Sat 1 Sep – Bumbershoot 2007

I rocked the festival on Monday and had a great time. The day started out with Smoosh, who are too cute to be able to rock that hard. I've seen those girls 3 times now and every time I am more impressed. Never actually listened to any of their records, but maybe it's time to check them out.

From there, I ran over to the KEXP booth and got a pass for the super secret performance by Andrew Bird. In a small hall, he stood alone with just his violin, guitar, xylophone and whistling and was amazing, as expected. His albums are good, but nothing beats seeing him live.

Once I got out of there, I did a tour around the festival checking out all the fun things like the bicycle carnival rides and the booths selling stuff, but that didn't last long because I was there to hear music. Next up, The Blakes. They put on their standard rocking show, which I danced my heart out to. Just as they were finishing their set, my friend called me so I would no longer have to explore the festival alone.

After we met up, we caugh a bit of Allison Moorer. We were a bit restless and didn't stay for her whole set. Instead, we left after a couple songs and watched Viva Voce. I've heard their name thrown around quite a bit, but I wasn't really feeling their set. It was a nice chance to sit on the grass and take in some sun while playing games on my cell phone.

There was a bit of time to kill before the next show we wanted to catch, so it was time for some food. Some pizza and a walk around the fountain and we were ready to dance our booty off to Lyrics Born! And boy, did I dance! I wish I had the nerve to talk to the pretty girls around me, but at a loud show where I'm dancing, I tend to get stuck in my head.

The evening was starting to set in and my friends and I were looking for some much needed time to sit down, so we did so by the stage where The Frames were playing. They were pretty enjoyable to listen to, but we weren't paying too much attention. We were mostly killing time for the next act, Steve Earle. He was a major pick for my friends, but I had only heard one or two of his songs before from his newest album. A good folky performance that we once again cut short to go see Wu-Tang Clan which was the other major pick that my friends wanted to see.

Fifteen minutes into the Wu's performance, and I was done listening to them. Maybe if I was more familiar with their music, I would have cared, but I wasn't so I didn't. Instead, I ended my night catching Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. I've seen Ted Leo play many times before, and this was definitely one of the best. The crowd was pumped, the band was tight and energetic and it was exactly the way I wanted to end the night. We managed to pull a kick ass encore from Ted Leo and then I walked to my bike and biked to the bus stop.

It was raining when I got off the bus and there was a beautiful thunder and lightning storm that I had to bike in.