Review: Forecastle Day 3

Sunday of Forecastle held the most heavy hitters of all three days with Foxygen, Conor Oberst, and  Charles Bradley midday with a power block of 90s artists in the evening including PJ Harvey, Spoon, and Weezer. But it was PJ Harvey and Charles Bradley who stole the show whole heartedly.

The Extra Special Lover Charles Bradley

Charles Bradley took to the main stage at 3:30pm (but could have easily held his own at a later slot) complete with full band and horn section as well as a bourbon toting hype man to introduce him. Bradley, in a cranberry jumpsuit zipped only half way up, gave brief Introductions in true Bradley form with comments like "We love you, and we want to share our love with you!" and jumped right into a set of songs from 2011's No Time For Dreaming and 2013's Victim Of Love including "The World (Is Going Up In Flames)" Saving most of the hits from 2016's Changes for the end of the set, including "Nobody but you".

 

 

Charles Bradley handing roses to the crowd

Halfway through the set Bradley slipped off stage for a costume change while the band played on and returned in charcoal and silver pants, backless vest, and jacket with gold chains and a skull belt buckle (and no shirt) for a powerful set of upbeat songs from "Changes". Bradley, a barely noticeable 68 years old, danced and jumped as if he was half his age; but had to stop in the middle of his signature song 'Ain't it a shame' to fix mic issues that have plagued the main stage all weekend. But the true showmen kept momentum going and finished the song by going off stage into the audience to crowd delight. This was followed by the title track of 'Changes' as he brought out a chair on stage in order to have a very personal moment with the crowd.  "Brothers and sisters, can I be honest with you for a minute?" He asked and then asked us all to learn to love one another, saying it's not about the color of your skin but the color of your heart and brought red roses to show us all our hearts are red like the roses. "We all gotta change. My brothers and sisters we gotta make this world better for the next generation, if we don't the world is doomed. If we could learn this there would be no more war." He added as he left the stage through the crowd handing the roses to members of the audience. One audience member remarked, "You can tell he really loves his job. And we love him."

Mick Harvey and PJ Harvey (no relation)

The second standout performance of the night was PJ Harvey, who played before sundown and to a crowd 1/4 the size of which showed up for Weezer, the festival closer, regardless of the fact that Harvey had no competition from other stages for most of her set.

Polly Jean Harvey

Donned in all black with a black feathered garland Harvey toured through her last two decades in music including "Shame" from 2004s "Uh Huh Her" album and "Dear Darkness" from 2007s "White Chalk" as well as songs from last year's "The Hope Six Demolition Project".
Laser focused in a ritualistic trance through out the entire hour, Harvey only spoke to the crowd once, to introduce her bandmates, which included Mick Harvey of The Birthday Party and The Bad Seeds and an entire horn section in which she joined in on sax.
Harvey ended the set with a show stopping rendition of River Anacostia in which the entire band chanted the chorus borrowed from the spiritual "Wade In The Water" to the small but captivated audience.

PJ Harvey with sax

As soon as Harvey and company left the stage the crowd tripled as fans rushed to grab a prime spot for Weezer, who wouldn't be playing for an hour.  Weezer took the stage, but calling themselves The Weezers,  at 9:30 playing an assortment of hits, including 'Beverly Hills' and 'Surf Wax America' to an enthusiastic crowd. They also did a cover of OutKast's Hey Ya! while asking the crowd "what's cooler than being cool?' To which the crowd answered "iced cold!" right on que. 

Rivers Cuomo of Weezer

Crowd favs included the new single "Feels Like Summer" and "The Sweater Song" as well as a cover of 'I Took A Pill In Ibiza' by Michael Posner that morphed into "Island In The Sun" with the lyrics changed to add the words in 'Louisville Kentucky'. In between songs singer Rivers Cuomo would throw on various costumes or implement props such as riding a city bike around the stage. 

Rivers Cuomo as a king

 One costume he wore was a campy sombrero outfit which the crowd delighted in, apparently the world has forgotten or moved on from the "Culture Isn't A Costume" movement from 2014 when Wayne Coyne posted a photo of  Phantogram’s Sarah Barthel (who also performed at Forecastle), a Roadie, his girlfriend, and a dog wearing a headdress (to absolute public outrage) as a protest to the criticism of Pink Pony's Christina Fallin, who had mocked Native American culture at the Norman Music Festival.

Rivers Cuomo with sombrero  

Wayne Coyne's Headress protest pic 

Although Weezer's set wasn't overly thought out, it brought the largest crowd of the entire weekend, and ended with a finale of "Say It Ain't So",  "El Scorcho", followed by "Buddy Holly" drenched in a confetti storm. And that was Day 3 of Forecastle! 

Weezer finale confetti explosion

Read our Day 2 Review here.

Read our Day 1 Review here.