Forecastle Festival 2015: Day Three Recap + Final Thoughts
Forecastle‘s final day was a smashing success, with perfect weather and one last day filled with awesome music for the crowd to enjoy. Finally, a day with no threat of crazy winds to knock everything over! I will say that I am sorry to see the festival end, but it is never too early to start planning for next year!
At the top of my “cannot miss this performance for anything in the world” list was First Aid Kit, who took to the Mast Stage promptly at 3 pm to wow the crowd with their powerful folk-rock sound. Swedish sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg first came to my attention via a one-off single put out by Third Man Records, and the two sisters harmonize perfectly together as they perform, with Klara on guitar and Johanna on the keyboards. They performed several of their most popular hits, including “Stay Gold” and “Master Pretender,” along with an incredible cover of one of my personal favorites, Simon and Garfunkel’s 1968 hit “America.”
Another “can’t miss” band on my list was Nashville’s own Diarrhea Planet, a six-member punk rock band who are local celebrities here at home but are just now starting to become more known on the festival scene. Their set was at the WFPK Port Stage at 4:30 pm, so I headed there right after First Aid Kit. These guys are pros at melting faces, with four guitarists out of six musicians all jamming out at once. If you ever need to hear a rock group shred their hearts out and put true passion into what they do, Diarrhea Planet is your band.
I made my way back over to the Mast Stage to catch the remainder of Tweedy, walking up just as he began to play “Summer Noon.” Tweedy is the most recent project from the mind of Jeff Tweedy, who founded Wilco in 1994. Tweedy and his son Spencer collaborate on the musical endeavor, and the result is their own unique sound with a hint of Wilco mixed in as well.
I took a break before the next Mast Stage set to cool off for a bit in the Kentucky Bourbon Lounge and enjoy a couple of drinks before heading back into the sun. Introduced in 2012, the Bourbon Lounge showcases bourbon from all across the state, allowing attendees to sample a variety of Kentucky’s most well-known brands and try them on the rocks or in a cocktail. I found this to be an excellent setup for several reasons, one being that it is 21+ to get in, providing a nice adults-only atmosphere away from the kids and teenagers at the festival. Young people are great, we can all agree on that, but it’s also quite nice to just escape to an adults-only zone for even ten minutes of peace. The lounge was also completely covered, providing an awesome shield from the sun and humidity that baked all of us this weekend. I also enjoyed getting to learn more about other brands of bourbon, as I had labored under the delusion for quite some time that Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark were the only two brands of bourbon produced in America. I now know that Kentucky is a regular bourbon goldmine, and I picked up on subtle differences in taste with each brand I sampled. I guess I can now add “can distinguish bourbon brand by taste” to my skills set.
After cooling off and enjoying some drinks, I went back out into the sun to pop back over to the Mast Stage for Modest Mouse. This is a band I have long heard about but haven’t always paid close attention to, so their set was a chance for me to get even more familiar with their music (mostly their older material, as I have heard some of the new songs on the radio since they dropped their latest album) and get me excited to check our more of their discography down the road. I most enjoyed their live rendition of “Lampshades on Fire” from their latest album Strangers to Ourselves.
RL Grime was on at 8 pm at the Ocean Stage, so I stopped over to listen to his set for a bit. I am not personally an electronic music fan, but I am always open to giving artists a chance and listening to what they bring to broaden my horizons. While not completely my style, RL Grimes’ set was enjoyable to me, and I am glad I stopped to check him out.
Sadly, the daily grind of work calls to me in the morning, so the last set I got in for the day was King Tuff over at the WFPK Port Stage. I figured that I might as well end my evening on a rock high, and these guy fit the bill perfectly. I loved their latest album release last year, Black Moon Spell, so hearing them play live was a great way to wrap up my day and my first Forecastle experience.
I would also like to give a shout-out to the incredible artists that I bought pieces from this weekend as well, both for myself as well as for friends. Check out Cricket Press of Lexington, Kentucky, for starters; they have a whimsical and dreamy style that makes use of pastels to create an almost watercolor look. I also purchased a lovely poster from Nate Duval‘s booth, a colorfully illustrated peacock clad in a fedora who also happens to be playing the guitar. Random, yes. But completely my style. I am all about giving your local artists all the love, so go out and shop local! Every house needs at least one local piece, so it was a no-brainer that I was going to bring a couple home. I admit, narrowing down the choices was hard, but I collected everyone’s business cards to explore ordering from them later, so it’s a win-win in the end.
I could not be happier with my experience at Forecastle, and the festival has earned a solid place on my list of festivals that I must return to next year. I loved the location, for starters: Waterfront Park was clean, easily accessible, and provided amazing views of the Ohio River as festival-goers milled about and enjoyed the acts. I also was fond of the smaller scale as well; Forecastle is also co-produced by AC Entertainment, whom you may recognize as a co-producer of MFN favorite Bonnaroo as well. I thought of Forecastle as a sort of “Bonnaroo Lite,” with the same vibe of peace and positivity and same quality of performing acts and vendors, just in a more compact package that is easier to navigate. Parking for vehicles is available as close as directly across the street from each entrance, making leaving the festival at the end of the day easy and fairly fast as well. As a solo attendee, I felt much safer knowing that I was close to my car when I had to leave at night. I also feel that Forecastle would be a great starter festival for someone who either isn’t quite ready to move up to a bigger one like Hangout or Coachella or who wants to see if the festival atmosphere suits them so they can branch out to other events in the future.
I hope that I can return next year, so I do think that clearing the calendar should start now! We are so glad we were able to bring reviews and coverage to all of y’all, and we thank you for your continued support! And a huge thank you to all of the bands, local vendors, volunteers and staff who made the festival possible. And of course, we would like to thank ALL of you who came from all over the country to gather together for a long weekend of great music and great fun. We loved sharing the experience, and we can’t wait to do it again soon!