Forecastle Festival

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Once the Forecastle Festival settled into a steady home on the Riverfront Belvedere, festival founder JK McKnight decided to turn the energy previously spent on shuffling between venues toward creating a more explosive festival.
 
“Now that we’ve finally settled in a space we all feel comfortable staying in, the pressure was on to create a historic event,” said McKnight, who started the festival in 2002. “There were no excuses.”
 
It’s hard to argue with the results.
 
The line-up of music and speakers at this year’s festival, held July 25-27, is the most diverse and engaging in its history – which is pretty easy to say when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Del the Funky Homosapien are sharing the bill. Throw in GZA and Del McCoury as another example of polar opposites that somehow make sense together.
 
“I wanted to turn the tables last year by introducing hip-hop headliners (De La Soul) and proving we weren’t a rock festival,” McKnight said. “This year we wanted to push the envelope even more and include genres we’ve never focused on previously, primarily bluegrass and electronica.”
 
Forecastle’s basic structure remains unchanged; it’s designed to focus on music, art and activism, with a strong environmental component. It’s also meant as a networking opportunity for like-minded groups looking to grow, which has in turn allowed Forecastle to grow.
 
“We have 10 cities participating equally in this year’s festival,” McKnight said, “and the connections made on-site are important and impactful amongst the music, art and activism pillars that make up the festival.”
 
Advance tickets are $15 Friday, $20 Saturday and $18 Sunday. Add $3 to each if you buy at the gate. Two-day passes for Friday and Saturday are $32 or $35 for Saturday and Sunday. A three-day pass is $50.
 
All passes are available only in advance at ear X-tacy records, 1534 Bardstown Road, or online at www.ticketweb.com and www.ticketmaster.com.