City Arts Fest 2011 Brings the Noise to Seattle

City Arts Fest takes over Seattle for the second time in as many years starting this Thursday, and Seattle’s self-described “Last Best Festival of the Year” should more than live up to its lofty billing.

Festival organizers are serving up a fine cross-section of musicians, artists, creatives, and crazies for the three-day event. Most importantly (from this corner, at least), there’s plenty of unmissable music on the boards.

Let’s get the B-Word out of the way right off the bat. Like Bumbershoot, City Arts Fest is peppering its roster of local talent with artists from all over the world. With all due respect to that One Big Festival Under the Needle, though, City Arts is delivering this lineup to several of Seattle’s most cherished music venues. It’s as much a celebration of this town’s singular clubs and concert halls as it is a chance to experience some amazing music.

Acts like Swedish pop diva Robyn and roots-rock divo Ryan Adams will headline slightly grander Seattle venues (The Paramount and Benaroya Hall, respectively), and almost every great Downtown and Capitol Hill club will showcase bills that feel like perfect blends of performer and venue.

Northwest blue-eyed soul boy Allen Stone, local synth-soul dynamos Fly Moon Royalty, and Seattle hip-hop avatars Shabazz Palaces should shine in the swanky environs of the Triple Door for their respective sets; and it’s hard to imagine a sure-to-be loud, drunken, loose and fun show like the all-star Replacements tribute on Friday pounding down the night in any place other than the loud, drunken, loose, and fun Comet Tavern.

Equally as exciting as the straight-up live acts are some of the outside-the-box music events that the Fest has up its sleeve. SIFF Cinema plays host to sing-alongs of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Grease, Purple Rain and Grease. Thank you also, City Arts, for wresting the Laser Dome away from Pink Floyd and Radiohead, and handing it to the likes of The School of Rock and Helio Sequence for live laser-accompanied shows.

The downside to this, of course, is that the Fest’s events are spread out over a variety of local venues, rather than being confined to one large campus. But several venues are within spitting distance of each other, and most of the musical acts are staggered nicely. With a little bit of planning, that $69 admission wristband should pay for itself in record time, dude.

Rest assured, your crack SunBreak City Arts Fest Coverage Team will be all over the Fest like flies on sherbet with detailed day-by-day recommendations, reports, survival tips, and lots of nifty pictures. In the meantime, check out the City Arts Fest website for details on purchasing full-festival wristbands and the the complete–and most up-to-date version–of the festival lineup.