Bumbershoot 2013: Day 1 Highlights & Day 2 Picks
Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival
August 31-September 2
Seattle Center
By Matt Ashworth
Photos by Jim Toohey
The first day of Bumbershoot is in the books. In a year when the overall talent budget seems to be smaller than typical, Saturday seemed to be a day of new discoveries like !!! and reunions with old friends like Heart.
Gary Newman, best known for his lone U.S. hit, the synth-driven “Cars,” gave a blistering, largely guitar-based set of dark rock that reminded us old folks of Peter Murhpy and showed the younger crowd just how much Trent Reznor took from this influential U.K. musician.
Hip-hop was well represented, from national star Kendrick Lamar on the main stage to good local vibes from the Physics.
Tops on my list today is FIDLAR, a southern California skate punk band that sings about hard livin’. They’re on the TuneIn stage at 2:45 p.m.
The rich local scene is well represented too, featuring the psychedelic folk rock of the Comettes, trash pop from Katie Kate, and bluesy two piece the Grizzled Mighty. Headlining on the mainstage are the region’s most successful band of the last two decades, Death Cab for Cutie, who will perform their 2003 album Translanticism in its entirety.
Lines were long for outspoken comedian Patton Oswalt and will be again today.
We’ll be sharing photos and updates throughout the day on our Twitter and Flickr feeds, so follow along.