Two Days Down, One to Go
Lordy, we are getting old. Midway through day 2 of Bumbershoot, we were dragging hardcore. The crowds, the drunk white guys, the terrible fashion---it was all getting to be too much. But then we nutted up and carried on with our high-octane music intake.
Our day began at the Mainstage with the New Pornographers. Even without Dan Bejar and Neko Case, the always-solid supergroup put on yet another great show. Carl Newman was left to pick up the slack, and his strong pipes almost made up for that of his two missing bandmates. Newman's niece Kathryn Calder did her best Neko impression, which almost worked---except for "Mass Romantic," where she couldn't hit the chorus' high notes on her first two attempts. We can't really fault her for that; not everyone can sing like Miss Case. The New Pornographers played from all three of their full-lengths, covering most of our favorite tracks ("Testament to Youth in Verse," "The Fake Headlines," "Slow Descent into Alcoholism," "The Laws Have Changed") and closing with "Sing Me Spanish Techno."
Spoon was up next, and even though we really like this band's music, their performance was a disappointment. All the songs were well-played, but the band seemed kinda lethargic and lacked personality. This was momentarily alleviated by the guest appearance of David Cross as a sign-language interpreter, but after that it was back to the mundane.
From there, we caught the tail-end of hard rockers New Fangs at the Sky Church, where a few fans were engaging in some highly illegal moshing and crowd-surfing. Bad audience! No cookie! We then headed over to the Backyard Stage for Jeremy Enigk, who put on a much better set than the last time we saw him, and Mates of State for their cutesy organ-centric husband-wife harmonies. After hearing only one song, some guy in front of us, an MoS virgin, loudly declared, "I LOVE THIS BAND!" Agreed.
And then it was time to brave Memorial Stadium again, which was now crazy-packed in anticipation of the night's hip hop. Local duo Blue Scholars got the crowd warmed up, and then Kanye brought the Mainstage down, performing all of his hits and giving the full house a taste of his upcoming release Graduation. We are thisclose to crowning him the New Hardest-Working Man in Show Business™, for reals.
Photo care of Flickr / user bumbershootonereel.
