Electric Callboy in Boston: A Rave, a Pit, and a Campfire — All in One Night

Michael Riley
2 hours ago
2 min read

Confetti cannons, wrecking-ball breakdowns, and a stripped-down singalong, Electric Callboy closed out North America with the most ridiculous, most sincere party in the room.

Electric Callboy in Boston, MA | Photography by Michael Riley

Article Contributed by Michael Riley. Revisions by LJ Portnoy, Editor-in-Chief

Ever heard of electronicore? If you haven't, picture metalcore and EDM slammed together at full speed. If you have, then you already know Electric Callboy. The German six-piece closed out their North American run in Boston, and the room showed up exactly the way you'd hope, half the crowd dressed for a metal show, the other half dressed for a rave, nobody sure which one they were about to get. Neither were we. That was the fun of it.

Electric Callboy's Two-Genre Wrecking Ball

Tattooed guitarist in black vest plays a black-and-red electric guitar on a smoky blue-lit stage, mouth open mid-performance. — Electric Callboy in Boston, MA | Photography by Michael Riley

The lights dropped. Smoke rolled across the stage. Phones went up. And Electric Callboy walked out in matching fits and detonated the night with Tanzneid and Still Waiting. Four-on-the-floor bass thumping through the floorboards, confetti cannons going off in every direction, for the first thirty seconds, you're convinced you wandered into a rave. Then the breakdown lands like a wrecking ball, and the whole floor folds into a pit. Two genres that have no business working together are working perfectly. A masterclass, honestly.

No Shame, All Spandex

What sets them apart is that they're not afraid to be ridiculous. They pull the aesthetics straight out of their music videos and drop them into the live show. A few songs in, they vanished, then reappeared head-to-toe in '80s workout, hair-metal glory for Hypa Hypa and Pump It. It sits right on the line between "this is hilarious" and "wait, this is actually kind of brilliant," and they know it.

Tattooed male singer crouches on teal-lit stage, singing into a microphone in a black puffer vest and boots. — Electric Callboy in Boston, MA | Photography by Michael Riley

The Campfire

But the moment that stuck wasn't the confetti or the costume changes. Halfway through, the band came down off the stage and onto the floor to play stripped-back versions of Fckboi and Cascada's Everytime We Touch. The crowd folded in around them like a campfire. Phone lights up where lighters used to be, everyone singing at the top of their lungs.

Tattooed drummer raises a stick behind a huge drum kit on a red-lit concert stage, with glowing Xs on the bass drums. — Electric Callboy in Boston, MA | Photography by Michael Riley

For a few minutes it stopped feeling like a rock show and started feeling like a room full of people who'd known each other forever, like you knew Nico, Dan and Kevin, instead of watching them from a distance. It felt human. And that says everything about how Electric Callboy sees the people who show up for them.

Back to the Chaos

Concertgoer seen from behind makes a heart with raised hands; black shirt reads Electric All Boy in warm golden stage light. — Electric Callboy fans in Boston, MA | Photography by Michael Riley

Then it was the regularly scheduled programming: heavy basslines, breakdowns, more outfit changes, a room that never stopped moving. They closed on We Got The Moves and left the floor wrecked in the best way.

Electric Callboy aren't just party boys. They're craftsmen who happen to throw the best party in the room, and we'd be hard-pressed to name anyone blending EDM and metalcore with this much precision, or this much heart.