All photos: Courtesy of Danny Wimmer Presents
For two consecutive weekends every September, Danny Wimmer Presents transforms the sprawling Highland Festival Grounds at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville into one of the country’s largest destinations for live music, first filling it with four days of hard rock and metal for Louder Than Life before following it with four days of rock, country, Americana, bluegrass and more for Bourbon & Beyond. The two festivals have become an increasingly important part of Louisville’s musical identity, bringing a record 400,000 fans through the gates across two weekends this year. In 2025, DWP and Kentucky Venues committed to keeping both events at the Kentucky Exposition Center through 2035.
Bourbon & Beyond’s 2026 event was its biggest yet, featuring more than 100 artists across five stages. Having lived in Kentucky my whole life and never attended until this year, it was clear that the festival has grown into something considerably larger than a collection of concerts on several stages. The grounds themselves are a major part of the experience.
For an event of this size, the Kentucky Exposition Center was remarkably easy to navigate. There was plenty of shade, enormous stages that allowed crowds to spread out during the day, short lines for food and drinks, and plenty of places to take a break between sets. The two main stages sit directly next to each other, allowing for minimal breaks in music between acts. A smaller, similar stage setup lies on the other side of the venue, with two additional stages side by side. The addition of Kentucky Kingdom was another genuinely unique touch, giving festivalgoers access to amusement park rides without ever having to leave the grounds.
The event organizers’ attention to the overall festival experience is part of what separates Bourbon & Beyond from a traditional multi-stage music festival. Yes, the music is the centerpiece, but between sets there was bourbon, food, culinary demonstrations, conversations at the Fork & Flask stage, and even rides at Kentucky Kingdom. It felt less like spending four days at a concert and more like spending four days inside a temporary city built around Kentucky culture.
The Commonwealth of Kentucky itself was central to the weekend. On Friday, Gov. Andy Beshear took to the main stage in front of a sea of concertgoers to announce the creation of the Governor’s Office of Music, a new state office intended to support Kentucky artists, venues, festivals and music businesses while highlighting Kentucky’s long musical history. Beshear also appeared at the Fork & Flask stage for “A Taste of the Commonwealth,” a conversation centered on Kentucky food, bourbon and culture.
The announcements felt particularly appropriate at a festival that has increasingly become a showcase for the state itself. Kentucky’s musical legacy was represented by artists big and small from Lexington, eastern Kentucky and Appalachia, western Kentucky, and Louisville-area communities.
With all that said, of course, the music was still the reason to be there.
Opening day offered a demanding schedule for fans of the electric guitar, with Gary Clark Jr., Goose, The War on Drugs, Queens of the Stone Age and Foo Fighters all appearing Thursday. For Grateful Web readers, Goose was one of the day’s most anticipated performances, and the band did not disappoint. It was my first time seeing them since their post-COVID glow-up, having only seen them once for free in 2018 at a small bar in Covington.
There were plenty of festivalgoers around the stage who had never seen the band before, and it didn’t take long to see them getting pulled into the performance. By the middle of the set, plenty of newcomers appeared to be fully on board, dancing, cheering and embracing the band’s improvisational approach. It was a great reminder of what makes the live jam scene so exciting and a warm welcome for any newcomers to the jam genre.
The War on Drugs followed with the atmospheric, meticulously layered sound that has made them such a compelling live act, while Queens of the Stone Age brought a heavier edge to the evening, shredding their way through their catalog of hits…