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Best Music Festivals Near Boston

Boston Calling
(Photo credit: Boston Calling)

Music festivals are a clear sign of warmer weather approaching. A summer tradition of sorts upon which Bostonians most definitely capitalize. Whether it's hard rock, heavy metal, pop, hip-hop or country, there are a bevy of music festivals hitting the Boston area this summer. Here are just five of the best festivals to sample some of the hottest music around town.

Boston Calling Music Festival
1 City Hall Ave.
Boston, MA 02201
www.bostoncalling.com

Date: May 22 through 24, 2015

Looking for a great way to ring in Memorial Day weekend? Take a day trip over to downtown Boston at City Hall, near Government Center-for this year's Boston Calling Music Festival. This music festival features a great lineup of musical talent for indie rock fans, including Beck, Marina and the Diamonds, My Morning Jacket, The Pixies and Tenacious D, featuring actor Jack Black. It's certainly set up to be a festival of fun, guaranteed to please rock fans this Memorial Day weekend.

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Green River Festival
Greenfield Community College
1 College Dr
Greenfield, MA 01301
(413) 775-1801
www.greenriverfestival.com

Date: July 10 through 12, 2015

Indie rock, and folk and more dominate this warm weather music festival down at Greenfield Community College this July, with a lineup which not only features local rock legend J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. and Witch fame, but also Polaris, Steve Earle & The Dukes and The Milk Carton Kids, alongside a variety of other artists taking over the stage. Rolling Stone magazine has named the Green River Festival as one of their must see music festivals.

Solid Sound Music Festival
1040 Mass Moca Way
North Adams, MA 01247
www.solidsoundfestival.com

Date: June 26 through 28

Wilco fans rejoice because the venerable American indie rock band have returned with the latest installment of their Solid Sound Music Festival, to be held at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams. Wilco will headline again this year at Solid Sound, while other acts scheduled to appear include Cibo Matto, The Charles Lloyd Quartet, The Expendable Brass Band and comedian Paul F. Thompkins. A wide array of sounds seem to be on the menu for fans, making a trip here to Solid Sound highly recommended for all Wilco fans seeking to get their groove on.

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Rockstar Mayhem Festival
885 S Main St.
Mansfield, MA 02048
(800) 653-8000
www.thexfinitycenter.com

Date: July 25, 2015

Are your ears ready for some heavy metal? Better get them prepared, for this year's Rockstar Mayhem Festival hits the Xfinity Center in Mansfield. This promises to be an afternoon of pounding metal and hard rock from across the globe, covering two separate stages. Headliners include the legendary thrash metal band Slayer, alongside equally formative frontman King Diamond and his brand of magical metal storytelling. Other artists include Sister Sin, Jungle Rot, Shattered Sun and more, promising one loud and proud afternoon of metal.

Boston Early Music Festival
43 Thorndike St.
Suite 302
Cambridge, MA 02141
www.bemf.org

Date: June 7 through 14

The Boston Early Music Festival is a huge deal for opera and theater fans, many of which travel from across the globe to attend this week's worth of concerts here in the city suburb of Cambridge. This year the Boston Early Music Festival celebrates the life and music of Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi, as stage productions of his three surviving operas titled Ulisse, Poppea and Orfeo mark a high point for a week celebrating everything involving dance, music, theater and the performing arts. Classical music fans are highly advised to not sleep on this once in a lifetime opportunity.

George Pacheco has been writing professionally about arts and entertainment for over a decade. A graduate of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, George currently resides in a humble New England home with his wife, cat and massive music and film collection. His work can be found at Examiner.com.

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