Author: Frances Divinagracia
Labor Day weekend is usually a time to celebrate the resilience of working-class Americans across the country. But every year since 1971, that weekend is also when Bumbershoot, the annual music, arts and culture festival in Seattle, takes place. And how lucky am I to be able to attend it through KXSU andwith my best friend Cameron Payne?! Pretty darn lucky, if I do say so myself.
Bumbershoot is no Coachella or Lollapalooza, but it is its own little gem for us Seattlelites. I’ve really been looking forward to attending Bumbershoot ever since I decided to stay in the city for the summer, especially because this will be my first time attending a three-day music festival! I’m also hoping I get a chance to check out all the great food, comedy shows, and theatre performance the festival is putting on throughout the weekend. I absolutely cannot wait to give you all amazing reviews of the artists I get to see, and you already know that I’m going to include super cute photos of my outfits for each day.
For DAY ONE, I’m really excited to get excited about big names like RL Grime, Mura Masa, and The Chainsmokers, but I’m also really excited to put some spotlight on some up and coming artists as well! Specifically, I’m hyped about seeing Hobo Johnson! He and his group is from Sacramento (AYY) so I hold that very close to my heart and I am all here for supporting local bands from my hometown. I’m really terrible at describing the way an artist’s music sounds, but the closest I can explain for Hobo Johnson is that he gives a much more lowkey Twenty One Pilots vibe. He raps, but with a narrative/prose sort of presentation and it’s oddly beautiful. He raps about real stuff that real people have gone through and I really appreciate that about his music. A year ago I randomly stumbled across a video of him on Facebook that one of my Sacramento friends shared and I was thoroughly impressed by his sound. If any of y’all are interested in listening to Hobo Johnson, watch it below, and then watch out for my review once the festival’s over!
I don’t really listen to any of the other artists that are lined up for Friday, but I will say that I am ironically thrilled to be seeing The Chainsmokers tonight. I know we all think they’re a joke and all their songs sound the same and they make music for local Twitter, but I feel like experiencing their pop-electronica-dance vibes live would actually be really fun! I’m actually looking forward to hearing the beat drop in “Closer” if I’m going to be completely honest here. But also, watch their performance from the 2016 VMAs and just laugh with me about this one.
That’s really all I have to say for this preview, but I am super stoked to be able to attend Bumbershoot in the first place and I can’t wait to see what the rest of this weekend holds for me. Thanks so much for reading!
Bumbershoot 2018 will take place during Labor Day Weekend (Aug 31–Sept 2) at Seattle Center.
Find out which artists are performing HERE, and purchase tickets HERE.
FRANCES DIVINAGRACIA | long time no see | KXSU Arts Reporter