August 30 2008: Beck, Nada Surf, Band of Horses, the Round, Lucinda Williams - Bumbershoot Music Festival, Seattle Center, Seattle WA
Bumbershoot!, I thought to myself, Shit yeah I'll fly out to the NW on a rediculously cheap ticket and see some family/friends and then go to Bumbershoot for the first time since 2005 and partake in that rediculously great lineup they've got going on this year! Shit yeah! Smooth sailing! Shit yeah!
But the sailing was not all that smooth. I woke up at Sweeney's new place out on NE 69th at at ridiculous hour. I think it was in the neighborhood of 7am. The idea was to walk to the 60th Ave. Max station, take it downtown, walk to the bus station, and get my ass on the 845 greyhound to Seattle in order to catch most if not all of Neko Case's set and most definitely be able to catch 100% of Lucinda Williams' set. This plan was going swimmingly up until the point at which the greyhound ticket seller informed me that the 845 bus was sold out. I went across the street to the train station, but the 830 train was also sold out. I went and got breakfast and tried to get unhungover and called people on craigslist who had advertised rides. No success, aside from getting breakfast. But if I'm going to be stuck somewhere for a couple hours and in need of breakfast, I'd rather be in Portland than maybe just about anywhere.
So anyway: I got on a bus at 1015, and it rolled into Seattle at 215. Ideally, Ryan/Heather would have been there to pick me up, we would have made speed a priority en route to the Seattle Center, and would have caught all of Lucinda. But they were not there, and were still 20m out of town. So I stashed my backpack in a locker and looked around for a cab. The line at the cabstand was three or four parties deep and no cabs were in sight. What was in sight was the Space Needle, and I figured I could hoof it the half-mile or so and save myself a couple bucks and probably get there by 235 at the latest. But I should have waited for a cab, cause it turns out the walk was really more like a full mile than half of one, and I didn't get into the stadium, where Lucinda was playing, until just before 3, aka 15 minutes after she'd started. Oh well.
Lucinda was great though, even if I did miss the first fifteen minutes. Walked in on a tune I didn't know, but next was "Out of Touch." The following tune, a new one called "Little Rock Star," was way way way better than its title might suggest. The highlights were definitely "Essence" and "Joy." An encore was some blues tune by a blues singer she cited but whom I'd never heard of and as such promptly forgot the name of, followed by a Fats Domino tune I'd never heard but which was called "I Live My Life" and was fucking great, followed by "a great blues number:" AC/DC's "It's a Long Way to the Top." Not a bad set at all.
After Lucinda's set I met up with Ryan/Heather and Keith/Robin and we, after convincing Ryan that really no we definitely do want to see Damien Jurado and not play Dance Dance Revolution, headed to that stage they have set up behind the Key Arena to watch something called the Round. Important fact about the Round: two of its members are Damien Jurado and Jen Wood. And when they played Jurado tunes, they played the hits: "Ohio" (maybe the best I've ever heard it, with pedal steel accompaniment), "Lose My Head," "Letters and Drawings" (never seen it since the first time I saw him play, back before I knew the song, in 2002 I think. Goddamn was it nice to hear), and a new one that I vaguely recognized. Good to drink Mirror Ponds with all those folks and listen to songs like "Letters and Drawings." Goddamn is that kind of what I live for.
Interesting fact about history: when I first went to Bumbershoot, in 1999 because Pavement had sold out in Portland, one day's admission was $14. Another fact: in 2005, I got a two-day pass for $45. Last fact: this year's Saturday-only ticket put me back $40.
After dinner and a brief viewing of Band of Horses, who Robin wanted to see, Ryan/Heather and I split from Keith/Robin to head to the Mural Amphitheatre to watch Nada Surf. They were fantastic, but their bassist was sick and unable to play and the replacement didn't have dreads or sing backup, and they didn't do my favorite from the new album, "Are You Lightning." But they did open with "Hi-Speed Soul" and play most of my other favorites. Highlights: "Whose Authority," "Killians Red," "80 Windows," "Do it Again," "See These Bones," "Hyperspace," and the entire encore: "Blizzard of '77" into "Blonde on Blonde" into "Always Love" into "Blankest Year." No "Stalemate/Love Will Tear Us Apart" though.
And to finish off the night we went over to catch the rest of the Beck set with Keith/Robin. We were told we missed "Loser," which would just be amusing as hell to see played live after singing along with it so much at age 13. But he did play "Where it's At," which was amusing as hell to see played live after singing along with it so much at age 15.
But the sailing was not all that smooth. I woke up at Sweeney's new place out on NE 69th at at ridiculous hour. I think it was in the neighborhood of 7am. The idea was to walk to the 60th Ave. Max station, take it downtown, walk to the bus station, and get my ass on the 845 greyhound to Seattle in order to catch most if not all of Neko Case's set and most definitely be able to catch 100% of Lucinda Williams' set. This plan was going swimmingly up until the point at which the greyhound ticket seller informed me that the 845 bus was sold out. I went across the street to the train station, but the 830 train was also sold out. I went and got breakfast and tried to get unhungover and called people on craigslist who had advertised rides. No success, aside from getting breakfast. But if I'm going to be stuck somewhere for a couple hours and in need of breakfast, I'd rather be in Portland than maybe just about anywhere.
So anyway: I got on a bus at 1015, and it rolled into Seattle at 215. Ideally, Ryan/Heather would have been there to pick me up, we would have made speed a priority en route to the Seattle Center, and would have caught all of Lucinda. But they were not there, and were still 20m out of town. So I stashed my backpack in a locker and looked around for a cab. The line at the cabstand was three or four parties deep and no cabs were in sight. What was in sight was the Space Needle, and I figured I could hoof it the half-mile or so and save myself a couple bucks and probably get there by 235 at the latest. But I should have waited for a cab, cause it turns out the walk was really more like a full mile than half of one, and I didn't get into the stadium, where Lucinda was playing, until just before 3, aka 15 minutes after she'd started. Oh well.
Lucinda was great though, even if I did miss the first fifteen minutes. Walked in on a tune I didn't know, but next was "Out of Touch." The following tune, a new one called "Little Rock Star," was way way way better than its title might suggest. The highlights were definitely "Essence" and "Joy." An encore was some blues tune by a blues singer she cited but whom I'd never heard of and as such promptly forgot the name of, followed by a Fats Domino tune I'd never heard but which was called "I Live My Life" and was fucking great, followed by "a great blues number:" AC/DC's "It's a Long Way to the Top." Not a bad set at all.
After Lucinda's set I met up with Ryan/Heather and Keith/Robin and we, after convincing Ryan that really no we definitely do want to see Damien Jurado and not play Dance Dance Revolution, headed to that stage they have set up behind the Key Arena to watch something called the Round. Important fact about the Round: two of its members are Damien Jurado and Jen Wood. And when they played Jurado tunes, they played the hits: "Ohio" (maybe the best I've ever heard it, with pedal steel accompaniment), "Lose My Head," "Letters and Drawings" (never seen it since the first time I saw him play, back before I knew the song, in 2002 I think. Goddamn was it nice to hear), and a new one that I vaguely recognized. Good to drink Mirror Ponds with all those folks and listen to songs like "Letters and Drawings." Goddamn is that kind of what I live for.
Interesting fact about history: when I first went to Bumbershoot, in 1999 because Pavement had sold out in Portland, one day's admission was $14. Another fact: in 2005, I got a two-day pass for $45. Last fact: this year's Saturday-only ticket put me back $40.
After dinner and a brief viewing of Band of Horses, who Robin wanted to see, Ryan/Heather and I split from Keith/Robin to head to the Mural Amphitheatre to watch Nada Surf. They were fantastic, but their bassist was sick and unable to play and the replacement didn't have dreads or sing backup, and they didn't do my favorite from the new album, "Are You Lightning." But they did open with "Hi-Speed Soul" and play most of my other favorites. Highlights: "Whose Authority," "Killians Red," "80 Windows," "Do it Again," "See These Bones," "Hyperspace," and the entire encore: "Blizzard of '77" into "Blonde on Blonde" into "Always Love" into "Blankest Year." No "Stalemate/Love Will Tear Us Apart" though.
And to finish off the night we went over to catch the rest of the Beck set with Keith/Robin. We were told we missed "Loser," which would just be amusing as hell to see played live after singing along with it so much at age 13. But he did play "Where it's At," which was amusing as hell to see played live after singing along with it so much at age 15.
posted by Peter Sohriakoff | 11:08 PM
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