The tale of how we spent out Seattle vacation continues. The saga of the first four days can be found here. For the rest of the trip in all it’s glory, continue on, oh my humble and dear readers…

Saturday September 5
After a year of waiting, today was finally the first real day of the 2009 Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival. Yeah! We monorailed it over to the festival grounds, and headed for the hospitality room. Included with our Gold Passes was three day access to this room, an oasis with free snacks, drinks, tables and chairs, and indoor clean restrooms. That last item become more important later in the day since the restrooms on the festival grounds can get a little funky. But we don’t worry about that. Anyway, we perused the day’s schedule for the 15 or so different stages and decided to first see a band called Everest.

We watched five or six songs. They were good but not awesome and we left, wanting to get a good spot for Katy Perry at the main stage. Don’t laugh! I know she’s kind of a joke but the show was pretty entertaining, better than she comes across on CD. I wouldn’t spend money on her, that didn’t change. But she was campy and fun and that worked for the 75 or so minutes she performed. After that sugary pop, we headed into “the pit’, the Exhibition Hall stage, down in the basement of one of the buildings for a set by Sick Puppies, an Australian band that our pal Jared had recommended. They were energetic and noisy, very in-your-face modern rock, but the hooks were there and they did it really well. We ended staying for their whole set. A nice surprise.

Next it was time for some comedy. We saw a few different Washington-based comics performing routines under the name of Lo-Ball. It was funny. Not hilarious but still funny and we enjoyed it. Then we saw a new artist, singer-songwriter Eric Hutchinson, who we both liked a lot. We’ll be watching for his CD. He was deceptively simple and his catchy folk-pop songs were good. The crowd was singing along, so obviously we were catching up with them here, but it was a high point of the day. He improvised a rain song when it rained for about five minutes. Oh, and I should mention while I think about it that we were eating on and off, all of the festival days. The hospitality room always had food. And besides that, there was plenty of festival food. Petra’s favorite was the “Green Cossack”, which is cooked red potatoes smothered in a creamy dill sauce. I tended toward the Pad Thai, a little spicy, with a little peanut sauce added. Mmmm. And other stuff too, as I’ve said before, “You gotta eat or you’ll die!”.

Petra headed out to watch a drumming and dancing group called Cobu, while I went to the other end of the festival grounds for a band called Uh Huh Her. I’d heard a song by them somewhere but after watching part of their set, I wasn’t impressed. It was allright but nothing special. And in a festival with all these stages, that meant venturing out again to see what else was happening. I hooked up with Petra coming out of her event, and we went loooking around. We caught a song or two by old school hip-hoppers De La Soul and we both thought it was pretty awful so on we went. We saw the very end of Kay Kay And His Weathered Underground. They looked interesting but we only had a little to go on. Still, overall it was a great day with a lot of cool music and fun. Yahooey! We all went back to the hotel, poured a beverage and headed up to the Cloud Room on 11 to talk about the day and look over tomorrow’s schedule.

Sunday September 6
We got to the festival a little damp, thanks to some rain and puddles on the way. After a snack, Petra and Robin went to an art event where you can design an outfit from various articles of clothing, vintage and otherwise. There will be a picture of their outfits posted here when I get the pictures done. Check back for that. For now, keep your eyes right here! Well, keep reading, I mean. So I hung out and watched. Then Petra and I went to the main stage to see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. We have an album of theirs that is a little strange but pretty cool. They sound kind of like a more upbeat Siouxie And The Banshees if that helps. We watched most of their set and then went to see some comedy. Petra is a big fan of Reggie Watts, and his set was very surreal and pretty funny. The other comics were Matt Braugner and Todd Barry. Matt was the funnier of the two but both were good.

Of course, we were snacking and eating during the day too. Oh yeah. Then it was back to the main stage for Michael Franti and Spearhead. We have all (or at least most) of his CDs and have seen him a couple times before in concert. He always entertains and his music is great. I really like his Yell Fire CD but the others are good too, for the most part. Anyway, this was another great live show. He performed many songs from his latest album, and a good assortment from other albums too. For the last song, pop/rock star Jason Mraz came out and sung along with Michael. It’s hard to go wrong with Michael Franti in concert. After a short break, it was time for the day’s headliner (on the mainstage anyway). Petra is a big fan of Jason Mraz, the headliner, and I like him too. We had a good spot to watch from, fairly close but out of the big packed mess right in front. Jason entertained the crowd, doing most of his latest hit album and other crowd-pleasing songs too. Lots of kids in the audience were singing along. Big fun, and a great way to end day two of the festival. Then it was back to the hotel and, you guessed it, a beverage and up to the Cloud Room to talk about the day and figure out who to see tomorrow. Mama O and Liz showed up too, along with Larry, Robin, Petra and me.

Monday September 7
Another day, another monorail to the festival. Dry this time, although the day did drizzle a couple times later on. You know the drill, our first stop was the hospitality lounge for some food. Then we watched a few songs from Anomie Belle. It was raining a bit but we were under a tree with umbrellas so it wasn’t bad. Then we wandered into the art exhibits. Earlier in the week we had built some paper houses for an open art exhibit. The winners were to be determined by random selection. We didn’t win. I guess we weren’t random enough. 😉 Then we went to a different stage for some songs by Visqueen. They were ok but not more than that, so we ventured into the Sky Church stage for part of a set by Point Juncture WA. This stage is inside the Experience Music Project museum and has a huge, and I do mean huge, video screen behind the band, showing electronic patterns. Very nice. Next up, we staked out a good spot at the main stage for the set by the Black Eyed Peas. I’m not a big fan of the latest album, but like some of the other stuff. We saw them in the same venue about four or five years ago and they were good, and sure enough, this time they were good too. Even though some of the songs are dumb, the stage show was decent and they worked it. So, better than I expected. Not great but very entertaining.

After that, we watched Forgive Durden, a band that had been recommended to us. They were performing their rock opera live but we weren’t feeling it at all. We moved along and then we stopped in at the beer wine garden and saw part of a set by The Devil Makes Three. Good-timey folk music, nothing deep but they were having a good time. A few songs were enough. Next we went to see some comedy. It was Doug Benson doing an act called The Benson Interruptions, where he has other comedians on and then as they tell stories he interrupts and asks questions, makes comments, etc. It was pretty funny. Next it was back to the main stage for Franz Ferdinand. I liked their hits on the radio but never bought any of their music. But seeing them live, I was impressed. They were really good live and totally rocked the house. There was crowd surfing all over the place and they played a tight and smoking hot set. They surprised me with how good they were. The headliner after that at the Broad Street stage was Metric, a band I’ve been liking a lot recently. I saw them in the same place a few years ago and was impressed with their mix of modern quirky rock, great woman singer, and cool interesting songs and lyrics. And they didn’t disappoint. We were a little ways back and the first few songs the vocals were a little under-volumed, but they played a very good set. They played most of the songs from the great 2009 album Fantasies, and also some from their previous three albums. A great “unknown” band. And that was the end to yet another great Bumbershoot Festival. Awesome! I can hardly wait until next year!!

Tuesday September 8
Not much to report here. It was a bus ride to the airport, then a quick and uneventful flight home.

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