I Think I'm in Love Again (with a Festival): Friday at Forecastle

I've just returned home from my first weekend at Forecastle Festival in Louisville, Kentucky. Our first day was a bit confusing. We got a late start that morning. Then we got a little lost in Celina, Tennessee; when our phones failed us, but luckily Christine knows to read an Atlas and saved the day. I also forgot my planned schedule at home and for some reason we weren’t handed a schedule/map when we entered the festival gates. Once we got found a schedule and got settled in, we loved every minute of it.

I’ve already decided I’m coming back to Forecastle Festival next year. Honestly, I was hesitant to try a “city” festival. I’m not sure why, I guess I thought the vibe would be different. I thought that there would be too many people that were there, just because it was in their town, who weren’t there for the music necessary, but I guess the ticket price deters that. See, the single benefit to high ticket prices, it keeps the wooks away.

The main thing I liked about Forecastle is its size and layout. We were able to see some partial sets Friday because I was able to get from stage to stage quickly. I’m not able to do that at a festival such as Bonnaroo, because of the rough terrain and large crowds. There were sidewalks! Man, I love sidewalks. Of course, there were ADA viewing platforms as well. We decided not to get on the platform when we first got to the festival and when we were catching the end of some sets. A couple people came up to us to make sure we knew about ADA platforms. They weren’t volunteers or staff, just people. Their thoughtfulness warmed my heart.

We saw Gary Clark, Jr., Local Natives, Twenty One Pilots, a little bit of Spoon, and of course Outkast.

As soon as we got there we followed the music over to Gary Clark, Jr. and caught the end of his set in the misty rain. Then the search was on for a schedule and map. Once we obtained a schedule and realized we had enough time to catch some of Local Natives we hurried over to the Boom stage. I didn’t see as much of Local Natives as I would’ve liked, but what I heard was great. I’m hoping I have another opportunity to see them again. Twenty One Pilots were better than I imagined. I don’t think they were even on my original schedule, but their performance made new fans out of Christine and me.

Any regular reader of this blog knows I can’t write a proper concert review to do Outkast justice. Let’s just say I lost my shit and nearly lost my voice while screaming along when they opened with Bombs Over Baghdad. I’m looking forward to seeing their performance at VooDoo Experience and comparing the middle of the Outkast 20 tour to their last stop.

Forecastle had the same friendly vibe of any camping festival. We ran into many members of our music family, such as Festival Snob, ChattaBoogie and everybody’s Uncle Tony. We made shuttle buddies who made damn sure no concert hopper was left behind and we were nicknamed Chattanooga for the weekend.

We'll be sharing our Forecastle experience with you, all this week. So stop by every evening to read more.

Were you at Forecastle this weekend?