Bumbershoot Reflections Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Bumbershoot was this weekend. My first ever music festival, in fact (I don't count the Z100 Last Chance Summer Dance featuring Mandy Moore, Jessica Simpson and Savage Garden in 2000. No.) It was exhausting, but so, so amazing and rewarding and wonderful. I came away with new bands to get into, and new respect for bands I already loved. I will now try to break it down into small, delicious bite sized pieces for your perusing pleasure.


Saturday
The first morning of the festival was Saturday. We (Rob, PJ and I) had gotten up to Seattle the night before and had crashed at Mark and Nicole's. Thanks to an alarm that didn't get set correctly (my bad) we woke up at 10:30am. When we'd wanted to be out the door before then. Our tickets were waiting at will call and the first band we wanted to see was at noon. We also didn't have our ticket confirmations printed and couldn't make the printer do so. So there was a fair amount of running around and breakfast eating and sandwich making for the day and the first band, New Faces, definitely did not get seen. They're a Port Townsend band, so I have a feeling we'll see them sometime in the not-too-distant future.

Grynch
The first act we ended up seeing. Very solid, energetic hip-hop out of Seattle. I'm not known to be the biggest hip-hop fan, so I was pleasantly surprised. I can really get behind rhymes about the value of going to college without sounding like a PSA.

Thao with the Get Down Stay Down
I feel bad because I was kind of zoning out for this act. The music was good and energetic and Thao was adorable, but I was tired and had a nice spot on the grass and a sandwich to eat.

Sherman Alexie and the Stranger present Words and Music
Ok I don't even know what the hell this show was on. We thought it was going to be Sherman Alexie doing some readings, maybe talking about how music and stories intersect. Instead it was a weird band that dissected each of their songs before they played it, explaining every phrase, down to the last "ooh," so their songs were more like in-jokes than artistic expressions. And then there was this half hour tribute to Hall and Oates that I just couldn't get behind (although the love story told exclusively through Hall and Oates song titles was effing hilarious). We ended up having to leave a little early from this act to get into Band of Horses (although we probably would have left early anyways. It really was bizarre and not in the good way). I guess Sherman Alexie did some readings after we left. Whatever.
Band of Horses
I'm don't really know much of Band of Horses, but they put on a good rock show and their songs are tight. And the lead singer was wearing a costume bear head as a hat. Most of the audience (including me) only knew their singles, and since they've only been in the spotlight for a year or two, that's only a couple songs. It didn't matter, a good time was had by all.

Beck
I have this theory that it's never uncool to like Beck. Maybe I'm wrong. I don't really know anything from him besides his singles, but I really enjoyed the show. I danced my butt off and so did the rest of the audience. The highlight of the show for me was when Beck and his bandmates got up at the front of the stage, all wearing headsets and holding old techno devices to play a couple of songs.


Sunday
We wanted to see Francesca Lia Block speaking on a panel, but missed it because we got another late-ish start and had to bus in from Dev's in Shoreline.

Saul Williams with Canary Sing
PJ saw Saul Williams' music act the night before and loved it, so she talked Rob, Kate and I into coming to this. Canary Sing was absolutely amazing. Three Seattle girls rapping about their lives and generally being awesome. A little weird to see on the literary stage, but whatever. Rob bought their EP and I'm so glad. Saul Williams was really inspiring and wonderful. I was a little put off by the note he ended things on (just randomly started talking about how we shouldn't celebrate Thanksgiving?) But besides that, very awesome.

The Blakes
Well loved Seattle indie band. I wasn't sure how I felt about them. They were in a bad venue and all their songs sounded alike. I guess they were solid? We only stayed for about half of their show, before we retreated in search of lunch.

Ravens and Chimes
This band got really good reviews. Rob was drawn to their description on the Bumbershoot page, "... [an] array of sounds and instruments, including the glockenspiel and harmonium, creating ear-grabbing pop melodies that are sure to please." Whatever. Their guitar was way, way too loud and we were right in front of the amp so all we could hear was guitar. The band didn't have very good chemistry, and kind of made me feel like I was at a high school talent show. They probably would have won the talent show, but I'm not sure they were up to the standards of almost everything else I saw this weekend. Also, I kept accidentally calling them "Ravens and Windchimes."

The Weakerthans
Okay now holy crap, here was a show worth seeing. An ex boyfriend gave me a couple of their songs on a mix cd several hundred years ago, and inspired by that I bought their album, Left and Leaving. Knowing only that album, and Rob knowing less than that, we had a rockin time. These men know how to put on a good show. They're a little older than I would have expected, but I kind of saw it as giving hope to every 40 year old dude in a jam band. High energy and still obviously caring about their lyrics and messages, even after all these years.

Monday

School of Rock: Northwest Allstars
Remember that movie School of Rock? With Jack Black? This was just like that, except without Jack Black and with more talented youth musicians. These kids are going places. The best part of the show was when they brought in the bassist from Death Cab to play Different Names for the Same Thing and Long Division as a special surprise. He looked so thrilled the entire time, to be playing his band's songs with such talented young people.

John Vanderslice (KEXP secret show)
On our way to Bumbershoot on the bus on Sunday (on on on) we ran into some guys who told us about these secret shows for radio broadcast that were going on during the festival. You had to show up to the KEXP booth about 15 minutes before the unadvertised show was set to start, and if they had extra tickets you could pick one up for free. So we went to the KEXP booth and discovered that both John Vanderslice and Old 97's were playing secret shows on Monday. And somehow we scored tickets to both. Holy crap. John Vanderslice is loosely affiliated with the Mountain Goats (he produced one or two of their albums) so I thought I'd check him out. I didn't really know what to expect, but the show was amazing. It was in a tiny venue, with Rob and I in the front row, watching John Vanderslice sing pretty songs with his guitar and lots of harmonies from his violinist. Beautiful.

Old 97s (KEXP secret show)
I was really looking forward to seeing Old 97s anyway, and when I scored tickets to see them in an itty bitty venue, I nearly crapped myself. Possibly the most high energy performance I saw the entire weekend. Really. Rhett Miller was visibly sweaty by the second song. And it was obvious that he had studied videos of Elvis as a child, the way he moved with his guitar. They're promoting their new album, which happens to be the only album of theirs I own, so I knew almost every song they played at this performance. We left the show completely awe-struck.
Also, check out the KEXP blog for this show (Find me! I'm in the last photograph on the bottom of the page!)



John Vanderslice
Vanderslice was great the second time. Two more members of the band, one on drums and one on keyboard, and the pace was a little picked up. John was really, really excited that we were so close to the Space Needle. I liked being around so many of his fans who knew his lyrics. It made me want to get to know more of his music.

Old 97s
We only saw about half of Old 97s main set. I want to see them again and again, because as much as I love them recorded, they're even more amazing live.

Superchunk
Hooray for another band loosely affiliated with the Mountain Goats! Superchunk and Mountain Goats share a drummer, John Wurster. And he's good. Very, very good. As is the rest of Superchunk. Hella, hella high energy and so tight. I was mad that they basically opened for Death Cab, since the audience didn't really care who opened as long as they got to see Death Cab. Also, Superchunk was so damn high energy that it hyped the audience up TOO much, to the point where they were crowd surfing to inappropriate songs during Death Cab's set.

Death Cab for Cutie
Oh my god I have never been to a concert this crowded and I never want to do it again. Death Cab got so popular, so fast. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, but Ben Gibbard's gotten way too big for his britches and it's becoming obvious. Yes, you are a musical prodigy. Yes, we all know it. Yes, your songs are catchy as hell and insightful and awesome. No, you should never play stadiums and let Superchunk open for you. We were packed so tightly against the mainstage and we were fairly close up. After about 4 songs of not being able to see and being squished against preppy high school girls I gave Rob the signal that meant "we need to move right now" and we did. And then there was fresh air and room to move and stretch, which I needed to do every two minutes because I'd been standing all weekend. I wish I hadn't seen Death Cab just a few months ago in a small venue on the second stop of their tour. Comparatively, this show at Bumbershoot might as well have been me packed tightly in a group of people I didn't know and blaring Death Cab over the loud speakers. But then, Rob enjoyed himself, so maybe I just was grumpy because I'd been standing all weekend, grumpy because I had to work at 6:30 the next morning, or just really not in the mood for Death Cab at that point. The world may never knoooow....



And that was my weekend at my first Bumbershoot. It was amazing and I'm so glad it happened. I was not so glad about getting home at 2:30 in the morning, falling asleep at 3:30, and waking up at 5:15, then working a six hour shift, virtually dead on my feet.