Forward Fest swells with more bands, plus ticket and venue details
Icarus Himself
Just like last year, the Forward Music Festival (Sept. 17-19) is starting to look rather big and complicated for a music festival in little ol' Madison. Today Forward's organizers followed up last week's announcement about headliner Andrew Bird and featured acts such as Low with details on local and regional bands in the fest's lineup; a few of the venues that'll be involved; and some "showcases" put on by outside curators within the festival. Plus, general-admission tickets go on sale Saturday, July 11 through the fest's site and Overture Center box office.
Since our most recent post about FMF sparked some discussion about the role of local bands, let's start with a block of Madison acts now lined up for the festival. They include some singer-songwriter-type projects (Icarus Himself, Jeremiah Nelson, Flatbear, Cartwalkers); experimental stuff (Nuclear Woods, All Tiny Creatures, Peaking Lights), a mix of rock sounds (Little Red Wolf, Sleeping In The Aviary, Start From Scratch, This Bright Apocalypse, Blueheels), and, surprisingly, only one local hip-hop act so far (Homeownered). There's likely to be more booking and shuffling of acts over the next couple of months, if last year was any indication.
A press release from FMF also mentioned a bunch of regional bands on board: Pomegranates, Pezzettino, The Chairs, Zach Vinson, French Horn Rebellion, Decibully, The Hue, Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band, Joe Pug, Denison Witmer, Solid Gold, Cedarwell, Occidental Brothers Dance Band International, Collections Of Colonies Of Bees, and Maps And Atlases. In addition to some of the showcases we mentioned last week, this year's festival will include a showcase of bands from Amble Down Records, an independent label based in Eau Claire whose acts include: The Daredevil Christopher Wright, The Wars Of 1812, Meridene, We Are The Willows, and The Cloud Hymn.
So far, the fest has confirmed that it'll use the following venues, among others: Overture Center, High Noon Saloon, Majestic Theatre, The Frequency, The Inferno, Corral Room, Project Lodge, and Orpheum Stage Door.
The email from FMF this morning also says that the fest has yet to announce "countless additional artists," which we're not sure how to take. We're just eyeballing it here, but the lineup's already looking as big and spread-around as last year's, which means it's admirably diverse but could prove unwieldy for fest-goers and the festival organizers themselves. Last year we saw deserving local acts Rob Dz and All Tiny Creatures play to pretty sparse crowds—which may have been the exception rather than the rule, but it's still a concern. It just depends if the crowd's interests end up matching the festival's ambitions. Either way, it'll be a good opportunity to check out an intriguing range of local acts and beyond.
