Boston Calling Will Take 2026 Off, Return in 2027
Boston Calling’s organizers have announced that the festival will take a year off in 2026 and return the following year. The event’s next staging is now set for June 4-6, 2027. While the festival’s statement did not disclose a cause for next year’s cancellation, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu attributed it to an excess of high-profile events in the city in 2025 in a statement to WBZ NewsRadio.
“Thank you for making this year’s Boston Calling such a wonderful experience. Your energy, passion and support mean the world to us,” the festival’s organizers expressed in a message posted to Boston Calling’s website and social channels. “As we look ahead, Boston Calling will take a short break in 2026 as we gear up for an exciting return on a new weekend: June 4-6, 2027! Stay tuned for updates and thank you again for making the festival a cherished summer tradition.”
In her comment, Mayor Wu expressed that Boston Calling’s producers contacted her to explain the gap year. “They had reached out to me to share that because next year will be so busy, between the 250th anniversary celebrations, between FIFA coming, that there will just be a lot of strain on hotel rooms and events and sponsorships. And so given all that is happening in that exact same window in Boston, that it would be better not to have different sponsorships that are conflicting or stretched too thin and really do it right so that we can enjoy the Boston Calling event bigger and better when it does come back.”
From May 23-25 of this year, Boston Calling welcomed over 40,000 fans for three days of music at Boston’s Harvard Athletic Complex, where 51 high-profile acts stepped into the spotlight on the festival’s new single-stage format. Dave Matthews, Vampire Weekend, Cage The Elephant, Luke Combs, T-Pain, Sheryl Crow, Avril Lavigne, Sublime and Public Enemy were among the top-billed acts. Boston Calling’s 2027 staging will be its 12th annual return since its 2013 debut and pandemic cancellations in 2020 and 2021.
Learn more about Boston Calling at bostoncalling.com,
