[REVIEW + PHOTOS] Forecastle 2022

SATURDAY

LÉON

We’d heard the night before that Princess Nokia had dropped, causing a reshuffle to Saturday’s schedule, and arrived to find that the first performers we planned to catch, Paris Texas, also wouldn’t make it (it was apparently a crazy weekend for flights; just ask Charlotte Sands and her overnight rush to Boston). It gave us a chance to grab some local food and coffee (a Quills stop every Forecastle is a must), and to wander the site a bit, including a very impressive “Country Club” activation from Liquid Death, which included an air conditioned bar and water concierges. With the change in schedule, our first show of the day became Swedish singer LÉON, who announced that this was her first festival (and one of her first shows) since Covid. I’ve seen her once before at a fest, but she was clearly really feeling the energy and overwhelmed to be back for such a big and enthusiastic crowd. Backed by a really great band, barefoot and dressed head to toe in yellow, the singer really showcased her incredible vocal talent and timeless pop stylings, starting the day off on a wonderful note.

Chelsea Cutler

I initially wasn’t sure if I’d get to watch Chelsea Cutler due to scheduling, but I was glad to find the time, as the buzzy young electro pop singer put on a hell of a show! I caught Chelsea on the smaller stage back at Forecastle 2019, and in the couple years since, she’s become an even bigger star, particularly for her numerous collabs. I only managed to watch a few songs, but I noticed that her stage presence was even more magnetic, and her songs even more epic sounding that last time, and I left really wanting to see her in an indoor venue in the evening, cause I’m sure it would feel like a huge party.

EVAN GIIA

It was little disappointing that EVAN GIIA and Chelsea Cutler were so overlapped, as they have a similar stylistic appeal, but since we hadn’t made it to the Ocean Stage on Friday, we decided to split our time and catch some of GIIA too. EVAN played on that same smaller stage as Chelsea last Forecastle, and I remember being impressed then too. In contrast to Cutler, her production was a bit more sparse, performing alone onstage to tracks (one notable change this year was more conventional lights on Ocean Stage, in contrast to a very eye popping and immersive production setup in the old configuration). GIIA, a pop singer with electronic appeal, has a great knack for hyping up a crowd, and she brought a much needed energy boost as we headed into the afternoon heat.

beabadoobee

Initially slotted earlier in the day, I was extremely happy to see beabadoobee bumped to a more prime slot, as she was one of my most-anticipated performers of the weekend. I was a little late to the party and have been dying to see the British artist live, especially with the more upbeat direction her latest songs have taken. Kicking off with a series of tracks from 2020 breakout Fake It Flowers, beabadoobee sounded every bit as stellar, earnest, and hypotonic live, exuding a certain late ’90s and early ’00s indie and pop nostalgia that many of her Dirty Hit labelmates are also known for. Tunes like “Talk,” “Coffee,” and “Sorry” elicited enthusiastic singalongs, and moments of lo-fi, intimate sincerity were intertwined with more upbeat, spaced out indie rock spirit. Despite the afternoon heat, I was captivated throughout the entire set, one of a few I watched entirely on Saturday, and left wishing it was so much longer. I can’t wait to see beabadoobee in a more intimate, acoustically-rich room like The Ryman someday.

Quinn XCII

Another returning performer from the last Forecastle three years ago, Quinn XCII was infamously quite sick at that last fest, and though he gave it an admirable go in powering through, definitely didn’t have the strongest set. It was nice to see him get his re-do, this time on the main stage and in great health, sounding up to par with his buzzy pop recordings. I admittedly don’t listen to a ton of his music, but it was a vibe-y and hook-laden set, which, unsurprisingly, featured a guest appearance from regular collaborator Chelsea Cutler.

Phoebe Bridgers

One of my absolute favorite songwriters in the world, and one of the best and most talented artists of her generation, Phoebe Bridgers is someone I’ve had the pleasure of catching live several times in the past, but never in a festival context. My hopes were high, and she delivered in spades, giving one of the weekend’s absolute most memorable performances. Typical of her sense of humor, Bridgers and her band entered to “Down with the Sickness” by nu metal group Disturbed, before launching into Phoebe’s own fan-favorite tune “Motion Sickness,” winning over the gigantic crowd from note one. Though her sound is folky indie rock, Bridgers’ vibe is sort of goth bordering on metal, and she thanked all the “daytime goths” in attendance, and one point rocked an angular heavy metal looking guitar, and donned all black, with her signature bejeweled skeleton design (while the rest of the band rocked their typical skeleton jumpsuits). An effortless, once-in-a-generation talent, Phoebe Bridgers’ live show is never anything short of transcendent, and since it was my first time seeing her post-pandemic, I was beyond delighted that she played virtually every song from 2020’s incredible Punisher. Cracking jokes, bringing out her dog, making awkward banter with her band, and leaning into the juxtaposition of her look and sound, all of the singer’s levity serves as a light counterbalance to the deeply earnest, melancholy, sad and confessional music, which even at such a grand, outdoor scale was deeply affecting. Ending the set with a tune from her boygenius supergroup, “Me & My Dog,” before launching into epic Punisher closer “I Know the End,” I thought for a moment that Bridgers might smash her guitar as she infamously did on SNL, but instead, and amidst the song’s chaotic resolution, she simply dropped it and walked off, ending one of the most captivating and and unforgettable sets not just of this year’s Forecastle, but of any I’ve attended.

100 gecs

I wasn’t sure I’d be able to pry myself away from a second of Phoebe, but I absolutely love 100 gecs as well, and since I’d seen Bridgers before but never the gecs, I found what seemed to be a slower point in her set to sneak over to the Ocean Stage for a few songs. I immediately noticed a fun crowd of people who seemed like they were mostly hanging at the electronic side of the fest, ready to dance all day, and the gecs show already in progress was quite a party already. With just mics and a laptop, Dylan Brady donning his recent signature wizard hat and Laura Les commanding the stage , the duo were by far the loudest performance I caught all weekend, and one of the most fun and energetic. It felt a little odd witnessing all this in the daytime (their upcoming late night set at Bonnaroo will better do their vibe justice), but getting to sing and dance along to a couple of frenetic new tunes like “Hollywood Baby” and “mememe” was more than worth venturing over.

6LACK

Coming off the high of Phoebe Bridgers and desperately needing to recharge ahead of headliners Tame Impala, I only managed to see a little of rapper 6LACK before ducking into the press lounge for a break. I noticed how huge the crowd was looking in the main area though (single-day tickets are a big thing since Forecastle is a city fest), and though many were lining up for Tame Impala, a rowdy crowd was squeezed in for 6LACK nearby. After a solid 10 minutes of warmup from the rapper’s DJ, getting the crowd hype spinning popular cuts, including from Jack Harlow, 6LACK emerged, rocking a classic cool hip hop performance with ferocious delivery and high energy.

Tame Impala

A little behind the scenes talk: often at festivals like this, larger acts will limit who’s able to photograph them, which almost always means only major national outlets make the cut. Tame Impala, however, limited access to just four outlets, including us, seemingly all smaller, more regional sites, which is one of the coolest gestures of a festival headliner we’ve ever experienced.

The crowd was very full and buzzing with excitement before the rockers took the stage, and I was eager to see their massive lighting rig in action. After a sort of 1984-esque sci-fi inspired intro video, Kevin Parker and company launched into a couple of cuts from his latest, The Slow Rush– “One More Year” and “Borderline”- instantly setting the tone for the vibe-y, psychedelic journey that would follow. I was a little surprised that not much else from the new album made the cut, but as someone who prefers Currents and absolutely wore out Lonerism a decade ago, I was stoked to see them make up so much of the set. Cast largely in shadows, it was as if the band were part of their own backdrop, a dynamic, psychedelic, ever-changing array which morphed into everything from moons to bold colors to kaleidoscopic arrays of color, all meshing with the tone of the songs to create a perfect audio-visual harmony. Something I’ve noticed before in seeing Tame is that they don’t exactly rock out or push their music to new heights a la Radiohead or even jam like Portugal the Man; instead, they largely just stand and play their music, letting the strength of the songs and the synchronicity of their live show do the heavy lifting. I assume that might make them a little harder to connect with if you’re not a fan, but being very familiar with all their work, I loved just getting to experience it live in this way, even if I occasionally wished for them to take a few more risks in how they perform. Surprisingly, the massive lighting array above the group hung dormant like a space ship for much of the set, but when it did finally descend, both projecting light in every direction and serving as a sort of extra screen, it felt like a welcome bit of delayed gratification. The audience, clearly a lot of day ticket holders there just for Tame, absolutely met the band on their wavelength, and by the time the set concluded with “The Less I Know the Better” and “New Person, Same Old Mistakes,” it was clear that we’d all shared a very impactful festival experience that everyone in attendance will cherish for a long time.

SUNDAY→