Outside the Box Festival | Boston, MA 7/14/15-7/19/15Empty Bottle Evenings

Jul192015July 19, 2015July 21, 2015No Commentby Bake

Outside the Box Festival | Boston, MA 7/14/15-7/19/15

Posted in Music

It’s not every Thursday that I sit on the grass of Boston Common and watch Greek Dancers. Actually, it’s not any day. Ever. And to be honest I wasn’t even sure they were Greek. There was live music playing that I could only describe as “international” and there were costumed dancers, that much I was sure. But my initial guess was Latin American. Or Israeli. Clearly I am not a world traveler. But I guess you could say the same of many Bostonians. So instead of making these provincial bastards leave their home in search of adventure, someone (Ted Cutler) brought culture to them. For free!

The Outside the Box Festival is a six day performing arts festival in Boston bringing in entertainers of all sorts together for our listening and viewing pleasure. Do we deserve it? Probably not, but that is irrelevant. It’s always nice to see free music and sadly freeing to be able to watch the performers in an open setting like Boston Common. No assigned seats, wristbands, or security guards that take their jobs too serious. You could walk up to the stage and check something out and if it wasn’t for you just head across the street for a drink at the bar and then…come right back. Burn in hell “no re-entry”. Prior to the Billy Joel concert I was able to check out the Gins Blossoms and after 30 minutes I was able to get up and leave and catch the train like I didn’t just see 1992’s biggest artist! Why can’t things always be this easy? And before you ask, no I didn’t stick around for “Hey Jealousy” but I did hear “Until I Fall Away” and “Found Out About You” so you can still be super jealous.

I came back the next day and was lucky to catch Boston-based Abbie Barrett & Band. As I took my spot stretched out on the grass not expecting anything more than background noise for catching some sun for my pale, decrepit, vitamin-d-deficient body I was pleasantly surprised by what I heard. Barrett physically bears a resemblance to Kristen Wiig but musically reminded me of The Pretenders with a more western feel. The set featured plenty of upbeat and melodic pop rock songs like “Here to Stay” that were good, but I enjoyed the ’70s rock and western influence a bit more. The two highlights for me that Barrett played were “Soldiers” (below) and “Disappointing You”. It was a tight hour long set showcasing Barrett’s smokey/sultry voice and the talents of her band including some pretty decent guitar solos. They even threw in a cover of The Band’s “Ophelia”.

Later, after a bourbon or three, I was ready to handle the bro-country of Austin Webb. He looked like the world’s biggest DB, but he played a cover of “Hound dog” that reminded me of how much that song stomps ass so I was pacified. The band did jam out a few times and threw in a couple different Tom Petty tributes so it wasn’t all stereotypical country. On “American Girl” Webb emulated Petty’s voice so well I couldn’t help but wonder just how long did he take practicing it. I mean, that’s a pretty ridiculous task when you really think about how strange Petty’s voice is. I was still picturing him in a room trying to master the cracking and croaking when apparently they finished off the set. Soon after Governor Baker (so that’s what the prick looks like) showed up on stage to honor the philanthropist behind the festival, Ted Cutler. He looked about 90 years old and 4 ½ tall with an old man suit to match and I couldn’t be happier to cheer him on for helping bring free music to the Commonwealth. Any excuse to actually go outside and enjoy summer. Thanks Ted!

As the sun started to set over Boston, the sounds of a Sergio Leone score over the PA introduced the night’s final act, Kacey Musgraves. Out first came her band decked out in cowboy hats, bolo ties, and, what else, suits adorned with flashing lights. Then Musgraves herself appeared on stage wearing the cut off red & white checkered shirt, short frilly skirt, and cowboy boots that must render Texas teens unable to inconspicuously get up from their seats. She launched into the dreamy “High Time”, the first song off her latest album Pageant Material, easing the large but unfamiliar crowd into her act. Musgraves sped things up with catchy, uptempo pop jams “Stupid”, “Blowing Smoke”, and later, her big single “Biscuits”, which should easily find itself on Sesame Street any day now.

Throughout the first half of her set Kacey sang to the Northern crowd about her Southern life, only taking a few breaks between songs about trailers, small town living in Texas, and pageant moms to express her new-found love for lobster rolls. Still, even as a cynical masshole, I found her seemingly autobiographical tales in “Pageant Material” or “Dime Store Cowgirl” and her down home charm to be refreshing. I may not relate enitrely but it seems a lot more genuine than the anthems about God and the forced patriotism I expect from the country music scene. She could be fooling me, but she really does seem genuine and she has a great presence on stage. And I’m 98% sure it has nothing to do with the fact that she’s quite pretty.

For reasons that no one can be certain of, Musgraves took a break from her twangy originals to play a cover of TLCs “No Scrubs”. It was at this time I had questions. Why does it seem like I am the only male in attendance? How long would it take me to get a another bourbon and come back? Am I in fact, a scrub? Thankfully, before long she evoked her inner Belichick and played “It Is What It Is”; a break-up ballad that when played lived allowed for a great pedal-steel solo. And like any good break-up song, this led to drinking, with the band passing around a bottle of Patron before playing the pop songs “Late to the Party” and crowd favorite “Step Off” which segued into a couple verses of Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds”. Sadly, Shane Victorino did not make an appearance.

“Merry Go Round” was a nice, poetic lullaby about settling in life and never seeing the world which only reinforced that I’m doing the right thing by leaving my home state in two weeks. Meanwhile “My House”, featuring Musgraves on harmonica, offered one alternative to getting stuck in your hometown: mobile homes. Hey, no judgment here. And no judgment from Musgraves. At least that was the message of her closing song, “Follow Your Arrow”. People suck and will have their shitty little opinions on whatever you do so just go ahead and do it. Tell them to eat shit. (This is why I’m not a songwriter). After a minute offstage Kacey and the (SUNSHINE?) band came back out to finish the night with a cover of “These Boots Are Made for Walkin'”. The message there: boots are fucking sexy?