Bumbershoot 2007 Day Two

Sunday: I entered at the Broad Street entrance with the big man and four, 13 year old girls whose sole mission was to see Fergie on the Mainstage at 9:45 PM. The show was nine hours away. We set the ground rules, designated a meeting place in case someone got cut from the herd and came up with a cell phone “check-in” schedule. I found out later in the day that the wireless mics used at every Bumbershoot stage interfered with my cell phone signal so I couldn’t talk or text when someone’s performing. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Once the big man and I were happy with the details, we proceeded to Horn of Africa for chicken, lentils and that wonderful, spongy, fermented bread. We sat on the grass in front of the Bagley Wright Theatre and reviewed our options for entertainment and planned our day.
First up was The Watson Twins (Seattle Weekly pick) at the Sound Transit Stage. The LA based girls, who are actual twins, caught the attention of some while working on Jenny Lewis’ (of Rilo Kiley fame) solo debut, Rabbit Fur Coat. The sound mix was a little shaky to start, not the girls fault. The techies couldn’t get the vocals sorted out until the fourth song. It was worth the wait. The blend of the voices was as good as it gets. Their Folk-Rock style betrays their Kentucky roots by leaning a bit toward country. The sisters traded lead singing roles and swapped an acoustic guitar back and forth. They spoke of a CD coming out at the end of the year, but for those who can’t wait The Watson Twins EP Southern Manners is available now. Check out their appearance on Morning Becomes Eclectic.
After The Watson Twins we set a course for the Mainstage and the other end of the musical continuum to see Kings of Leon. The Kings are three sons of a preacher and their cousin playing their version of Southern Rock. I say their version because it definitely ain’t Skynyrd. It’s Southern Rock as Jimi Hendrix or Joe Strummer would have played it and it’s very good. The boys have a tight delivery, tasty licks, nice hooks and I’m sure they would be very loud at an indoor venue. The big man was impressed as indicated by his nearly imperceptible swaying to the beat. The Kings of Leon have several releases including their latest Because of the Times. If you’d like to hear a few of their tracks you can check out their Myspace page.
We left the Mainstage and returned to the Sound Transit Stage to hear Portland’s Stars of Track and Field (Stranger pick) excellent vocals over attractive melodies. The lads have talent. Unfortunately their sound seemed derivative. It lacked uniqueness. I really like bands who take a genre of music and make it their own. The Stars didn’t do it for me. Additionally, there was a similarity that was present in many of their tracks. Don’t get me wrong, what they do they do well, it’s just that there are so many others who’ve come before them who’ve done the same thing just as well. Sorry…I should say that the Stars have an EP and an LP available for purchase. The LP Centuries Before Love and War was released last winter. I encourage you to form your own opinion. Contempt without prior investigation is just plain wrong. Here’s the link to their Myspace page.
After the Stars the big man was feeling a bit subdued and needed something with more energy. I had no back-up plan on the itinerary so we started through the crowd for something else and ended up at the Starbucks Stage watching Rose Hill Drive, a Colorado Trio whose bass & guitar player looked like Greg & Duane Allman circa Fillmore East, sounded like a hybrid of early ZZ Top, AC-DC and Led Zeppelin. These guys rocked!!! We stayed for the entire set. Note: I went to their Myspace page and listened to some tracks. Reptilian was the track that most accurately captured the show witnessed by the big man and me. They have a self-titled release from 2006 and in the their Apr ’07 issue Rolling Stone magazine tapped Rose Hill Drive as one of ten artists to watch, which is exciting for the boys but I hope that’s not a kiss of death. If you’d like to hear a few of their tracks you can check out their Myspace page.
After Rose Hill Drive we had to rendezvous with the girls. We met them alongside the Esurance Stage partially because that’s the stage they were nearest to and partially because I wanted to hear Barrington Levy, a Jamaican artist who was big in the 80’s. Believe it or not the girls hadn’t seen a single music act all day and two of them wanted to get in line for the Fergie concert that was still four hours away. Through negotiation, compromise and outright manipulation we convinced the girls to wait for another hour before entering the Mainstage. The big man had to leave and attend to other matters so I was flying solo for the rest of the night with four teens who were talking about getting close to the stage and crowd surfing, just what a dad wants to hear from his daughter and her three friends. I bought strawberry shortcake and had the girls accompany me to catch the end of Barrington Levy’s performance. I don’t think they enjoyed it as much as I did.
At 7:15 we began the gauntlet into Memorial Stadium to see Sean Paul on the Mainstage. Once inside I admonished the girls on crowd behavior, imposed a strict no-surf rule and we designated another cut-from-the-herd meeting spot. Lastly, I showed the girls my location for the duration of the show. I sat on the comfy field turf reading Sound Magazine waiting for the show to begin.
Around 8:15 the lights dimmed, the musicians took the stage and laid down a bass & drum track and we waited. The MC came out and at the end of a three minute intro engaging the crowd and getting folks hyped up for Sean Paul, another MC came out and did the same thing. This happened a few more times and after 14 minutes, I actually timed it, Sean Paul finally appeared with four very scantily clad women who proceeded to gyrate and grind suggestively for the duration of the show, pole dancing without the pole. Sean Paul rapped on ad nauseam about sexy women. I’m trying to be open-minded here. I do like some rap and some hip-hop, but all of his music sounded the same and it wasn’t that good.
The girls returned at the end of Sean Paul sans one of the quartet. They complained of being squished, pushed, bumped as well as subjected to cigarette and pot smoke. They decided that the front of a big concert was not the place to be. We busied ourselves with the task of finding the missing member before Fergie took the stage. We had about 15 minutes. The girls circled back up to where they were during Sean Paul and then went to the designated rendezvous point. I stayed where I was. They found their missing compatriot with two minutes to spare and then plunked down on the field turf beside me for the Fergie show.
I have to say Fergie has talent. She sings well. Her stage show is nicely choreographed, her band is tight and even though she’s not my cup of tea her performance was good. She left the stage around 10:30 with a simple thanks thrown over her shoulder as she sauntered to the wings. She didn’t return for an encore for a full ten minutes. By that time the girls had had enough and we were on our way to the bus. More to follow...