hissing lawns

The consensus around the grounds of Forecastle Festival at Waterfront Park in Louisville over the weekend was that the 3-day event isn’t nearly as widely known as it deserves to be.

But this year’s lineup — including Beck, Outkast, Jack White, and The Replacements — obviously brought more acclaim and attracted more media attention than in previous years. And if the folks I met are any indication, Forecastle has already established itself as an important destination.

The trio next to me at Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings had come down from Cincinnati. The man next to me at The Replacements had driven to Louisville from Minnesota. At Beck, I chatted with a couple from West Virginia. Before Jack White, I struck up a conversation with a 34-year old man from Detroit who happened to be wearing a Kylesa t-shirt — even when I manage to leave Savannah for brief trips, reminders are everywhere. I also ran into a friend from Kingsport, Tennessee, and into a former Savannahian who now lives in Birmingham.

Forecastle 2014 used a huge swath of Louisville’s sprawling and beautiful Waterfront Park, a public space that has been 30 years in the making. A pedestrian bridge over the Ohio River has just been completed upriver from the festival grounds, and Forecastle even manages to make good use of a highway overpass, which provides some shade on hot afternoons and functions as a surprisingly good backdrop for the smallest of the four stages.

The three larger stages have the slow-rolling Ohio River and bridges to Indiana as a backdrop. The Louisville skyline is just off to the west, and it’s only a short walk from one stage to the next. There are few spots where the sounds bleed together.

There was far more being offered on the festival grounds than I have room to describe here, but I was especially impressed by the presence of some excellent local food trucks (I ate at the Holy Mole Taco Truck all three days), by the short lines at most of the bars even when the park was swarming with huge crowds, by the inclusion of a Kentucky craft beer tent and the Bourbon Lodge, by the booths selling beautifully printed posters, and by the sheer number of places to lounge, relax, socialize, and — above all — listen.

The scene was all pretty chill, too, with little for the ample security to do.

As much as I loved the headlining acts that I managed to see, I was also thrilled by some of the earlier sets by bands that I already follow — like Hurray for the Riff Raff, The Weeks, and Matrimony — and by bands whose music I wasn’t really familiar with, especially Against Me!, JOHNNYSWIM, Willie Watson, and The Soul Rebels.

I indulged in as much of the festival as I could and have already posted quick takes plus a few photos of day 1 and day 2.

Despite the relative ease of getting around the grounds and the unusually pleasant summer weather, I got a little weary of the large crowds on day 2, so day 3 was especially refreshing. The crowds seemed slightly tamer and older — no surprise given that fewer really young people seemed to turn out for the Sunday night headliners Beck and The Replacements, both of whom were flat out fantastic.

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