Forecastle 2016 day 3 review

The clear winner for all 3 days at Forecastle was Sunday, Day Three. And the clear winner for Day 3 was Unknown Mortal Orchestra, who played at 6pm on the Ocean stage,under the overpass; and should probably be renamed Albatross Stage. The steel and concrete overpass creates an echo chamber that amplifies the high end that just destroys sound quality. On top of all that, the ocean stage seemed to fraught with issues including mics cutting out and an understocked backline. Despite all of this (and the band having to stop periodically for the sound engineers to fix issues) Unknown Mortal Orchestra played an energetic set that included frontman Ruban Neilson climbing on top of the crowd, singing into a mic with a seemingly unending cable, covering crowd favorites such as 2013's So Good At Being Trouble and the title track from the brand new Multi-Love. 

Unknown Mortal Orchestra's Ruban Neilson singing while being held up by the crowd.

  

Ruban Nielson of Unknown Mortal Orchestra Photo: Marife Bautista

Unknown Mortal Orchestra Photo: Marife Bautista

The majority of the more unique acts this year happened to be on the Ocean 'Albatross' Stage including unknown Mortal Orchestra, Jazz cartier, and Ghostland Observatory;  all of which had crowds way to massive to accommodate on such a small arena and would have been better suited for the larger WFPK Port stage.

The Port Stage also hosted a wide range of acts; both these stages seemed to have music preferable to the Main stages, with some exceptions including Femi Kuti and the Positive Force and Blackberry Smoke.

Femi Kuti and the Positive Force. Photo: Marife Bautista

 Blackberry Smoke Photo: Marife Bautista

Joan Shelley on WFPK Port Stage

The WFPK Port stage housed the more AAA and 'indie' bands including Joan Shelley and Speedy Ortiz, to crowd delight.  Even though I previously  questioned Ryan Adams as the Weekend closer, it turned out to be a good call, drawing in the largest crowd of the weekend (even more than Alabama Shakes). I am just more inclined to have a large production/more energetic bands as the show closers such as in previous years including Jack White, or Outkast. But all in all Sunday was the best day of Forecastle 2016 with the most expansive sound and wide ranging talent.

Ryan Adams Photo: Marife Bautista

Read our Day One Review here.

Read our Day 2 Review Here.