s 15 best albums. Their newest album, “Dark River,” was released in 2022.

2:50-3:20 p.m., Orange Stage

Beach Weather

The three members of this pop rock band were all living in different states during the conception of their latest album “Pineapple Sunrise,” released in 2023: Frontman Nick Santino was just south of Boston, Reeve in Nashville, and Sean out in Los Angeles. Despite the distance from one another, they’ve gained plenty of success. Before Boston Calling, listen to their platinum-certified song “Sex, Drugs, etc.,” which grew popular on TikTok in 2022, six years after the song was first released as a part of the band’s Chit Chat EP.

3-3:50 p.m., Happy Valley Red Stage

Justin Clancy

This rapper and singer from Peabody melds alternative pop and hip-hop into his music to create a genre-bending distinctive sound. He has long-considered songwriting to be a form of therapy, and it shows in his introspective lyricism. For example, his 2018 album “The Color Blue” aims to capture the color blue sonically rather than literally, he told Allston Pudding. It’s a reference to his synesthesia, a condition in which sounds can resonate as colors. Listen to his song “The Bottom Line,” which has over 1.8 million listeners on Spotify.

4:05-4:35 p.m., Orange Stage

JVK

If you love old-school rock ‘n’ roll, the band JVK is for you. JVK originated in Boston and started out as the solo project of lead vocalist Jo Krieger, but has since grown to include Atticus Crowley and Kay Kwiatek. The band’s latest EP “Who is JVK?” was released in 2023. Listen to their latest single “Body Double” ahead of Boston Calling.

5:20-6 p.m., Orange Stage

kei

Kei is a Dorchester native and hip-hop artist who started making her own music in 2021 and released her debut EP “Baby Steps” the same year. A year later, Kei won a Boston Music Award for Best New Artist. This year will be first-ever Boston Calling performance, which is also her first time attending the festival. Listen to her newest single “sick asf” before the festival.

7-7:40 p.m., Orange Stage

Saturday, May 25

Senseless Optimism

Brittany Tsewole, whose musical alter ego is Senseless Optimism, is a Lowell native and multi-instrumentalist solo artist. “Brittany draws upon her extensive travels throughout Africa and Sri Lanka, as well as her passion for classic rock, to bring a fresh perspective to the indie genre,” according to her Spotify bio. Listen to her newest release “IT’S YOU” ahead of the festival.

1:45-2:15 p.m., Happy Valley Red Stage

ToriTori

ToriTori is a Boston-based, multigenre vocalist, songwriter, and music producer. She recently won the Best R&B Artist of the year for the 2023 Boston Music Awards and released her debut EP, “Pocket Knife,” the same year. Her sound is “characterized by her sweet and bright melodically stacked harmonies against full-bodied drum grooves,” according to her Spotify bio.

2:20-2:50 p.m., Allianz Blue Stage

Highwater Haulers

Highwater Haulers are a cosmic rock and roll band from Rhode Island and Massachusetts that blends old school country, punk, rock and roll and more together in their music, the band’s website says. Their debut album, “Puncher’s Chance,” was released in March.

2:55-3:25 p.m., Orange Stage

Bad Rabbits

Founded in September 2007, this neo-soul, post-rock, Boston-based band originally consisted of five members: Fredua Boakye (vocals), Sheel Davé (drums), Salim Akram (guitar), Graham Masser (bass), and Santiago Araujo (guitar). They first met in 2002 while attending Northeastern University. Now, the founding and remaining members consist of Boakye, Akram, and Davé. The trio’s newest album, “Garden of Eden,” was released in 2023. Listen to the song “Goin Up” before Boston Calling.

3-3:50 p.m., Happy Valley Red Stage

Cakeswagg

Cakeswagg is a fixture in Boston’s hip-hop community. The Roxbury native was nominated for Video of the Year at the 2023 Boston Music Awards for her song “Big Plays.” She draws inspiration from Missy Elliot and Kendrick Lamar. Every Tuesday, she drops a freestyle called “Talk That Talk Tuesday.”

4:05-4:35 p.m., Orange Stage

Paper Lady

Paper Lady, which calls itself “the immortal crone,” consists of Alli Raina, Kenzo Divic, Alex Castile, Will Davila, and Rowan Martin. The five-member indie dream rock band was formed out of the northeast DIY scene in 2019, and was described as producing “ethereal rock and noisy freak folk” by Boston Hassle.

5:20-5:50 p.m., Orange Stage

Ward Hayden and the Outliers

Ward Hayden and The Outliers, formerly known as Girls Guns and Glory, is a band from Boston. Their music is a mix of old school country, early rock ‘n’ roll, blues, and country rock. Their latest album, “South Shore” was released in 2023.

6:50-7:30 p.m., Orange Stage

Sunday, May 26

Stefan Thev

Stefan Thev is a Brockton-based musician whose artistic career started with making music with his friends at SoundLab Recording Studios in Brockton. Listen to his song “ghouls! zombies! skeletons!” ahead of Boston Calling. The song has over 2 million listeners on Spotify.

1:40-2:10 p.m., Happy Valley Red Stage

The Thing

The Thing is passionate about rock & roll and “recording in a raw and authentic way,” their Bandcamp page says. The four-person band is currently completing their North American tour for their January-released album “The Thing Is.”

2:10-2:45 p.m., Allianz Blue Stage

Tysk Tysk Task

Tysk Tysk Task is a four-piece indie grunge band from Lowell. The band is made up of frontwoman and guitarist Samantha Hartsel, guitarist Rick Martel, bassist Kyle Griffin, and drummer Matt Graber. Listen to their single “Intolerable” ahead of the festival.

2:50-3:20 p.m. Orange Stage

Billy Dean Thomas

Billy Dean Thomas, also known as “The Queer B.I.G,” is a hip-hop recording artist and composer born and raised in NYC, but currently residing in Boston. Their music is described as “quick-witted punchlines highlighting intersectional feminism, social justice,” in their Spotify bio. Thomas has been named one of NPR’s 2020 Slingshot Artists to Watch, been featured on “The View” and has been nominated for four Boston Music awards.

4-4:30 p.m., Orange Stage

Zola Simone

Indie-pop artist Zola Simone released her first single, “Real to You” at 13 years old, and has released twelve singles, two EPs, and one album titled “Now You See Me.” Her song “Easy” not only won Song of the Year at the 2021 Boston Music Awards, but was featured in the series finale of the Netflix original series, “Atypical.”

5:15-5:50 p.m., Orange Stage

Fleshwater

Fleshwater is an American rock band formed in 2017 by Anthony DiDio, Matt Wood, and Jeremy Martin of Vein.fm along with Marisa Shirar. The band released their debut album, “We’re Not Here To Be Loved,” in 2022, with the song “Linda Claire” gaining over 1 million streams on Spotify.

7-7:40 p.m., Orange Stage