Isn't Bumbershoot Like Tomorrow?

What a great way to close out the summer: Beer, fried food on stick, irritatingly large crowds, great music, and a slight chance of rain (remember last year?). Seattlest loves us some Bumbershoot though, and we wouldn't let some pesky weather ruin our fun. This year looks to be a good one. A couple things we are digging right off the bat are the addition of good bands on the outdoor stages and ditching the Friday festivities before the weekend (we never went on that day anyway).

Ever wondered what the Seattlest staff does at Bumbershoot? (Hey: what happens at Bumbershoot stays at Bumbershoot). Seriously, we've got this festival thing pretty wired.

Saturday
O.K., some things to know right off the bat. In addition to the normal Exhibition Hall, EMP Sky Church, and Mainstage, you also have two other outdoor stages to contend with this year: Bumbrella and Backyard. This is a day we could seriously just camp out at the Backyard stage and be content with our pad thai noodles and overpriced beer. Derby, Slender Means, Halou, Rogue Wave, Of Montreal, Badly Drawn Boy. Of course we cater to everyone here at Seattlest, so you might also want to start your day checking out The Gossip and Blondie on the Mainstage. Yeah that's right - Blondie! I mean really, how many people can say they've seen Blondie nowadays? We plan on skipping the evening shows on Mainstage, but you can definitely get your "Inner Emo" on at Hawthorne Heights, Yellowcard, and AFI. That's a lot of eyeliner and myspace haircuts for one show. The night is a toss up, but we'll probably be making way, making way for the SOV…(Lady Sovereign) on the Bumbrella stage. If hip hop's not your thing, go see Cloud Cult at EMP instead. Go to bed hungover; rinse and repeat.

Sunday
Another tip for the day is to grab a wristband early if you plan on seeing Blue Scholars and Kanye West. People will be all frothing at the mouth for that one. The Seattlest staff will likely be backstage hangin' with Kanye 'cause that’s just how we roll. Didn't he have Pamela Anderson in one of his videos? Yeah, well she's married to Kid Rock now – we'll ask him about that. Also, shout out to our local peeps Blue Scholars. Start out the afternoon with The New Pornographers and Spoon. That alone would be worth the price of admission. The rest of the day isn't getting us too excited, but we definitely recommend seeing Jose Gonzalez at the Northwest Court Lounge - we like him. Couple others you may want to check out: Common Market, Crystal Skulls, Zero 7, Thee Emergency.

Monday
All right, final day and lots of choices. Thus is the day we always hit Flatstock and get our poster on. If you've never seen this, check it out and bring your wallet. Atmosphere and A Tribe Called Quest on the Mainstage. Crazy reunion show for Tribe and The (English) Beat. Is this some sort of Bumbershoot trend or do these artists just come out of nowhere? Lots of diversity today, go rock out hard with Kane Hodder and The Hollowpoints at EMP. We could just hang out there all day drinking mojitos, but we want to check out some other bands like The Veronicas and Sparta. A really cool band The Village Green is opening the day on the Backyard Stage with Mountain Con and Rocky Volotato. You should check those bands out if you get there early enough. Feist and Metric too, but that's later. Oh the decisions. This girl in our office seems to think Feist is pretty good, so maybe we could check her out. Go to bed late, get up early for work, think about all the great music you missed…

Photo care of Flickr / user Darkpaisley.