Bumbershoot Day 2

Bumbershoot Day 2: Sunday, September 5^th Seattle Center

Day two was a lot smoother than day one. I quickly learned our way around. We did manage to play a little Skee Ball, Matty beat me. Must be all of the practice he gets on the iPhone. Today we had main stage tickets, so it was cool to be able to go into that area as well. The floor is super cushy at the main stage and they have a burrito stand that is quite yummy.

Our day started with Converses on our feet and Horse Feathers at the Starbucks Stage. I felt it was only right to have a Pumpkin Spice latte from Starbucks since we were at their stage! The Starbucks Stage has a cool mural behind it; which makes a great backdrop especially since the space needle is to the left. While we were waiting for Horse Feathers we got to hear a little Fleet Foxes over the house sound. I love the soothing strings in Horse Feathers, the acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, violin, and cello. I have never had a bad experience with Horse Feathers they are absolutely delightful live.

After Horse Feathers we went to catch Hey Marseilles. I was not expecting eight band members to walk out on stage. A lot to watch, a lot going on, yet not overwhelming and wild. Eight members complete with an accordion and two extra kick drums for two band members outside of the drummer to beat on. Half of the band plays multiple instruments.

On our walk into the EMP Sky Church to see The Redwood Plan we got sidetracked by the overflowing crowd into the Center Square Stage. Crash Kings were on stage saying “It’s so good to be back here in one of our favorite cities ever!” The band had just gigantic amounts of bursting energy. Plus it is so cool how they rock even without an electric guitar player – you hear a guitar sound but it is actually done on a keyboard with a handle ordeal.

The Redwood Plan had one sassy female leader; she had so much energy she never stood still. I am surprise she didn’t shake the pink highlights right out of her hair. They are a fun band to dance to and to watch just because she was a riot. After a few songs by the Redwood Plan we floated over to Broad Street to catch David Bazan who sounded fantastic and reminded us a lot of Built to Spill.

Bumbershoot has a strict rule of no mosh pits or crowd surfing. Yeah, I am 100% sure that rule was broken during The Bouncing Souls. I stood off to the side and watched security just freak out, kids being dragged out left and right. However, the Bouncing Souls sounded great and it was the perfect punk rock to get you through the afternoon! We even saw the singer from Rise Against walk by singing along.

We caught a few songs of Ra Ra Riot who was very quiet. I couldn’t hear the singer at all from the back of the stage which was a bummer so we moved over to the main stage to catch a few from Rise Against. It was a rowdy crowd and kids were loving every second of their set. I have seen them before and think they are one hell of a live band, it was cool to see them in a bigger venue.

While I was waiting in line at the EMP Sky Church to get in to see Fences I heard two songs from Motion City Soundtrack who was doing something right because the crowd was jumping all over the place. When the crowd screamed it sounded like all girls! Maybe the singer is cute, I dunno I couldn’t see him.

I have never seen or heard of Fences before and they were a surprise band. I loved their two foxes that they had on drums. Matt really dug the song writing and lyrics. We left after a few songs though to make sure I could see the one and only Hole.

I was nervous about Hole. I didn’t know if there was going to be booing, drunk Courtney, tears, bad words, and flashing body parts or if it was going to be brilliant. It was brilliant! She looked stunning and even had a nice diamond headband on. She did spread her legs while she was wearing a dress, but not too much. She looked like she was on top of the world and glad to be home. She came out on stage with an I’m Home and then sang a little bit from “Buddy Holly” and said oh wait I’m Not That Band.

Hole opened with the “Sympathy for the Devil” by the Rolling Stones and went on to play “Skinny Little Bitch,” “Celebrity Skin,” “Violet,” “Miss World,” “Malibu,” and many more. She also decided to cover “Jeremy” by Pearl Jam in which she admitted she sucked at but she said it sounded charmingly awkward. It was different. It was odd to hear her make references to Seattle before a few songs like “206” and once she spit out her address. It was such a treat to see her in Seattle, definitely going to be a summer highlight for me. I do truly adore Miss Love.

Another great opportunity was to be able to see Billy Bragg. Tonight he said he wasn’t going to let his age get in the way. He seemed to be really excited to be playing at Bumbershoot and there was a large crowd at the Starbucks Stage to see him. He was asking the crowd who else was playing this weekend and then said “you’ll have to excuse me, I from another country.” Billy Bragg sounded stellar, his accent, his singing, his guitar… it was just like the albums. It was funny to see him drink tea on the Starbucks Stage. He said his drinking tea is not part of a political movement. Matt was excited too because he played “Ingrid Bergman” off the Mermaid Avenue work; it was so cool to see him live, what an opportunity.

Last but not least for the night was Weezer. We also didn’t know what to expect with Weezer but I can tell you this. They killed it for Seattle. It was an hour of hits with one new song. I mean so much energy, Rivers got into the crowd at one point and they threw out large beach balls for the crowd. A Weezer fan even brought in a huge Weezer flag and flew it above the crowd. It was a blast. Weezer opened with “Hash Pipe,” then played hits “Troublemaker,” “Undone – The Sweater Song,” “Surf Wax America,” “Memories” (off their new album Hurley out 9/14), “Perfect Situation,” “Dope Nose,” “Say It Aint So,” “Island In the Sun,” “El Scorcho,” “My Name Is Jonas,” and then “Beverly Hills.” We left during Beverly Hills, I think we heard all of the hits we wanted to minus Buddy Holly (Courtney covered that one for a few verses). The crowd was just loving every second of their set! It was a perfect way to end our second night of Bumbershoot 2010. When we were leaving I saw the World’s Largest Lite Bright. I must say, DAMN Bumbershoot you look good for 40! See ya tomorrow!