This was a weird Bumbershoot for me. I wasn’t really all that excited about much of the music, but the two acts I wanted to see, I REALLY wanted to see. Those were Reignwolf and Foxy Shazam. Lucky for me, they both were scheduled for Bumber-Monday afternoon. Perfect.

We start with Reignwolf over on the Starbucks Stage. He exploded onto the stage with Amazen King as a special guest on the bucket drums. They powered through a face-melting set of old school rock-and-roll, complete with vanilla-smelling smoke billowing out of the amps. I think if there was anything wrong with the set, it would be that Jordan was way too far away from the crowd. He even moved his kick drum and mic to the very edge of the stage in an effort to get closer. Regardless, the crowd was 100% invested in his set. It was impressive to see one of the larger stages that packed with fans at 1 p.m. He also got the only encore call from a non-mainstage act I have ever seen in my many years attending Bumbershoot. So I hope you got a chance to see him on this relatively intimate stage when you had the chance, because I doubt he will be playing to any smaller of a crowd in the coming years.

Next up for me was Foxy Shazam.

Performing in the Expo Hall is never an easy task. The sound in there isn’t even close to good and the giant pillars down the length of the room really restrict the view. However, Foxy Shazam pretty much owned that space from the second they took stage. Packed with energy, they powered through most of their latest album “The Church Of Rock And Roll” while pondering on various topics like how they were dissed by Rolling Stone. I don’t think there was a single time during the set that I wasn’t either impressed, shocked, or laughing. Nothing compared to the keyboard player crowd surfing *with his full-sized keyboard* and continuing to play the song. I have never seen that before. Well played, Foxy Shazam.

Other than that, I spent the rest of the day wandering around the grounds and taking in the scene. I checked out the art, watched some of the Elvis karaoke, had a dozen mini Mighty-O Donuts, and explored the offerings in The Armory. Lots of photos from both Reignwolf and Foxy Shazam along with the rest of my Bumber-experience after the jump.

Continue reading “A Small Sliver of Bumbershoot 2012 [Photo Gallery]”