A potentially wet forecast couldn’t rain on the parade of the Re:SET Concert Series which christened the newly opened The Stage at Suffolk Downs with the new venue’s first-ever concert on Friday. At least for Friday (unfortunately, Saturday with LCD Soundsystem, IDLES, and more got canceled), fans raced to the old horse track that in its day hosted concerts of its own, including The Beatles.
Re:SET is a traveling concert series featuring big names like Steve Lacy, LCD Soundsystem, boygenius, Clairo, Jamie XX, IDLES, James Blake, and more. AEG put it together and it’s been a hit in cities across the country, despite some rainy dates. The concert series concept is a multi-day version of something similar to last year’s Here And There, a traveling one-day festival curated by Courtney Barnett, but with three separate lineups toggling through a trio of cities each weekend in June.
With a stacked lineup of artists, Friday in Boston included Steve Lacy, James Blake, Toro y Moi, and Fousheé, bringing out a diverse—albeit mostly young—crowd that got to the new grounds early to camp out and kept up their energy all day long. Fousheé got the day going with her combination of soul, R&B, and pop, with headliner Steve Lacy even jumping into the photo pit to sing along and dance.
Toro y Moi got everybody moving with his genre-bending songs including his collaboration with Flume, “The Difference”, “Rose Quartz”, “Girl Like You”, and “Freelance”. His energy was infectious and is an artist any live music fan should search out. James Blake made a relatively rare appearance in Boston with his soulful electronic ballads, including a chilling rendition of Frank Ocean’s “Godspeed”, a song he helped Ocean put together.
Steve Lacy was the name everyone came to see though, and he didn’t disappoint—braids and all. The night kicked off with “Cody Freestyle”, “Helmet”, and “Buttons”, with Lacy working through his still-nascent solo catalog, building up to hits “Bad Habit” and “Dark Red” to end the night. Lacy teased he can’t wait for fans to hear his new project and declared himself “an artist’s artist.” The man can entertain, and for the new outdoor summer venue, he was a great way to reintroduce music to this historic site.
Check out image galleries from the Re:SET Concert Series in Boston courtesy of photographer Brent Goldman. The series wraps this weekend with stops in Nashville, Chicago, and Columbus. Tickets and further info are available here.
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