Bumbershoot – Seattle, Labor Day Weekend

Bum-ber-shoot: An umbrella

The Bumbershoot festival is an arts and performance festival that has been taking place in Seattle Centre for the past 37 Years. The name Bumbershoot was chosen for the festival because it refers to the large umbrella of performers and artists that make up the festival. The festival focuses on offering a diverse line-up of musicians, artists, performers, not just in music but film, theatre, comedy, visual art, dance and literature. Since 1980, One Reel, a non-profit arts organization has been producing the festival and is still going strong.

I attended Bumbershoot last Labor Day weekend and I had a blast. 3 days was just enough to get my fill of music and the arts and left me with just enough energy to make the drive back home to Vancouver. Attending the festival also allowed me to see more of Seattle, which is a great city. The line-up for the festival ranged from world, to hip-hop, pop, rock, indies, majors, gypsies, metal. Got a little taste of everything. The line-up included: The Shins, Wu-Tang Clan, Panic! At The Disco, Crowded House, Lupe Fiasco, Fergie, Steve Earle, DeVotchKa, Devendra Banhart, Gogol Bordello, The Avett Brothers, Magnolia Electric Company, The Aggrolites, Menomena, Tokyo Police Club, Art Brut and many more.

I watched the Shins set which was awesome. They did a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Hey You” or “Comfortably Numb.” I can’t remember. If anyone was there and remembers can you let me know? But I remember it was really good. They had great energy, and got the crowd going.

I saw one band that I had never heard of, but they turned out to be one of my favorite of the festival: Menomena. They are a band from Portland, Oregon and they had a choir! A choir! It was awesome! And the lead singer also played the baritone saxophone. It was crazy. They were really engaging and interesting. Something I hadn’t heard before. Check them out if you get the chance.

My absolute favorite show of the festival was Gogol Bordello. If you do not know who this band is, you must download; purchase; stream; YouTube them as soon as you can. Their albums do not do them justice at all. They are one of those bands that are known for their live show and believe it is a show. Gogol Bordello is this Gypsy Punk band from New York. 10 people make up the band, one of them being their lead singer, Eugene Hutz from Ukraine. He is one crazy MF! Their set went on forever and I never wanted it to stop. It was so high-energy and after it was over I was exhausted but was left wanting more!

I also saw part of the Crowded House set, Art Brut, Joss Stone, and John Legend. I checked some of the comedy shows which were great and some of the art exhibitions, including an exhibition dedicated to Nick Drake and the Flatstock Poster Show.

Tickets were a good deal. You can purchase them just for one of the days or all three days. You can also get a premium pass for a bit more which gets you VIP access to some of the performances. So if you are looking for one last hurrah before you have to go back to school or want something fun to do for Labor Day weekend, I highly suggest hitting up Bumbershoot in Seattle.

They will be announcing their 2008 line-up soon! So stay tuned in. They have RSS or you can join their mailing list. Check it out! www.bumbershoot.org

FESTIVALS, FESTIVALS, FESTIVALS!

The spring and summer music season is upon us and we all know what that means: Music Festivals galore! Across the United States there are dozens of festivals going on throughout the spring and summer season! If you are a huge music fan, you should try and check some of them out if you get the chance. Over the next few days I am going to be blogging about several different music and arts festivals. Very few of them I have attended myself. I wish I had the time and the cash to attend them, but if anyone has had the opportunity to go to any of them, give me a shout and let me know how it went.

Cheers!