Bumbershoot 2015 Brought Rain & Variety to Seattle Center

[divider]Farewell, Festival Season[/divider]

As summer comes to a close and hang up our festival gear until Halloween, there is a final shining light over Labor Day weekend. That final shimmer of outdoor festival madness goes by the name of Bumbershoot. A weekend drenched in rain and eclectic sets, we spent our time seeing all the music we could pack in. The dance music genre was represented by some truly great acts, but we were sure to get a taste of everything throughout the weekend.

[divider]Day One: Saturday[/divider]

Bumbershoot 2015 reminded us the meaning of “bumbershoot” right from the start, with an immense downpour on its very first day. Being a largely outdoor festival, thunderstorms were not the ideal weather. But despite the temporary shutdown of outdoor stages and subsequent delays of various sets, the weekend and the event-goers carried on.

Due to the weather setbacks we didn’t make it in nearly as early as we had planned. Once we arrived we caught sets from Cake, Flying Lotus, The Weeknd, and Lindsey Stirling to name a few. Not only was Lindsey Stirling the pirouetting violin-slaying ginger wood-sprite we were anticipating, but she also sang for us, which felt truly special. Everything about her performance felt so elegant, so personal, and so engaging. More dubstep violin, please! We can’t to see what this girl does next.

We also swung by USC Events’ Silent Disco at EMP Sky Church for a little awkward dance party with Dr. Fresch. His set was a blast; it was the silent disco itself that felt funny. If you’ve never been, or didn’t attend this one, the room is silent with the exception of shuffling feet and people’s reactions to the set in the form of words or hilarious sounds. The music was on point, and everyone there was having a blast. It was just interesting to have two versions of the experience: one with bass-y goodness in your headphones, and one with shuffling feet and giggles. It would have been fun to catch one of the earlier VS. sets and be able to switch between DJs, but the timing just didn’t pan out in that favor.

Photo Credit: Tina Irion

[divider]Day Two: Sunday[/divider]

After Day 1’s late start and exploratory feel, we were warmed up for the rest of the weekend. We dove into the day with a walk down memory lane as we reminisced over our teenage angst with Brand New, and jumped around for a bit with Social Distortion. We then headed into the Key Arena for some good seats for Zedd. We danced like classy adults to Tchami and we twerked like less classy adults to Flosstradamus.

By the time Zedd graced the stage with his signature (very Seattle-friendly) flannel shirt, and his absolutely mind-blowing visuals, we were ready to jump around and sing our hearts out. Good thing, because that’s exactly what we needed to do. His set was shameless on the track choices, heavy on the Clarity, and the visuals were out of this world. By the time he played I Want You To Know we were more than willing to “be” Selena Gomez. For Zedd? Anything.

Photo Credit: Tina Irion