thus spake drake: Bumbershoot 2012: The Streak Continues (Fishbone, Ty Segall, Passion Pit)

Michael Angelakos of Passion Pit

So we're at 26 now.

Yes, after all my blustering about missing this year's Bumbershoot and ending my streak at the solid number of 25 straight, I ended up going the final day of the music festival a few weeks back. One good friend passed on a participant ticket for that day and I got back from my trip out of town to attend. Couple that with a donated VIP pass and I was in business again.

Decked out in my 22 year old Fishbone t-shirt (that STILL glows in the dark), I brought my camera just in case and was accompanied for the first few hours by my music festival loving 5-year old, who "helped" me take some photos of Reign Wolf's early set. "Help" involved pressing the button on the camera while I held him and the camera steady. Just a couple minutes of this and my shoulder felt like it was going to fall off, but we did capture a couple good ones (scroll down to see).

After ditching my child (he got cab fare, don't worry!) I banked on my familiar face to get me into the pit, which worked for Foxy Shazam. Slight of build lead singer Eric Sean Nally was a blur on the stage, turning the classic idea of a rock star on its ear, as he is wont to do. Ty Segall and his face melting set was next, and for this, fellow rocktographer Marianne slipped me an extra photo pass and there was no more need for blatant deceit. After that, I saw some of the M83 set and the kids trying to start a mini-riot -- the youth in the bleachers didn't take kindly to the floor being kept at just half-full.

After some Pains of Being Pure at Heart, the act I was most excited to see was up -- Fishbone. Call it nostalgia, call it curiosity (have you seen Everyday Sunshine yet?), whatever the impulse, the 'bone were the band I wanted to see all weekend. My Fishbone T-shirt might not have lost some of its glow (we'd lost some daylight charge for it by that point) but what transpired on stage was illuminating enough. They reached deep into their catalog for a crowd-pleasing set list. Their raucous performance of "Party at Ground Zero" was easily the highlight of the day.

The rest of the night, we managed to see Hey Marseilles, The Vaselines and Passion Pit, and that all just felt like the cherry on top of the night. Next year (#27!) we'll get that damn application in time and they'll be less drama... promise. (Photos below and full set on flickr.)