“I Hate Boston” Singer Reneé Rapp Performed In Boston

In late August, you may recall mysterious billboards that read “I Hate Boston” popped up around the city (the first being in the North End). It turned out to be an interesting marketing campaign to promote singer Reneé Rapp’s new record that featured a single by that title. On Saturday night, Rapp performed in Boston for the first time since her “I Hate Boston” controversy.

The show took place at Roadrunner Boston on Guest Street. In fact, it was sold out, as are all of her shows in New York this week. Rapp’s setlist consisted of 15 songs. Many of them are off Rapp’s new record, Snow Angel. Halfway through the set Saturday evening, Rapp and her band broke into “I Hate Boston.”

Boston.com reported that Rapp referenced the song by saying, “Contrary to popular belief, I’m very happy to be in Boston.” According to this review, Rapp came prepared. She certainly capitalized on prolonging the life of these clever billboards. The merch table sold shirts with the “I Hate Boston” slogan in the same black and white color pattern as the promotional pieces. On the contrary, Rapp also had an “I Love Boston” shirt for sale. Rapp stated at the end of the show, “I definitely don’t hate Boston anymore,” Boston.com reported.

The History

Pre-dating the August billboards, there was a reason this song was written in the first place. CBS Boston found a quote from Rapp discussing the song on WBZ-TV. “It’s more fun when people don’t know, and are very curious as to why I would do such a thing, and it is to incite fights and arguments. Cause you guys [in Boston] are very good at that, and you love that,” she said. CBS then noted Rapp has a well-admired reputation for satire.

“How did you make me hate Boston?” and “It’s not its fault that you don’t love me,” are a few of the lyrics in this song. Rapp is telling a story of an experience with someone who associates a bad experience with Boston. Therefore, it must have been both fun and rewarding to be on a prominent stage in this city performing the song to sold-out and adoring crowd.

Shortly after Rapp’s initial billboards went up in the North End, Mayor Wu jumped in on the fun and posted a “Boston Loves You” billboard photo on her Instagram. It appears the crowd Saturday night did as well. Many shared videos contain fans singing along with Rapp during the “I Hate Boston” performance.

10 Women Artists Who Have Yet to be Inducted into the Rock Hall

From May 2011 to February 2012, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame featured an exhibit called “Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power.” From September 2012 to August 2014, the exhibit traveled around to various museums in the United States. It made its final stop at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich. While at that museum, I was given a private tour of the collection of over 70 different performers. These performers ranged from Janis Joplin and Tina Turner to Chrissie Hynde and Stevie Nicks.

The exhibit’s artifacts dated back to the 1920s and traveled through to the present day. My tour guide made sure to point out that one “unusual” woman was responsible for the exhibit’s existence. On a visit to the Rock Hall, Cyndi Lauper took a tour of the museum, and she noticed that something was missing. “She very simply said, ‘Where the women at?!,” said my tour guide, and that was the impetus for that exhibit.

Frankly, the same question can be posed about the Rock Hall inductees in general.

RELATED: A Salute to the Women Performers in the Rock Hall

Rock Hall’s chairman John Sykes has made a point in a number of interviews to point out how the Rock Hall needs to evolve. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Sykes said, “…it’s time to take the Hall to 2.0. That means a more diverse board, that means more women, people of color, people who reflect the kind of music that’s now being inducted. We have to look and feel like the artists that come into our Hall. That’s just the natural transition.”

Eventually, we’d like to see the ten women artists in the gallery below inducted. They all more than deserve it, and there are plenty of others that still do. Truth be told, this list could be even longer than just ten. Howver, we’ll save our extended rambling on this matter for another day.