This year’s Forecastle Festival was a smashing success with one of the highest attendance rates in the festival’s history. Even though it was in the high 90’s almost all weekend, Louisville Waterfront Park was packed to see this year’s awesome lineup. Fans lined up as early as noon to get through the gates to see their favorite artists of the day. Here are just a couple of the best acts from each day of this year’s festival.
Friday:
#1: AJR
photo credit: andrew ha
AJR, with no surprise, had one of the best sets of Day One. Even before their performance, you could feel the power of the brother trio by the amount of fans that showed up to see this midday set. After storming onto the stage with massive amounts of energy, they quickly proceeded into performing their hits which included “Sober Up” and “Weak”. Even in their lesser known songs “The Good Part” and “Burn the House Down”, the crowd was completely engaged with the trio jumping up and down and singing every lyric endlessly. One of the more impressive parts of their set was when they did a live demonstration of how they produced one of their songs. AJR left fans reenergized after their electrifying performance on Day One.
#2: Father John Misty
With his raw charisma and his natural wittiness, Josh Tillman (Father John Misty) along with backup on drums, guitar, and trumpets led a fantastic set that had the Mast Stage completely filled to the brim. He performed many of his hits that included Chateau Lobby #4 and others on his breakout album I Love You, Honeybear. He also played classics from Fear Fun along with newer songs from Pure Comedy and God’s Favorite Customer. With the sun setting over the Louisville waters, this was the perfect set to attend on Day One.
Saturday:
#1: Houndmouth
Even though this band originates from New Albany, Indiana, Houndmouth claims that their true roots are in Louisville, Kentucky with the band performing and recording there for many of their early years. With that being said, this set was like a hometown show with the Mast Stage packed with fans craving to see the alternative country rockers. They performed many of their hits from their breakout album Little Neon Limelight which included Sedona, Darlin’, Honey Slider, and My Cousin Greg. They also performed many of their new music which included This Party and Modern Love. With the night quickly approaching during the set, this set was the place to be for festivalgoers on Day Two.
#2: Chris Stapleton
photo credit: Brian Hensley Photography
At the end of a fantastic Day Two, all eyes were on Tennessee country singer Chris Stapleton. With technical difficulties postponing the set for 45 minutes, excitement filled the air as he finally came out opening the night with a guitar driven performance of Midnight Train to Memphis. He continued the night performing many songs off of his albums Traveller and From A Room Volume 1 and 2. Fans that stuck around to the end got to finally hear a performance of perhaps the song that made him famous, Tennessee Whiskey. With his absolutely stellar vocals driving this slow ballad, this song ended a great Day 2 and possibly the best set of the weekend.
Sunday:
#1: Colony House
photo credit: andrew ha
Early rains on Day 3 pushed back gates being opened and caused power issues early before the set. But even through the rain, Colony House did not fail to exceed expectations. The Nashville rockers brought there uplifting guitar driven sound to a crowd full of people excited to get a great start on Day 3. They performed many of their songs off their albums When I Was Younger and Only The Lonely. Performances of hits like You & I and Silhouettes had fans singing and dancing their socks off. A heartfelt acoustic rendition of Learning How To Love also was a highlight of the set.
#2: Oh Wonder
photo credit: andrew ha
With the Boom Stage packed with either Oh Wonder fans or festivalgoers yet to discover the duo, anyone that left this set was a fan for sure. Brilliant harmonies and noticeable chemistry are what made this set one of the best of Day 3. The duo performed many of their popular songs such as Ultralife, Drive, and All We Do. They also performed some of their lesser known songs such as Bigger Than Love, High On Humans, and Body Gold. With their constant energy on stage and obvious chemistry, Oh Wonder left fans wanting more at the end of their great set.
This year’s Forecastle was an overall success with its spectacular lineup and bringing awareness to various environmental issues. Festivalgoers were treated with a great weekend full of amazing music that left the city of Louisville excited for next year’s festival.
Follow Forecastle and our favorite’s on their socials:
Forecastle // AJR // Father John Misty // Houndmouth // Chris Stapleton // Colony House // Oh Wonder
