Bumbershoot 2010 had a big lineup, but one thing it didn’t offer was record-breaking attendance. You might think it was the economy and the oft-discussed “high” ticket prices, but Bumbershoot’s economy tickets sold poorly. We’ll pause for a second to allow you time to boggle. Festival producers One Reel took that lesson to heart, and went back to the drawing board when programming 2011, which will run from September 3 through 5.
“Bumbershoot’s renewed approach to booking draws on the combined strength of the artists to create an experience that’s ripe for exploration—a reinvigorated philosophy that has also increased the number of musical acts from last year by approximately 20 performance slots, for a total number of 121 artists expected,” says Bumbershoot PR.
Last year’s admission-with-mainstage and admission-without-mainstage has been abandoned–there will be a single admission (in advance, as little as $35/day or $75 for a 3-day pass), and you’ll have to stand in line early for mainstage acts (now in Key Arena, rather than Memorial Stadium), as it’s first-come-first-served. For Sonics’ fan Macklemore, the Key will be a strange sort of homecoming.
One Reel is also publicizing SIFF-like “pathways,” mini-fests for people of certain musical persuasions, such as electronica (thanks to a collaboration with Decibel Festival, there’ll be all-night electronica in the Ex Hall for Bumbershoot After Dark), metal (curated by El Corazon’s Dana Sims), and jazz (selections by Matt Jorgensen, co-Artistic Director of the Ballard Jazz Festival).
Here’s the lineup so far, if you can’t be bothered clicking:
Saturday 9/3
Ray LaMontagne & the Pariah Dogs with Vusi Mahlasela / Minus the Bear / Mavis Staples / Little Dragon / Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue / STRFKR / Shabazz Palaces / Warpaint / MarchFourth Marching Band / Nortec Collective Presents: Bostich + Fussible / Eyehategod / Väsen / Champagne Champagne / Astronautalis / PS I Love You / Yuni in Taxco / Campfire Ok / Meklit Hadero / Caleb Klauder Country Band / Craft Spells / Valient Thorr / Jayme Stone: Room of Wonders / Pickwick / Red Fang / Scribes / Wagons / Shelby Earl / Free the Robots / Witchburn / Nice Nice / Kris Orlowski & The Passenger String Quartet / Emancipator / Tomten / Pezzner / LawnChair Generals / The Great Mundane / Natasha Kmeto / DJ Nordic Soul
Sunday 9/4
Wiz Khalifa with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis / Broken Social Scene with The Lonely Forest / The Kills / Butthole Surfers / Carbon Leaf / Leon Russell / Toro Y Moi / Anti-Flag / Das Racist / Vetiver / Jessica Lea Mayfield / Dam-Funk / Atari Teenage Riot / NoMeansNo / Tennis / Thee Oh Sees / Mad Rad / The Jim Jones Revue / School of Seven Bells / Joe Pug and the Hundred Mile Band / Davila 666 / AgesandAges / Wayne Horvitz Café Paloma Band / Kore Ionz / Sol / Whalebones / Allen Stone / Massy Ferguson / Tycho / Thomas Marriott’s Human Spirit / Kaylee Cole / Com Truise / HTRK / Lusine / Gail Pettis Quartet / Kasey Anderson and The Honkies / Shigeto / The Sight Below / DJ Justin Timbreline
Monday 9/5
Daryl Hall & John Oates with Fitz and The Tantrums / The Reverend Horton Heat / Over the Rhine / Phantogram / Grant Lee Buffalo / Urge Overkill / Charles Bradley / Vendetta Red / Sharon Van Etten / Dennis Coffey / Head Like a Kite / YACHT / Greensky Bluegrass / Quadron / Ian Moore and the Lossy Coils / Grand Hallway / You Am I / Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside / My Goodness / LAKE / Beat Connection / Purity Ring / Truckasaurus / Ravenna Woods / Curtains For You / Lemolo / SPLATINUM / Legendary Oaks / Mash Hall / The Horde and The Harem / 214 / WD4D / Ill Cosby / DJ Introcut
Please note that The Presidents of the United States of America are confirmed for the Mainstage with Brite Futures opening, date TBA.
How does everybody feel about this line up?
I saw the Seattle Times highlighted Macklemore as one of the “stars” on the front page this morning and I groaned but upon further review there’s some decent stuff albeit the headliners appear to be m.i.a.
Hall and Oates?
Definitely feels like you’ll spend less time racing from one must-see band to another. More like, one or two acts and then band-browsing/elephant-ear-eating time. I think the main thing is if the weather cooperates.
I sort of see where they’re going with this, but in a year that’s seen festivals both major and minor sell out in record time, I’m not entirely sure that shrinking the impact of the lineup is really the key to success for Bumbershoot. I guess that their challenge has always been that they don’t really play to a specific niche, but to an often comically-wide range of potential audiences.