As the responsible Louisvillian that I am, I will be attending some part of the Forecastle Festival this July. I will be there Saturday and Sunday. Friday, I will be at Riverbend Music Center watching Dave Matthews Band. So at least I am skipping Friday for music, but in my place I send my sister so she can find goodness in what is offered (she is a big fan of Moon Taxi and The Pass). Anyways the schedule was just released complete with set times and stages so I figure I will comment and lay out what I will find myself doing on these hopefully sunny days.
As you can tell, I will be more into the rock and folk stuff. Just was not too excited about the electronic stuff this year.
Saturday
The 23 String Band 3:30-4:00 Port Stage
Dawes 4:30-5:30 Mast Stage
Alabama Shakes 6:00-7:15 Mast Stage
Jim James 7:45-9:15 Mast Stage
The Flaming Lips 8:45-10:15 Boom Stage
Matt & Kim 9:00-10:15 Ocean Stage
The Black Keys 10:00-12:00 Mast Stage
Obviously I cannot see the whole set of all these bands but damn it I will try. 23 String Band will be a great beginning to the day. They are a good band to ease into what will come by playing some sweet acoustic tunes. After The 23 String Band, things get really awesome, really fast. Dawes will avenge the short setlist they got when they opened for Mumford & Sons in town last summer. I am really looking forward to that one.
Alabama Shakes is going to bring their White Stripes southern rock and I know that will be a great show. Brittany Howard is so powerful and just one of those people you have to see to believe. I saw Jim James at The Brown Theatre recently and I know some of that will be the same at Forecastle but you have to think he has something up his sleeve at Forecastle. It's rare you see someone repeat a performance at a festival and get down graded in set time. I know it's band vs. solo but Louisville practically worships Jim James. I know he will deliver.
Biggest decision of the day will be The Flaming Lips vs. Matt & Kim. I have been wanting to see Matt & Kim since "Daylight" but The Flaming Lips supposedly have a fantastic show and right now they are covering "Heroes" by David Bowie so that is likely fantastic. I'll have to dwell on that one. I have been wanting to see The Black Keys for a while now and I hope they deliver and I think they will, having been to Forecastle before. Saturday is a day I can expect will go as planned. I'll call Saturday the greatest hits day.
Sunday
The Wild Feathers 1:15-1:45 Port Stage
Bombino 2:00-3:00 Mast Stage
A Lion Named Roar 2:15-3:00 Port Stage
The Wheeler Brothers 3:45-4:30 Port Stage
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals 5:00-6:15 Mast Stage
Churchill 5:15-6:00 Port Stage
Robert Plant and band 6:45-8:15 Mast Stage
The Forecastle Incident 7:45-9:15 Boom Stage
The Avett Brothers 9:00-11:00 Mast Stage
While Saturday is more the heavy hitters, Sunday is full of rookies and unknowns, meaning an earlier start for me. The Wild Feathers are one of my top bands right now. I was completely convinced of their awesome skills officially after seeing them open for Bob Dylan. (I saw them at Dillinger's the night of the UofL vs. Notre Dame 5OT thriller. Needless to say it wasn't their best night just due to the attention they got.) Bombino has the potential to be the best surprise of the festival. Maybe a Dan Auerbach collaboration?????? Auerbach produced Bombino's most recent album. A Lion Named Roar might get the short end of the stick if I spend most of my time with Bombino. That's unfortunate because they represent Louisville so well. The Wheeler Brothers are a great down home band, perfect for this year's Forecastle.
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals and Churchill will have to fight for my attention during their slots. Both have recently been to The Ville but I couldn't catch them. I feel I may know what to expect with Grace Potter but Churchill has the potential to surprise me. Forecastle got big news when they got Robert Plant and his current touring band. The setlist will be interesting and what he does to Led Zeppelin with this folk arrangement will surely be something that people should not miss.
Now onto this dang Forecastle Incident. I predicted we would be able to tell how special it will be by what slot time they were given and they got a late one with 90 minutes to handle. Who will play? What will they play? But they are not on the main stage. Hmmm...The intrigue is enough to line up for this one.
I am not the biggest Avett Brothers fan but they will be a great classy band to end what will be a great weekend of killer jams.
Great stuff here. Keep it up.
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