The sights and sounds of the 2023 edition of In Between Days Festival at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Go Free Jacks!

Alex Magleby is having a banner year. The co-founder, owner, and CEO of the Quincy-based rugby team New England Free Jacks is celebrating his first Major League Rugby championship win in 2023. The team’s only been around for four years, so that’s a pretty good batting average.

Never one to rest on his laurels the Dartmouth grad, who made an early career in rugby as player and coach, has been looking to raise a different kind of ruckus on the pitch. In 2022 he launched the first edition of the indie rock festival In Between Days. The one-day fest played out at Veterans Memorial Stadium – the same stadium that served as home field for the Free Jack’s championship season.

It’s a stretch to call Magleby a “music industry expert” (looking at you, Brendan Jeannetti!). But a passionate sportsman and businessman who recognizes potential synergies that can build his business? Sure. The matches in Quincy have incorporated music and foodie options into the gameday experience to increase their draw beyond the hardcore rugby faithful.

Crash Test Dummies? Chili Fest? Cracker? Frosé & Fromage Wine & Cheese Fest? The English Beat? The stadium has become a little laboratory and testing ground for Magleby’s broadening ambitions in the entertainment sector.

The inaugural In Between Days fest in 2022 was a beautiful day of music, though the growing pains were apparent in sketchy attendance and some “quality of life” issues that emerge when you plant a music crowd atop a field of rubber crumb synthetic turf in the middle of August.

The 2023 edition ironed out so many of the previous year’s kinks that it felt like a brand new fest.

Colorful awnings and a jumbotron gave the crowd a shady place to plant themselves on the field to see and hear the music. The yawning gap of the security pit in front of the stage, comically large in 2022, was downsized to reasonable dimensions and populated with photographers. A second stage was added (thanks Arbella!) to allow seamless performances throughout the day without load-in downtime. The food offerings, vendors, and peripheral amusements increased in scope, broadening the appeal of the day beyond music alone…

The updates earned rave reviews. Local rag Boston Globe observed the sea change. MusicBoxPete, who left the festival “a little early to beat the traffic,” reported that the 2023 edition “[took] things up a notch.” Finally, our paper of record If It’s Too Loud, was “just blown away watching band after band after band!”

How does Magleby and his team top themselves in 2024? Easy. The New England Free Jacks win another major league rugby shield and In Between Days adds a third day of music. Both outcomes are already in the works, so start planning your return trip to Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Daily recaps below…

Local giggers The Gypsy Moths and Paper Tigers kicked off a daylong bill that featured legends Sunny Day Real Estate, Vacationland heroes Weakened Friends, The Beths buzz, headliner Modest Mouse and more.

Another beautiful day of weather. Was the MBTA conspiring against the fest? Sweet Petunia marks the beginning of a lineup with rootsier flavors like Kat Wright, Miko Marks, Trampled By Turtles and headliners Lord Huron.