Bumbershoot Day 1

Bumbershoot Day 1: Saturday, September 4^th Seattle Center

Day one at Bumbershoot was a bit hectic for us. Matt drove over at six in the morning by himself to check in for Bumbershoot 2010. I had to work so I flew over to Seattle and arrived at Bumbershoot around 6pm.

Matt managed to catch some great music before I made it over including a few tunes by The Head & the Heart who will be performing at The Empyrean this month, Seattle MC Grynch, Star Anna & the Laughing Dogs, The Constellations, and the Maldives.

Meanwhile back in Spokane I was nervously awaiting my flight. For the first time I flew on a small plane, of course it had to be windy. It was a sky rollercoaster but I did get a complimentary glass of wine, which helped. Before I knew we had skated across the state over the clouds with plenty of beautiful scenes including Mt. Rainer! The airport was nuts… I had to ask someone how to get out of it once we landed. Matty came to the rescue picked me up and it was straight to the hotel, then to Bumbershoot just in time to see See Me River.

We found rock star parking for $8 right in front of the EMP and walking up to Bumbershoot I had no idea how big this event is. It was so overwhelming, I couldn’t wrap my head on it till about 9pm. Spent a lot of time looking at a map and note to kids who haven’t gone and plan on going in the future; wear tennis shoes.

Once we figured out how to get into the EMP Sky Church for See Me River we ran into one of our favorite people, Ashley Graham. The Sky Church reminded me of the jellyfish scene in Finding Nemo. See Me River sounded perfect and I got to hear my jam, “Heroine.” We stayed for a few tunes and walking out of the Sky Church realized that part of the whole festival experience is getting to just sample bands by hearing a few songs. Which has its pros and cons. We left early to see Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros and walked into a train wreck when we arrived.

The Broad Street Stage is not meant to have a crowd as large as it was for Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros. There is one way in and one way out. Second time this summer where I have seen people running by the masses to see Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros; also the second time where there have been too many people at a stage to see Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros. Yikes. It was impossible to get in and see them, however I stood and listened to a few songs. Only to find out later that See Me River played a Pixie’s cover and that two guys from the Pharmacy came on stage with them a jammed for a bit. Kind of a disappoint to hear that because Edward Sharpe was 30minutes late and we could of totally stayed longer. Edward Sharpe opened with “40 Day Dream” and also played “Janglin.” We didn’t stay long enough to hear “Home” because I knew that these people were going to run to the main stage and it was going to be like the Pamplona Bull Run. We wanted to get as far away as possible. Then we ran into Ashley again and checked out Solomon Burke on the Starbucks Stage.

Solomon Burke sat in a royal king chair on stage. It was nuts, we only stayed for a quick minute but in that minute we learned he has 21 kids, 90 grandchildren, a Grammy, and is in the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame.

Our last artist of the night was The Raveonettes. It was hard to see them for the first few songs because they kept the lights low but then someone turned the lights up and it was a lot cooler. She looked glamorous with her Barbie blonde short hair and black dress. I like their heavy distorted sound that is still light and refreshing. Plus girls that can rock, well rock! It started to get cold therefore concluding Day 1 of Bumbershoot 2010. Definitely need to regroup for Day 2 and do some planning.

By the way Spokanites, the food at Bumbershoot is way better then Pig Out!