Bumbershoot. Day 1.

11 Bands. 1 Free Poster. 1 free magazine. More Rockstar energy drink then a single human should consume in a lifetime. A free Guitar Hero: World Tour water bottle.

Bands Seen:
Throw Me The Statue
Das Vibenbass
Barcelona
The Valley
Thao With The Get Down Stay Down
PWRFL Power
The Walkmen
Unearth
Band of Horses
Nada Surf
Beck

Today was intense. I left Tacoma around 10:30am to head up towards Seattle. I arrived and found parking around 11am about 12 blocks from the Seattle Center. I paid $10. Anything closer was upwards of $20. I actually pulled into a place that was close, saw that it was $25 for 10 hours - and I was going to be there for more like 12 - and immediately hopped back in my car and went to a parking lot near where I work. I hate Seattle parking to a degree verging on fanatical. Maybe it has something to do with my car getting towed for parking South of a sign that said "no parking North of this sign". Or perhaps the gestapo-like private parking companies (one time I parked outside the EMP and was 5 minutes late getting back to my car, to discover a fifty dollar parking ticket waiting for me). In any case, a short walk later and I was confronted with a line to get into the festival that was at least half a mile long (literally). 25-30 minutes later and I'm inside the gate, hopping in another line to grab my pass to the evening's Main Stage (Beck! Band of Horses!). And this set me down at just about time for the first band I wanted to see.

I headed over to Throw Me The Statue at the Rockstar Energy Drink stage (w/ adjoining Dell pavilion, where I made a button, watched an artist start a massive painting, considered the merits of getting a free mohawk...). Throw Me The Statue was fantastic. I had never heard anything of their, but had marked them on my "I Might Be Interested" list when I was researching my options (a.k.a. slacking of at work). Solid, fun alt rock. They were multi-instumentists. For one song, the band got rid of the guitars and had two keyboardists and two drummers. They switched instrument composition after almost every song. Guitars, keyoards. Horn section. Catchy as hell. I cut out a bit early (which was a theme throughout the day) to go catch a bit of Das Vibenbass (who I read about in the Bumbershoot program in between songs. Supposedly a funk/jazz/fusion type group). This was at a stage across the Seattle Center, and I started to familiarize myself with the layout of the various stages on this trip. I stayed through the first three or four songs, and then headed into the Northwest Rooms building to check out some of the Visual/Performance Arts Exhibits. Here I stopped in on what I thought was going to be free food (but it wasn't ready yet) and the Seattle-Tehran Poster exhibit (which actually piqued my interest for the Flatstock exhibit - essentially an entire building of screen printed band flyers). After satisfying my curiousity, I headed back over to the Rockstar stage for Barcelona. As I was leaving, I caught one more Das Vibenbass song (which was a funk/jazz cover of Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun!) which sold me on them (I had been somewhat indifferent to the first few songs). I also heard the last song in Vicci Martinez's set (I've seen Vicci a few times with my friend's Sammy and Angie down in Tacoma) on my back to the Rockstar stage.

By this point, the Seattle Center was starting to get crowded. As I got to the Rockstar stage, I was a bit dismayed to see that the crowds had multiplied significantly since the Throw Me The Statue set. The lawn was packed. I wandered back towards the Beer Garden entrance (hoping to snag a table near the edge so that I coud catch the band comfortable from there), but there was an immense line queuing up for entry to the beer garden as well. I found a spot near the edge of the crowd where I was able to see the band (although at a sharp angle) and listened to the greater part of Barcelona's set. Another one that I'd recommend. Towards the end of their set, I headed out to grab some lunch and get myself a spot for The Valley's set at the EMP Sky Church (last year? two years ago? I had trouble getting in to this venue. Lines were formed early and the limited space had filled up fast. I didn't want to miss out. ). I had expected that The Valley was going to be similar to The Black Keys, but this was not the case. I stayed through 3 or 4 songs. There was a bit of technical difficulty which cut one of the songs off in the first 30 seconds. They sorted it out and restarted that song. Nothing particularly special about this band. Seemed a bit formulaic and didn't keep me interested for long.

I had seen Will Whitwell as I was grabbing lunch, and he said he was heading over to watch Thao with the Get Down Stay Down. I took a cue from him and went back to the Rockstar Stage to see what Thao was all about. And she was funky. And amazing. Awesome musicianship, quirky songs. A lot of fun. Again, the crowd was pretty thick, and I ended up on the edge. I did catch a glimpse of Will towering over the crowd, right in the thick of things. I caught the last half of her set, and headed back over to the Sky Church to watch PWRFL Power, which was the one of the two best bands I saw today (Nada Surf claims the other spot). I didn't quite know what to expect for this one. The program had said something along the lines of "guitar virtuoso moves away from experimental sounds and plays intricate acoustic with conversational lyrics". The virtuoso bit was spot on. The band consisted solely of "Kaz" the guitarist. He played these amazingly complex riffs while jumping, posing, and charming the crowd. While doing so, it seemed like a spastic impersonation of rock-stardom that worked well with the simple (and amusing!) lyrics. This was the only set that I stuck around from start to finish. And then I bought his CD. Definitely going to look to see him live again. After his set, I headed back to the Rockstar stage (again!) to see The Walkmen. I grabbed a spot near the back on a slight rise so I could see the stage. I had assumed that The Walkmen were going to be a highlight of my day, but left after about 4 songs, underwhelmed. Much like The Valley, they seemed a bit formulaic. Standard Indie band template no. 4 to the stage please.

Next up on my list, was the band Unearth. Unearth appears to be the only metal band on the schedule for Bumbershoot. The change of pace was great. Going from a bunch of indie rock type sets to the raw intensity of their metalcore was an injection of life into the day. The posturing! The full gamut of heavy metal poses was stricken (the horns! pointing in various directions! The hair twirl! mounting the speakers as a band and doing a coordinated jump!). The singer prompted folks to mosh. Called for a circle pit. Called for crowd surfing. He riled things up in a manner that I definitely did not see at any of my previous shows today. The band had two guitarists. One was the epitomy of butt-rock. Long hair. Cut off sleeves. An almost visible cloud of B.O. The second was prone to making "hardcore" faces, making "hardcore" gestures (drawing his finger across his throat!), and spitting and spraying water on the crowd. The drummer was Sasquatch like. All in all a hell of a lot of fun.

Next up, a trip to the Main stage for Band of Horses. I got myself set up in the stadium seating for this one. Nothing particularly astounding about this group. A solid set. I left towards the end to check out Nada Surf for a bit. Much like the last time that I saw them, they blew me away. These guys play a fantastic live show. The part of the set that I was there for had a bunch of songs from the Let Go album. Around 9:15 I wandered back to the Main stage, just in time to see Beck come on. The first song.... "Loser". I was in the nosebleeds for this one, but I was impressed with the performance. A varied set list that they played to perfection. Left early to get back to Tacoma to catch up on some sleep. Not bound to happen tomorrow, as I'd like to stick through the entirety of STPs set.