I would not call myself a “festival goer”, but over the years i’ve gone to a few here or there and now looking back I realize I’ve had my fair share of festival experiences. The most interesting being a 3-day electronic festival in the farmland of England complete with onsite muddy camping and lots of molly. Most of these festivals involve me getting fairly drunk early in the day and exhausted and ready to go home by the last act.
3-day music festivals are marathons, not sprints. And, I mastered that in Louisville, Kentucky at the peak of sweltering summer of 2016.
FESTIVAL WEAR:
I was actually probably more excited for wearing festival gear then any of the actual acts we were seeing. We all bought light up flower crowns and fanny packs for the event and wore bright lipstick and crop tops during the day. Of course the YOUTHS probably thought we looked like grandmas, wearing an actual shirt and all, but as a 30 year old, we felt HIP and YOUNG and COOL!
The flower crowns were by far the biggest hit! We got lots of compliments throughout the evening and as Carrie said “when you wear weird stuff guys hit on you more because it’s something unique.” Nuff Said.
MUSIC:
The headliners each night were the Avett Brothers, Alabama Shakes, and Ryan Adams.
Going into the festival there was no particular band that was a must see for me. I liked a lot of the acts but only knew a few songs of the headliners. Some of my favorite performances over the three days were:
Grouplove: great energy and stage presence. Performed beastie boys ‘sabotage’ and killed it
Anderson East: Courtney was a big fan and I enjoyed the songs I had heard prior to the festival, but I loved his southern drawl and he has a great voice. We actually saw him again in DC that year, and he was just as good in a small setting.
Brandy Carlisle: I really only knew that one famous song she has so was actually really impressed with her voice and the upbeat country tunes she and her band banged out. She’s got a lovely country twang, but I thought her accent was a little put on. She’s from Seattle. Come on!
Alabama shakes: the lead singers voice is amazing and seeing the emotion she puts into each song made it that much better.
Ryan Adams: I really had no opinion about him before the show and had the vague perception that most of his music was slow and melancholic but he had a great rock vibe and I loved his commentary in between songs including when he went off on a heckler for requesting ‘Summer of 69’
The grounds:
The festival was set in Louisville waterfront park downtown. It was easy to get to and was right on the water. There were four stages spread enough apart so as to not have sound interference but close enough together that you could see multiple acts pretty easily. My only complaint is that the boom stage was slightly on a downward slant so it was hard to see the acts of you were further in the back.
It was in the high 80s all three days with very little cloud cover so we were thankful to have paid a little extra for access to the air conditioned bourbon tent with real restrooms. I’ve never been a huge bourbon fan but have been trying to acquire the taste for it in the last few months. While at the festival I discovered Four Roses bourbon which didn’t make me gag so now it’s my bourbon of choice. Each day we had these frozen orange slushies made with Four Roses and red bull. They were amazing.
Louisville:
We didn’t get much time to explore Louisville because we were at the festival from early afternoon onwards, but we did eat at a couple of delicious restaurants for brunch each day.
Toast: I had yummy banana pancakes with a creamy potato casserole
Harvest: I had some of the best and most decadent French toast I’ve ever had with pecans, chocolate and whip cream
Wild eggs: a Louisville staple, multiple locations with lines out the door. It was good but kind of an upscale ihop to me.
The Brown hotel: where the original hot brown sandwich was born. It was good, but very heavy with all the cheese.
The nulu area of town seems to be the new hipster, trendy area with some cute shops and coffee spots.
We stayed in Germantown which was convenient but residential.
Chilli Crab Cupcakes 