Saturday, August 31st

Dave B. 

The schedule usually builds momentum throughout the day by starting with local or smaller acts and then ramps up to bigger names. Dave B. won the Experience Music Project’s SoundOff! competition earlier this year, which is essentially a battle of the bands for artists under 21. He had an awesome stage presence and managed to get Moor Gang’s Jarv Dee onstage for his last track. I can’t wait to see where he goes in the next few years.

Nacho Picasso

The perception of Seattle’s hip-hop scene must be obnoxiously skewed if all you really know about it is Macklemore & Ryan Lewis or Sir Mix-A-Lot. We have dudes on the come-up like Dave B., established crews like Out for Stardom, and Nacho Picasso’s Moor Gang crew. Nacho most famously released a mixtape last year with the production duo Blue Sky Black Death and the whole affair was bleak and drowsy. Seeing him on a sunny afternoon was like watching a bat skittering around, out of his element. Nacho was energetic but his choruses served as a reminder that, while presence and personality are important for MCs, so is variety. 

Down North 

My favorite part of Bumbershoot is seeing new acts from the area. Down North are primarily a soul band and their front-man spent most of their set strutting around the stage and dancing hard.

Doug Benson & Kyle Dunnigan

Since the festival takes place in Seattle Center, Bumbershoot has the unique advantage of several theaters in the area, which they use for film, theater, and comedy. I’d seen Doug Benson’s standup at the festival before and attended a taping for an episode of Doug Loves Movies. Obviously his stoner persona is a huge hit for the Bumbercrowd but I enjoy his material because he’ll genuinely laugh at his own jokes. For instance: There was a baby in the audience for this show and Doug kept referring to it until he decided to locate the baby and accidentally mistook someone’s knee for the baby, then laughed at his mistake. Kyle Dunnigan was also excellent and showed his range by starting out as a character, moved into Galifiniakisian music comedy, and then straight standup.

Kendrick Lamar

I’d seen Kendrick Lamar at Bumbershoot a few years ago but didn’t fully appreciate his style. To give the full context, he was “opening” for Big Boi, so I was in a different headspace completely. This time, though, I had done my homework. He delivered a great set, mixing old and new material, but the acoustics of Key Arena weren’t Lamar-friendly. He sounded drowned out at times and his beats were hard to distinguish. Still, a great set from one of the best new rappers.

Total Experience Gospel Choir

Yeah, I followed up Kendrick Lamar with a choir performance. This particular choir is responsible for four American Idol finalists and performed with Charles Bradley and Heart later that day. I also felt a deep appreciation for the power and control they demonstrated. Their inclusion this year also confirms Bumbershoot’s focus on including every genre on their lineup.

Lake Street Dive

Earlier this year, I saw a video of Lake Street Dive performing  a Jackson 5 cover in what appears to be the middle of a residential neighborhood. They seemed safe and talented but also unique enough to draw a larger audience. The band gave a great live show (shouts out to their upright bass player, lord knows that’s an unwieldy instrument) and actually sounded even better than I expected. There were lots of parents and children dancing during their set.

Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaires

If you don’t know about Charles Bradley, here are the important things: He used to be a James Brown impersonator, he signed with Daptone Records and released a few albums, and he’s referred to as “The Screamin’ Eagle of Soul”. Now that we’re up to speed, let me assure you that Charles Bradley knows how to put on a show. His set only lasted an hour but there were multiple costume changes, some preaching about how the world ought to be, he covered Neil Young, and he did the goddamn splits. Also, Total Experience Gospel Choir came out during his last song.

Heart

I vastly underestimated how much I would love Heart’s set. Annie Wilson’s voice was like a powerful wave washing over the audience in Key Arena. They concluded their set by bringing out Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready to play guitar on “Crazy on You”, subsequently adding Jason Bonham on drums to finish out their encore of six Led Zeppelin songs, including “Kashmir” and ending with Total Experience Gospel Choir helping out on “Stairway to Heaven”. Jesus Christ, indeed.

Missed acts: Joey Bada$$, Thao & the Get Down Stay Down, Diamond Rings, Kris Orlowski, Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside, Washed Out, Crystal Castles, !!!

Sunday, September 1st

15 Years of Barsuk Records

Bumbershoot, being a music and arts festival, offers panel discussions that range from local poetry to the writing staff of shows like Futurama and Parks & Recreation. I was able to go to a retrospective discussion of Barsuk records’ past, which included Pedro the Lion’s David Bazan, The Long Winters’ John Roderick, label co-founder Josh Rosenfeld, and was moderated by Harvey Danger’s Sean Nelson. I found their conversation hilarious and honest, mostly because not one of them knew what they were doing. I appreciated John Roderick’s story of recording what would become The Long Winters’ debut with the intention of putting in his safety deposit box as proof to his kids that he wasn’t “flailing” during his twenties, that he had something to show for it. The whole event instantly made me want to dive headfirst into Barsuk’s discography, which is what I plan to do this fall and winter.

The Mowglis 

It may have been too much too early. The Mowglis are ostensibly a surf-rock band with, like, six members who all sing. It was abrasively positive so, instead, I moved to another set to sit in the grass and chill.

Nikki Hill

While waking up during Nikki Hill’s set, I realized that her sound very much recalls ‘60s doo-wop and greaser rock. I did enjoy the accumulation of trendy geezers dancing to her music like they were college freshmen again.

FIDLAR 

I’d checked out FIDLAR when their album dropped earlier this year. While I appreciate that release, I definitely see why their live show has propelled them to their current status as wastoid-skater royalty. My friend heard this interaction:

Crowd member: “TATTOO ME!”

FIDLAR: “Tattoo yourself, man. That’s the problem with DIY, you gotta do it yourself.”

They were perfect for a late afternoon set.

David Bazan

Truthfully, I haven’t really spent time with David Bazan’s solo material. I love Pedro the Lion and figured it would be great to take a peek at his set. He’s a mellow performer and interjected a ton of slanted self-destruction between songs. (“Hey guys, I’ll be playing for the next forty minutes so if you need to go to the bathroom or get something to drink go ahead, I don’t mind”)

Eric Burdon & the Animals

This was pure Dad rock. Eric Burdon appeared onstage in a zipped up gray hoodie and remained hidden in his hood for the first few songs of the set. While I didn’t particularly love it, I can appreciate the feeling of seeing a band from your youth. Hell, I’m sure I’ll be going to shows like that in thirty years when Tyler the Creator is limited to a Rascal scooter.

Katie Kate

Charli XCX cancelled her appearance a few days before the festival started so they reached out to Seattle’s Katie Kate, a pop-rap act who fought zombies during her set. She was a great last minute replacement and representative of Seattle’s diverse rap community.

Mates of State

These guys sounded just like their recordings; mathematic and spastic. I love Mates of State and was excited to catch some of my favorite songs by them before heading to the main stage. They’re like bizarro Matt & Kim.

Ra Ra Riot

It’s not that I didn’t want to see Ra Ra Riot, I just wanted to make sure not to miss the main stage act after them. After their lukewarm Beta Love came out earlier this year, I was afraid they’d play mostly songs from that album. I was pleasantly proved wrong; they played a bunch of older material like “Oh, La” and “The Rhumb Line”.

Death Cab for Cutie

Yes. I missed a large chunk of Sunday’s lineup to see Death Cab because it was one of a few dates where they performed Transatlanticism in its entirety. Their performance was beautiful and nostalgic. They finished the album and did “Crooked Teeth” and “I Will Possess Your Heart”, but they also did “405”, which Ben Gibbard dedicated to Barsuk Records, their home for many years. It was like looking through your yearbook; you don’t tend to do it often but, when you do, the memories come flooding back. Their set was cathartic.

Missed acts: Tegan and Sara, Writing Staff of NBC’s Parks & Recreation, BRONCHO, Beats Antique, Matt & Kim, Matt Pond

Monday, September 2nd

Hot Bodies in Motion

Local funk-rock heroes, Hot Bodies in Motion, delivered a high-energy set for starting at 11:45 a.m. They have amassed a great following in the area and, judging by the size of their audience and the fact that their album sold out in the merch tent, they’re only starting to gain momentum. Their vocalist sounded vaguely similar to Adam Levine but I had a 0% urge to punch him in the face!

alt-J

Truth be told, I really didn’t spend much time with An Awesome Wave last year. I thought their singles were cool but I left it at that. A friend of mine urged me to see them live after catching their set at Sasquatch, so I went for it. They were really low energy but performed their big songs with gusto.

MGMT

If they played songs that weren’t “Kids”, “Electric Feel” or “Time To Pretend”, the crowd didn’t really react. To be honest, I don’t really know if MGMT like their own music. They had even less energy than alt-J and seemed to only play those three songs to appease the majority of their fan base. It was like seeing an exhibit in the zoo.

The Sheepdogs

Much like Eric Burdon & the Animals, I didn’t fully connect with The Sheepdogs. They still played well and catered to their crowd extremely well.

Baroness

I was expecting earth-shaking, sludgy lords of metal from Baroness but, instead, they were seriously accessible and fun to watch. I’m not a huge metal fan but Baroness have been all over the place the past few years and seemed pretty likely to be one of those bands I discover I like right after I have the opportunity to see them live. The few songs I did catch were righteous but the festival setting made them seem better-behaved than they might be if they were playing in a darkened venue closer to midnight. Fantastic performance nonetheless.

Patton Oswalt & Friends

I know I’m doing a huge disservice to the comedians that opened for Patton, but I honestly would have rather heard him do standup for the entire hour. Ever since my friends and I stumbled across his first album in middle school, Patton has become a sort of mythical being, an idol of coolness and guide for a balanced worldview. Much of his set comprised of a story involving him performing at an enormous casino and the temptations of selling out. From what I understand, Patton appears to be a writer to his core and has shifted from standard “bits” to long, comprehensive stories that contain a multitude of jokes that are contextually more powerful than any one-liner could be alone. Incidentally, my first time seeing Patton live was at my first Bumbershoot festival nine years ago, so seeing him as the festival was winding down felt like checking in with a key part my Bumbershoot experience.

Allen Stone

Despite several people nearby tripping hard and some very poor sound mixing, Allen Stone’s set ended strongly. If you’re unfamiliar with his work, imagine a funnily dressed, moonfaced version of lankiness personified but with the voice of Stevie Wonder. Allen Stone is a local favorite and was the perfect way to end Bumbershoot 2013.

Missed acts: The Men, Lissie, Superchunk, The Joy Formidable, Kopecky Family Band