Bumbershoot: 3 Awards to Some Early Favorites
As is the case every year, we try to take some time away from the masses to give you a taste of what we’ve particularly enjoyed at Bumbershoot mid-festival. While it’s always tough to pull ourselves away from the action, we hope it will give you a glimpse to know what you’re missing. Better yet, if you’re here with us on the ground, we hope it will cause you to reflect on what you’ve really enjoyed about your experience. With a ton of great memories so far, like last year, we’ve decided to hand out some awards to some of our favorite acts.
As always, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments and be sure to check our schedule if you're heading to the Center today or tomorrow.
Best Case of Knowing The Audience
Coming just two weeks after Hempfest, and being a festival, it's no surprise that Bumbershoot's consistently heavy with clouds even when it's sunny. With Doug Benson returning to the festival for the second year in a row, and bands like Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes giving nearly its entire audience the gift of a contact high, there was one artist that played it to perfection. Playing to a packed house, Bob Dylan and his band stormed into their set with their opener "Everybody Must Get Stoned." While Dylan was reportedly recovering from being sick, and his voice definitely didn't benefit from that or the 60+ years of hard living before that, the band nailed it out of the gate and audience ate it up.
Bob Dylan says High, Strangers
Most Iconic Backdrop
This one is always tough as the Needle rightly dominates most of the vantage points of the festival. As such, there really aren’t nearly as many bad views as one might expect from a festival that attempts to cram 150,000 people into over a dozen performance areas. While the Starbucks Stage at the mural and the Broad Street Stage on the lawn between the Space Needle and the Pacific Science Center both boast impressive views, our vote goes to the Center Square Stage. New this year, the Center Square Stage gives its audiences an obstructed view of the Needle but raises the stakes two-fold. With the legendary monorail nearly on top of the stage and Frank Gehry’s visually stimulating EMP|SFM just off of stage right, Center Square Stage offers a view like none other.
Center Square Stage
Frontman Stealing the Most Pages from the Wayne Coyne Playbook
It used to be that charisma was a prerequisite for being a frontman and while things dropped off for a bit during the past few decades, it's safe to say that the age of the larger than life frontman has returned. Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes frontman Alex Ebert is one of those musicians that has studied showmanship diligently. Taking some of the tricks he'd first applied in his earlier, and apparently still active band, Ima Robot, Ebert is the second coming of Wayne Coyne, complete with the white sport coat. Just imagine Coyne as more of a hippie. Following the Coyne model, Ebert is almost excessively charismatic and loves to walk on crowds -- just without that cool bubble the Flaming Lips picked up some time ago.
Alex Ebert about to walk on some people
Be sure to visit the rest of our Bumbershoot suggestions for more detailed info on our favorite acts:
Bumbershorts: Don’t Forget About the Film!
Bumbershoot: Goodbye Decision-Making Blues
Bumbershoot: Beyond the Main Stage
Bumbershoot: Top Ten Local Acts You've Got to See
Bumbershoot: A Sneak Peak at the Local Comedy
