Bumbershooting the final day

Playlist: Bumbershoot Day 3

I'm finally getting around to a Bumbershoot recap, and part of my delay is because unlike my adventurous first day, I don't have any stories to tell this time. That's the way it often goes, great adventure/no pictures or lots of pictures/no stories to tell. The wife was back from her trip, but feeling under the weather, so I couldn't make it until about the time Two Gallants went on (above). That means I missed Blitzen Trapper, Mark Pickerel and his Praying Hands and the infamous Monotonix, who's set lasted all of around 13 minutes before being shut down. The garbage can getting tossed around is apparently what did caused the show to be prematurely halted, not the nudity:

The Stooges were famous for shrinking the distance between band and audience, and Monotix just obliterates it.

I learned my lesson from the Two Gallants set that the staging area for photographers at the Broad Street Lawn (Rockstar) Stage is kind of stupid, so I got there early enough for John Vanderslice to be in centerstage up front for some shots. Vanderslice is famously the nicest guy in indie rock, and he had it going on before the set, telling various folks in the audience that he was so pleased to see them and that he'd catch up with them after the set.

Old 97s were on next, and they were playing at possibly the greatest setting to take photos at Bumbershoot, the Mural Ampitheatre. It's set up for perfect lighting in the afternoon to early evening, which is when the Texans went on. Frontman Rhett Miller has a face that cameras love, and he seems well aware of that fact, putting all the poses on display for the three songs we're allowed to shoot. Heck, I'm comfortable enough in my sexuality to say that he's pretty hot. Does that make me gay for Rhett?

After that I had just enough time to get a couple shots of one of my heroes, Del the Funky Homosapien. By the time he got through his first song, I'd almost forgotten the time, such is the power of his smooth delivery.

I had to haul ass to get to the Battles set, but unfortunately, I was too late to get any frontline shots and had to rely on the side stage approach. Aside from Man Man on Saturday, this was the one other band I wanted to see at Bumbershoot, so I took only a few photos and worked my way around the crowd trying to find a place to enjoy the set. It was easliy the largest audience I've ever seen at that stage, and so your typical view from a fan was at a distance. Aside from Monotix, this set was easily the most talked about amongst the folks I spoke with that night.

Tired and wanting to go home, I started the long trek back to my car, stopping to get in a shot of Mike Doughty and a couple photos of Sondre Lerche (above) before heading out into the dark, dark night. It's always a sad journey home leaving the last day of Bumbershoot, not just because the festival's done, but also the knowledge that you just witnessed the end of summer. We have just a few short weeks of leftover sunshine before the imminent arrival of the rain here in Seattle. Not even Monotonix can cut fall's arrival short.