‘You have to go with the vibe’

BOSTON — Fenway Park DJ Kahleil Blair stares down onto the field at Fenway Park on Tuesday night, watching the Boston Red Sox host the Toronto Blue Jays, waiting. Perched in front of a Mac with QLab software loaded up with songs like “Levitating” by Dua Lipa and “Fireflies” by Owl City, and the drums from “Hollaback Girl” by Gwen Stefani, Blair watches the action, waiting for a particular play or a moment that inspires a soundtrack.

Throughout the game, Blair and John Carter, vice president of Red Sox productions, go back and forth on what to send through the Fenway Park speakers. Earlier in the day, before the game, a fan had visited the booth and requested Justin Bieber, so between the second and third innings, Blair queues up “STAY”, the pop superstar’s song with The Kid LAROI.

When Red Sox right-hander Nathan Eovaldi strikes out Blue Jays DH Zack Collins to start the third inning, Carter shoots a finger gun into the air, a sign for Blair to play the “WOO WOO” whistle that indicates a strike out. On this April evening, the wind blows into the Fenway Park control room on the fifth level behind home plate, and Carter, Blair and public address announcer Henry Mahegan sit in the front row wrapped in winter coats. April through October, regardless of temperature, they keep the windows open so they can hear the feedback from the crowd.

“You can’t plan everything out,” Blair said. “You have to go with the vibe.”

At Fenway Park, there’s been a very noticeable vibe shift. For more than a decade, the electric guitar riff of “Glory Days” by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band blared before first pitch — but the times are changing on Jersey Street.

When Fenway mainstay TJ Connelly left his post following the 2020 season, the Red Sox were without a ballpark DJ for the first time in 15 years. While conducting the search for his replacement, Sarah McKenna, the team’s senior vice president of fan services and entertainment, asked herself a question over and over.

“The beauty…