Recent Stories with tag chbp

The Capitol Hill Block Party kicks off today and stretches through Sunday evening. A few festival updates via their twitter news feed to note: will call opens at 11 a.m. in case you want to beat the rush, the music starts at 3:30 p.m., and single tickets to today's festivities are gone baby gone. While this is sad for procrastinators, it's somewhat good news to those who purchased tickets early: according to LineOut, they restricted themselves to selling fewer tickets than the last year's crowd-crushing Frizzelle-lifting peak attendance (Sonic Youth). Finally, to make more room for meandering, food carts will be sparse within the fences (appropriate, given their sparseness in the city); so plan on patronizing one of the restaurants within the grounds or stepping out of the festival to stimulate the local economy via your hunger and thirst.

Sure, some of the biggest draws may be from out of town, but the festival is also a great place to sample a bunch of local (and locally-connected) bands. The lineup promises a overflowing smorgasbord of Seattle bands on all of the stages, but to catch up with your friendly neighborhood musicians, be sure keep an eye on the Kerry Zettel-curated stage at the Cha Cha. You can also check out the eclectic interests the kids at the Vera Project by visiting their stage, situated away from the lure of the beer gardens. There's also a not-quite-secret stage at Vita's bean room, for those who secured the right credentials (hint: visit the AT&T store).

Below, a few day-by-day reminders of sets to consider, complete with a few videos to help you pass the time until the gates open. As usual, take advantage of the vast comments section to let us know who you're dying to see....

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Looking at the Capitol Hill Block Party schedule, I came to the startling conclusion that this year's festival has substantially more stages than I remember. And by substantially more, I mean that it has five of them: in addition to the usual mainstage, Neumo's, and Vera, the Cha Cha's underground showcase of locals has gone official, as has a selection of evening DJ-type sets at Havana, dramatically expanding your options for making like a sparkleface vampire and avoiding sunlight during the warm weekend.

But today, we continue our march through the mainstage acts, in the hope that a crash course via YouTube will help you decide whether to brave the crowds for the big names or to retreat to smaller stages during the peak festival hours. After the jump, a video-based peek at Saturday and Sunday's headliners....

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The Capitol Hill Block Party is an annual music festival that takes over the heart of a neighborhood in Seattle called Capitol Hill this weekend (it is not, despite its name and annual grumbling from certain quarters, some sort of free get-to-know-your-neighbors potluck). Inside the fences wrapping around Pike Street from Broadway to Twelfth, the main drag, most of the intersecting side streets, and a good number of the bars, clubs, and restaurants play host to touring and local bands, politically and commercially inspired booths, and a beer garden or two. Late this year, organizers worked their magic on the city and expanded the festival to a full three days.

With the summer finally promising a warm weekend amenable to hours on the pavement with a few thousand other residents, tourists, and music fans, it's hardly surprising that incredibly affordable tickets to festival well stocked with high profile acts are becoming a hot commodity. Over the last few days, discounted three day passes sold out. Single day tickets are flying, too: right now Friday tickets can't be purchased online store. However, a large handful of tickets were still available for in-person sales at Everyday Music. So if you've been procrastinating on planning, you'd better cross your fingers, grab some cash, and hope that there are a few left when you arrive.

After the jump, a quick survey of three of the mainstage bands causing a run on tickets....

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You guys. Festival lineups are coming fast and furious now that everyone has switched to their post-Memorial Day gleaming white boat shoes. There are so many that it's hardly worth counting, because your eyes will glaze over and more will likely show up before you're finished inventorying them all. Today's announcement of a preliminary lineup for the Capitol Hill Block Party confirmed a few rumors, brought a few surprises, and made a play for keeping you close to home on a precious summer weekend. 

First, that the third-day festisprawl was meant to accommodate the widely expected headline performance from (one of) Jack White's supergroups, the Dead Weather, who will headline on Sunday. It also confirmed a barely-heard comment from Yeasayer during their spring show at Neumo's: the much-loved protofuturists will be back in Seattle on the big stage on Friday night. Other big names include MGMT (back after a sleepy Sasquatch mainstage show), Shabazz Palaces, Holy Fuck (Friday); Atmosphere, Blonde Redhead, !!! (Saturday); and Blue Scholars, Harlem (Sunday). They're joined by plenty of local talents and a whole lot of hip hop, with more announcements likely in the run-up to the festival. In general, these are some really good bands, but it's almost a relief that the organizers seem not to have reached for the stratosphere this time around. As neat as it was to see Sonic Youth, the Gossip, the Jesus Lizard, et al last year, foot traffic got a whole lot of soulcrushing at times.

Sure, it's long outgrown its roots as a cozy neighborhood block party and the crowds of people swarming the neighborhood for the festival can be a bit jarring, but if you're up for a bit of chaos and the occasional hot mess, it can be a fun way to spend a summer weekend. You're bound to run into tons of friends and the overdose of music can be quite satisfying at a good price. A three-day pass to the fenced-in Pike/Pine corridor of multistage music costs $60 in advance or $23 per day. Prices go up a bit at the gates, provided it doesn't sell out. Peruse the whole lineup, via the Seattle Times, after the jump. ...

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After some last-minute hustling to show the city they had enough community support, the organizers of the Capitol Hill Block Party have just announced that this year the festival will run for a full three days, July 23-25. The lineup isn't out till June 1, but a limited number of $60 three-day passes go on sale, this Friday, May 21. 

All the Hill residents I've heard from lately on the topic--and admittedly, this is a self-selected group--weren't thrilled about the music fest's expansion, aka the "festisprawl." But here it is, like it or not. No word yet as to what the deal is between the city and the CHBP.  I suspect CHS will be doggedly covering this story, as is their wont. Full press release after jump....

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