What a thrill to be covering Forecastle Festival in Louisville again this year. The 3-day festival is held in downtown’s Waterfront Park, a beautifully designed space nestled along the Ohio River. Forecastle has tons of great amenities too, which I’ll say more about in a full festival wrap-up in a couple of days.
This post is just a quick walk through my day 1, which included just one act I’ve seen before — St. Paul & The Broken Bones. I do not have photo pit access for Forecastle — hissing lawns is after all a pretty small outlet based over 600 miles away — but it’s always pretty easy to get decent photos at the smaller stages. The larger stages are tougher, obviously. Still, there are lots of pics in this post, so click on through for more.
I started the day with Empires at the Ocean Stage, which is literally under an overpass. I loved the outfit’s sound and charismatic stage presence. I can’t wait to check out their recent album.
Wow, what an excellent weekend lineup on WFPK‘s Port Stage, which is also the most attractive of the four stages. Parker Millsap got things rolling there yesterday, and it’s nice to see that the young Millsap is in fact the real deal. I’ll post a bigger gallery and have more to say about him soon.
I’ll confess to never having heard of Milo Greene, and the band’s electronica-backed pop isn’t exactly my thing, but the catchy tunes lured me closer to the main Mast Stage. I don’t even like the work of Phil Collins, but Milo Greene’s cover of “Take Me Home” was really great.
I finally got a chance to see Jeff The Brotherhood — would love to see them in some moody venue.
Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds just about brought the house down on the WFPK Stage. More pics coming of them soon.
I missed Fly Golden Eagle at Savannah Stopover, but their rock sound — buoyed by psychedelia and some pretty intense lyrics — has me hoping to see them again soon. Another band on my list for further listening.
And here’s St. Paul & The Broken Bones doing what they do.
I missed San Fermin and their eclectic, passionate, orchestral pop at Savannah Stopover, so it was sure good to catch them yesterday.
I was already a Gaslight Anthem fan, but Friday’s show made me more of one — the passionate crowd, the clean sound, the no-nonsense rock delivery. Really good.
Cage The Elephant electrified the crowd at the main stage, and the show was much more frenetic than I imagined, thanks to the sheer energy of lead singer Matt Shultz. They really seemed like a different band when I was up close than when I was hovering toward the rear of the great lawn in the park.
Alvvays brought their alluring mix of indie rock and smart pop to the WFPK Stage late in the day after being moved from an earlier slot because Speedy Ortiz had to cancel.
OK, I’m late to the Houndmouth fan club, apparently, but this is a great band. I’ll have more pics and more to say about them soon.
It was a blazing hot day on Friday, and I’m staying with my people about an hour from the festival, so I decided to hit the road before headliner Sam Smith on Friday night. Good thing, as it turned out. Just after I hit the highway, the severe thunderstorm warnings came over the radio. The festival had to clear the field about halfway into Smith’s show, and the storms chased me for the next hour.