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Chris’s Take on Bumbershoot 2016, day two

Chris’s Take on Bumbershoot 2016, day two

• September 4, 2016 •

With the second day of Bumbershoot in the books, I can look back at what I had seen. The first day felt like a wash by trying to navigate the new arrangements and lines, and the programming seemed a little lighter to compensate for being a Friday afternoon but day two felt more involved.

Beginning my day two at the new KEXP stage for what turned out to be Pony Time’s final show was appropriate. Seattle is has quite a few two-piece bands, and Pony Time was always the one I liked best. I thought there was a great dynamic in the live shows between singer/guitarist/bassist Luke Beetham and drummer Stacy Peck. “Welcome to our 3pm rock show,” Peck told the large, midday crowd early on. I don’t remember any major acknowledgment of the show being Pony Time’s final, live show, but everyone who wanted to say goodbye was there and did so. Beetham told the audience “Ummm, we’re selling compact discs after the show…” so their music can at least live in pre-recorded form. Peck still drums in Childbirth and Beetham is a member of to pro-wrestling inspired-Stallion, so they’re still around making music in Seattle, but for now, the great Pony Time has run its course.

 

I actually began my day with an interview in the press room with up-and-coming New Jersey singer-songwriter Donna Missal (which I’ll post here shortly) and I was glad to be able to catch her full set on the Starbucks stage. She’s only played a large handful of shows so far in her career and she said this was only her second festival (the first being Riot Fest in Denver the day before). Backed by a band, Missal’s 30 minute set in the early evening showcased her vocals and songwriting nicely. The audience seemed to grow into a large crowd by the end of her set and she was surprised when someone threw a white rose onto the stage for her. I told her during our interview that her publicist’s comparisons to Lana Del Rey and Amy Winehouse were like my secret password, and those are comparisons are not unfair. I’ll write more when I post my Q&A, but her set ended with the viral hit “Keep Lying.” It sounded great and that audience member rewarded her with the whole damn bouquet at when she finished.

 

I was able to catch most of LA producer TOKiMONSTA’s set inside Key Arena and I was glad I did. Jennifer Lee is an able producer and an electric performer who plays to her crowd deftly. I first saw her at Decibel Fest in 2009 open for the US debut of Amon Tobin’s (pretty incredible) ISAM show, and here the crowd’s expectations were much different. TOKiMONSTA gave the crowd exactly what they wanted, which was bass and a constant beat they could move to. It was electrifying watching the crowded Key Arena floor go crazy for her music. I thought a Snoop Dogg sample was for the recognition-value and I had to groan to myself when she called out to the crowd “I hear weed is legal here” but overall, it was a fun, high-energy set that gave the crowd exactly what it wanted.

Mashmello, a producer and DJ who dresses in all white with a white bucket and blacked out eyes was up next. He was clearly who a lot of people were there to see as I saw at least half a dozen people walking the Seattle Center grounds dressed as him. He put on a high energy set that had the young crowd thrilled (I was probably the oldest person in Key Arena by about 15 years and I’m 37). He came out to an Eminem sample and then obliterated everything with a bassline so heavy you could feel your seats shake. He had a dazzling light and smoke show that delighted his crowd.

EDM isn’t something I generally enjoy listening to on my own because a lot of it is more aggressive than I’m usually in the mood for but it would be hard to deny that their shows are lot of fun because the crowd energy is so palpable. Also, this doesn’t apply to Bumbershoot, but it’s bullshit that the powers that be have decided that the only way for people to stay hydrated at shows where drugs and exhaustion are prevalent is through $8 bottles of water.

I do also like that Marshmello has a sense of humor about his persona:

 

The night, for me, ended with early 2000’s pop/R&B queen JoJo playing a short set on the Fisher Green stage. She played to a huge crowd and mixed songs from her earlier stuff when she was a chart-topping teenager to her comeback that was in full-effect starting last year. The crowd seemed to know all of the words to “Leave (Get Out)” and “Too Little Too Late.” She threw in her own cover of Drake’s “Marvin’s Room” and might have gotten the biggest reaction to her newest single, a collabo with Wiz Khalifa called “Fuck Apologies.” JoJo has a new album due out next month and I can’t wait to hear it.

 

Chris Burlingame

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