This year Bumbershoot returns after a three-year hiatus and expectations are high; because after a near 50-year history 2023 marks a new era for Seattle’s music and arts festival.
The event is an esteemed tradition for Seattle music enthusiasts, symbolizing the conclusion of summer. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic and the search for a new organizer, it is a tradition that has been absent from the local festival circuit since 2019. The festival’s unintended hiatus, its reverence within the local arts and music community, and the arrival of new organizers have sparked both anticipation and unease for its return among Bumbershoot devotees.
The excitement around this year’s festival, which will mark Bumbershoot’s 50th anniversary, is merited. The skepticism and criticism around the festival is not.
My optimism for this year’s festival isn’t a sunny Seattle disposition and doesn’t come from a fear of saying something negative about a beloved local institution. It comes from what the new organizers, New Rising Sun, have done to improve the Bumbershoot experience while staying true to its local roots.
Sure, the last few Bumbershoots had very expensive ticket prices, the booking skewed almost exclusively towards a Gen Z demographic and the emphasis on local artists was at an all-time low. Those are all valid criticisms, but they don’t apply to this year’s event because steps have been taken to mitigate these concerns.
I have a strong feeling that those who attend this year’s festival will get more than their money’s worth, and anyone who was the least bit skeptical about Bumbershoot 2023 will have their skepticism squashed. And if you’re thinking this year’s Bumbershoot feels different than its previous iterations, that’s because it is different. Bumbershoot 2023 is the dawn of a new era for the festival, one that brings Bumbershoot back to its roots while expanding the definition of what falls under the arts umbrella.
Still don’t think this year’s Bumbershoot will be any good? Here are four reasons why Bumbershoot 2023 will rise like a phoenix from the ashes, reborn into a newer version of itself that will pave the way forward for Bumbershoot for years to come.
Cheapest festival tickets around
One of the biggest complaints from the past several years was that ticket prices were too high. The big names booked that supposedly guaranteed attendance ended up pricing out a lot of potential attendees.
This led many to believe Bumbershoot had lost its way, and in some aspects that’s true. Bumbershoot went from being a local jewel that focused on what made Seattle’s arts community unique to a destination festival trying to compete with the likes of Coachella, Bonnaroo and others.
New Rising Sun heard that feedback and ran with it. The initial price of tickets during the presale prior to artists being announced was $50 for a single-day ticket and $85 for a two-day pass. Those prices included the fees. Yes, ticket prices increased as the calendar moved closer to Labor Day weekend but the current $75 one-day and $130 two-day prices are a far cry from the $100+ daily ticket prices of the past. Compare those prices to what it cost to attend Capitol Hill Block Party, THING or the Day In Day Out festivals and Bumbershoot’s price point is looking awfully sweet.
What even is art, anyway?
This year’s festival puts the emphasis of the and arts portion of Bumbershoot being Seattle’s music and arts festival. New Rising Sun has broadened the definition of what qualifies as the arts to include a cat circus, fingernail artists, pole dancing, fashion shows, film, food, wrestling, burlesque, rollerskating, witch temples and even jumproping.
By redefinig the scope of what is art, and make no mistake there are artistic elements to all of those disciplines, New Rising Sun has kept and improved upon Bumbershoot’s identity as a festival that welcomes local artists of all disciplines, not just musicians. This move helped organizers keep prices down, while providing a variety of programming and emphasizing the festival’s connection to the local arts community. Speaking of which …
It’s a quintessential Seattle experience
If you want to get a feel for the pulse of Seattle’s music and arts scene at any given year, you have to attend Bumbershoot. It’s a quintessential Seattle experience and Bumbershoot 2023 continues the tradition of spotlighting the best of Seattle’s music arts scene by emphasizing local artists as much as possible.
By my count at least 29 of the 68 music acts slated for Bumbershoot 2023 have ties to Seattle. That’s more than 40 percent of the lineup. The list of locals spans multiple genres and decades of Seattle music history. Aside from headliners Sleater-Kinney and Sunny Day Real Estate, rappers Sol and Dave B, buzzy artist The Black Tones and Chong the Nomad and club stalwarts Massy Ferguson and Pink Boa are just a few of the many Seattle artists scheduled to perform.
And of course, because Seattle loves an underdog, a handful of bands that should’ve made it big but for one reason or another never hit the mainstream are in the mix too. Girl Trouble, Sweet Water and The Wimps are three of such groups and they represent the grit and determination of Seattleites. The only way Bumbershoot 2023 could be more Seattle is if New Rising Sun somehow booked the Pike Place fish throwers and featured an art installation of a 50-foot tall Starbucks cup made out of smaller Starbucks cups.
Along with all the local goodness, the festival has a bit of an international flavor to it as well. There’s the rebelious punk rockers Pussy Riot from Russia, hard rockers Slift from France, electro-poppers Bomba Estereo from Columbia, music producer Mara Jane Coles out of the UK, Sub Pop signee Debby Friday from the Great White North, Irish indie guys modernlove. and many other musicians and artists who don’t call America home on the bill.
No more Boomers
Okay, so that’s not true at all and it’s a bit of an ageist statement meant as a joke, but it seems to unintentionally fall in line with the booking philosophy for the music programming. Gone are the legacy artists in their 60s and the classic rock nostalgia acts way past their primes. In are influential genre-defining acts loved by Gen X, critically adored indie stars, and plenty of up-and-coming acts.
Bumbershoot no longer has the bloated budget it once did when concert promoter powerhouse AEG was running the show. That meant organizers had to do a lot with a little when it came to booking artists. This shrank Bumbershoot down to two days and allowed organizers to adopt a booking strategy that included having in-demand, mid-size acts headline the festival instead of going after the big, bold names that have been there in the past.
And you wouldn’t be wrong if you thought the music lineup was targeted towards a Gen X-and-under crowd. The closest thing Bumbershoot 2023 has to a legacy act is Girl Trouble, who have been at it for nearly 40 years. Girl Trouble are a local treasure, but they don’t have the heft of a Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello or Doctor John, all artists who have been booked to get those coveted Boomer dollars.
This year Desscendants, Jawbreaker, AFI and Sunny Day Real Estate are sure to capture the punk rock and emo crowd, most of who are under 50. While Fatboy Slim, Zhu and Chong the Nomad will appeal to electronic music fans, another mostly youthful genre. On the hip-hop front, the appeal to a younger demographic continues as there isn’t an artist performing who has released an album prior to 2000.
There is no age limit for enjoying music of any genre, but the new Bumbershoot sure leans into a vibe of rejuvenation that may not bring in the Boomer bucks. Regardless of your age, or whether you think this year will be a success or a flop, Bumbershoot’s 50th anniversary will be a festival to remember.
Bumbershoot takes place Sept. 2 and 3 at the Seattle Center. Tickets can be purchased online or at Bumbershoot’s box office during the festival. Read about Guerrilla Candy’s picks for local bands to see at the festival below.
