It’s been a while since a traveling ‘festival’ made waves. Warped Tour was a cultural monolith that is still remembered fondly today. AEG might be angling to fill that void with Re:SET, a nationwide touring concert series. Here’s how it works: throughout each weekend in June, AEG chose three geographically close metro areas to host three sets of artists on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Merriweather Post Pavilion hosted indie rock supergroup Boygenius on Friday (along with Clairo, Dijon, and Bartees Strange), R&B wunderkind Steve Lacy on Saturday (with James Blake, Toro Y Moi, and Fousheé), and the long-influential LCD Soundsystem on Sunday (with Jamie xx, IDLES, and L’Rain). Boston and New York City also had simultaneous Re:SET events all weekend, trading bands between the three cities.

Fans were treated to a great artist mashup that could’ve come from a ‘recommended if you like’ listicle. Or, if we’re being honest these days, the algorithm. (AEG, like Live Nation, knows a lot about our ticket purchases, after all.) Fans of the R&B stylings of Steve Lacy found a lot to like with Toro Y Moi’s synthy funk and James Blake’s soulful vocals. Boygenius fans and Clairo fans are practically an overlapping circle on a Venn diagram, based on the reception of both artists. LCD Soundsystem and IDLES fans love a good bout of catharsis in the pit, whether it’s a wall of death during “Colossus” or pogoing as the beat drops on “Dance Yrself Clean.”

All three are deserved headliners in their own way. Lucy Dacus, Julien Baker, and Phoebe Bridgers absolutely elevate each other in a way each could not accomplish alone – it wouldn’t be a surprise to see more musical output from them in the future. Steve Lacy has had a meteoric rise in the last couple of years since his days as a producer and guitarist for The Internet, and fans were singing to practically every song that night. And LCD Soundsystem, the long-running electronic/rock collective, featured James Murphy and company at their best, performing tracks from their nearly 20-year history under a giant, gleaming disco ball that lit up the night.

Will this Re:SET be the first of many?

Too early to say, but the turnout looked relatively decent, if not sold out. Boygenius attracted the largest crowd of the weekend with a near sellout, followed by Steve Lacy and then LCD Soundsystem with a seemingly two-thirds-full crowd. When you position yourself as a festival, charging $100 a day for four bands and pavilion seating is a tough sell compared to something like All Things Go (also taking place at Merriweather in October), which features 16+ acts per day (also including Boygenius as a headliner) and $150 one-day pavilion seating.

AEG slashed prices and offered a buy one, get one free deal at the last minute for Saturday and Sunday’s shows, likely bumping up the final attendance count, so hopefully, some lessons are learned on offering pricing that is commensurate to the fan-perceived experience they’re offering each day. But overall, the event went on without a hitch, with on-time sets, no glaringly noticeable sound issues, and enough merch to satiate even the most dedicated Boygenius fan.

Here’s hoping we get more of this, at the same time next year.

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