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The Boston Calling music festival at Harvard University returned for the first time in three years with a line-up of big names and local favorites, including Wellesley native Cam Meekins.  Performers and the audience were ready to rock, groove, or whatever the vibe might be, rain or shine.

The festival, cancelled the past two years due to the pandemic, was still feeling the effects of COVID-19 right into this year’s event. It lost Day 2 headliner The Strokes the day before they were to perform due to a positive COVID-19 test. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard was a late COVID cancelation, too. Nine Inch Nails, the headliner for Day 1, graciously agreed to perform a second night in place of The Strokes, with Metallica wrapping up the event on Sunday, taking on the Celtics-Miami Game 7 NBA conference final. Due to health considerations, the festival did not have its usual indoor respite from the weather in the hockey arena, where in the past comedians and podcasters have entertained.

GBH’s Molly McCaul was on the ground, covering all three days of Boston Calling. They bring you notes from the field, along with highlights across social media, of the return of the monster music festival after a two-year pandemic hiatus.

Friday, May 27th

As gates opened at 1:00 PM on Friday, the crowd began to get a lay of the land before the music started at 2:00. With four stages set across the sprawling Harvard Athletic Complex, there was certainly a lot to take in.

That evening, after sets from the likes of Paris Jackson, The Struts, Cheap Trick, and Haim, concert attendees waiting to see Avril Lavigne were notified that Saturday’s headliners, The Strokes, would have to back out due to a positive COVID test in the band. Emotions were strong as Nine Inch Nails were announced as their replacement.

This past weekend, Boston Calling made its long-awaited return to Harvard University Athletics Complex after two years of cancellations, and for a moment — as Friday’s overcast skies gave way to a sunny afternoon just as the main gates opened — it appeared that the festival’s luck might be changing for the better.

It had been a rough three years: calling off the fest in 2020 and 2021, finding three replacement headliners for 2022, planning a major event amid swelling COVID variants. But as Paris Jackson and Pom Pom Squad warmed up Friday’s early crowds, the mood was optimistic. By the time British glam-rock act The Struts swaggered across the main stage, it became downright celebratory.

The new coworking space will take up 21,500 square feet and is expected to open this December.

Industrious is partnering with developer Carpenter & Co. to open a new Cambridge location within the Charles Hotel in Harvard Square. 

The new coworking space will take up 21,500 square feet and is expected to open this December. 

“The Harvard Square community is a tightly knit and flourishing ecosystem perfectly matched for the ambiance and productivity we deliver at our Industrious flexible workplaces,” said Doug Feinberg, senior director of real estate at Industrious.  

Bike lane expansion worries small business owners along Mass. Ave. as city pares street parking.

CAMBRIDGE — Daniel Spirer is a self-proclaimed “Porter Square institution.”

He crafts gemstone rings and keshi pearl necklaces inside a brick storefront on Massachusetts Avenue. But an initiative to reconfigure the busy street — by removing parking in favor of bike-friendly infrastructure — has soured Spirer on the city where he set up shop in 1982.

Over 85 percent of his income comes from out-of-town customers who arrive in cars, Spirer said. When Cambridge scraps the parking spots, he believes, he will have no choice but to move.

“The problem I have is THAT I ACTUALLY KNOW HOW TO RUN A BUSINESS and I know when it won’t work. So you can congratulate yourselves,” Spirer wrote in a letter to the City Council. “You’ve managed to drive me out.”

It’s time to dust off the discarded tennis racket, dig through the closet for a forgotten Tommy Bahama shirt, and say “hello, old friend” to the summertime blues. While far from the most physical activity (although a three-minute blitz game is sure to get your heart rate up), chess is a fine addition to your repertoire of sunny, by-the-river or in-the-park activities.

The game has exploded in popularity over the past few years with help from 2020′s record-breaking Netflix miniseries “The Queen’s Gambit” (or as I like to call it: 1.d4 d5 2.c4) and the streaming Internet celebrity tournament series “PogChamps.” Board and accessory sales skyrocketed throughout the pandemic, grandmasters are now livestreaming for fans on Twitch, and it looks like the uptick in popularity isn’t just a fad: Free online game site Chess.com reported 5.3 million new users in the last quarter of 2021 alone. If you’re dying to show off your vicious Stafford Gambit prep, or your tactical mastery, or just your love of the game, here are four places in the Boston area where you can play chess.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Peter Balakian is one of the most masterful English-language poets Armenians have as a voice in the contemporary world. The Boston area had a rare opportunity on May 17 to hear him recite some of his newest works and engage in a dialogue with multitalented writer Askold Melnyczuk. The literary evening was hybrid in nature, allowing a broader audience on Zoom. However, people who came in person had the extra benefit of enjoying the refined atmosphere of a historic Victorian mansion, the home of Marceline Donaldson and Rev. Dr. Robert Bennett, in Cambridge, Mass. The event was cosponsored by the Grolier Poetry Book Shop and the Harvard Square Business Association. 

Flexible coworking company Industrious plans to open a site at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge’s Harvard Square, the third location it expects to debut locally this year.