2015 Forecastle Lineup Announced: My Morning Jacket, Sam Smith, ‘One Big Holiday’ [Videos]
Lineup announcements for the 2015 Forecastle Festival have been publicized, with My Morning Jacket and Sam Smith as two of the headliners. Forecastle Festival is held each year in Louisville, Kentucky, and is one of many major events that welcome thousands of tourists to Louisville, such as the Lebowski Fest and the Kentucky Derby. More bands and performers for Forecastle will be announced over the next months, and tickets will go on sale on Friday, January 30, for the July 17 to 19 event.
The day before the Forecastle lineup was announced, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer tweeted that he was excited that Forecastle had signed a five-year contract to use Louisville’s Waterfront Park as their on-going venue.
Terrific that @forecastle is staying at Waterfront Park! This year’s festival will again be One Big Holiday!! pic.twitter.com/fYVszvYnn0
— Mayor Greg Fischer (@louisvillemayor) January 26, 2015
The recent years of Forecastle festivals have brought acclaim to the event. Consequence of Sound rated the top 10 performances at the 2014 Forecastle and said that they had over 80,000 in attendance. In 2012, Spin covered Forecastle when My Morning Jacket played. About Forecastle, My Morning Jacket lead Jim James said that “It’s endless… I’m almost afraid to name names because I’ll forget somebody, there’s so many people playing…”
Like Jim James, many fans enjoy Forecastle for their focus on a lineup of local Kentucky talent — in addition to the nationally or internationally-known musicians from Kentucky like Louisville natives My Morning Jacket. Last year, according to the Courier-Journal, Forecastle continued an ongoing tradition of featuring Kentucky bands such as Old Baby and Slint. This year, local Kentucky bands included Twin Limb and Cage the Elephant.
Forecastle began as a small annual festival in 2002 at Tyler Park in Louisville with local bands, and is now a multi-day event with international headlining bands. The idea was started by J.K. McKnight of Louisville, and the Forecastle Festival is now produced by AC Productions in Knoxville, Tennessee, that promote Mumford and Sons and others headlining Bonnaroo.
Reviewers are also quick to point out all the antics that happen at Forecastle. For example, Rolling Stone cited Beck’s cover of “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson as one of the most surprising covers of 2014, saying that “He may not have all the moves down, but Beck can certainly groove. His impromptu tribute to the gloved one is surprisingly playful – he took his chance to wave his hands and whip a mic chord.”
The current 2015 Forecastle Festival lineup has over 30 musical acts so far and includes Sam Smith, My Morning Jacket, Widespread Panic, Modest Mouse, Over the Rhine, The Steeldrivers, Son Lux, Jeff the Brotherhood, White Reaper, and Parker Millsap.
[All images are from the referenced links. Featured image via WFPL]
