Bumbershoot 2015, Day 1: Atmosphere, Cake, Flying Lotus and Grace Love & The True Loves

Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival was in a time of fairly major transition in 2015, as it entered its 44th year. Many long time fans of the festival wondered how the beloved event would change under the new management of AEG, which penned a five year deal with the nonprofit OneReel after the organization found itself needing a bailout due to sizable debts.

Regardless, each year brings some change to Bumbershoot, a rearrangement of stages and attractions, a slight shift in booking philosophy. This year saw the return of a Broad Street stage, past the Chihuly Museum. It was here, a bit tucked away and apart from the rest of the festival (and frankly a bit hard to get to), that the many local acts played. One Seattle band that has been steadily gaining momentum throughout the summer is Grace Love & The True Loves, a throwback soul and R&B band with a reputation for getting audiences moving.

Despite the competition from four other music stages and even more comedy and arts venues, the crowd for Grace Love was substantial. Love has a wonderful, classic voice, and she can really belt it out. Her band is tight, funky, and on point. The True Loves are led by guitarist Jimmy James, who keeps the group inn unison by calling out commands and drawing quick riffs out of his guitar. He spent most of the show with his back to the audience, facing the drummer and other band members, mostly only turning towards the crowd for a couple of impressive solos (including one played with his teeth) and, later, to introduce Grace Love and urge people to follow the band on social media.

The lineup, which varies, was an eight piece for this show, with two horns and a keyboardist added to the usual guitar, bass, drums, percussion, and, of course, the singer herself. The slower, sadder ballad "Mean To Me" showed love at her most wounded and vulnerable as she pleaded, "can't you see, I'm no good without you?" Others, like her always popular slinky and sexy cover of Backstreet's "No Diggity", got the crowd moving and singing along. Love makes music with wide appeal, and the crowd showed a diversity of age. She closed, as she usually does, by going off mic and leaving the stage entirely, joining the crowd for the refrain of "yeah, yeah baby". It was a great, feel good, danceable set, and an excellent warm up for a full day of music.

Unfortunately, the weather seemed to have other plans. While the day had started off sunny and mild, a heavy blanket of low clouds moved in, and by about 4:30 in the afternoon they opened up in earnest. Thousands of underdressed teens bolted for any available piece of cover, and huddled like soaked rats waiting out the storm. Still, the floor of the main stage remained respectably full, with an enthusiastically large crowd gathered for longtime underground hip hop darlings Atmosphere.

Minneapolis-based Atmosphere's rapper Slug and DJ/producer Ant have been at the forefront of underground hip hop for many years, bubbling just under the surface of mainstream success. Slug raps a lot about struggles, liquor, and women. There is often a defiant tone to his verses. The crowd seemed ready to vent this steam all together, pumping fists wildly when Slug asked if they'd brought their hammers. Still, in 2015, there is something a bit off putting about seeing a giant, almost entirely white crowd raising up clenched fists in a sort of bizarro world version of a black power salute.

For many, this appeared to be a great show, but for others, the rain was simply too much. As lighting streaked the sky and sheets of rain pelted the Seattle Center, festival organizers decided to temporarily call a halt to all outdoor performances in the interest of safety. The Bumbershoot app promised to update once weather conditions improved. Soaked and shivering people streamed out of the exits and into lower Queen Anne. Some were trying to sell their wrist bands, too bedraggled to consider returning.

A little over an hour later, the rain let up to more of a reasonable Seattle drizzle, and the lightning subsided. Some sets were shortened and the schedule was slightly rearranged. But all things considered for a major weather event, Bumbershoot did an impressive job getting back on track. Unfortunately for California's funky alternative rock band Cake, singer John McCrea's immune system presented yet another challenge. He spoke several times about being sick, and could be seen coughing heavily in between songs. At one point, he asked if anyone the audience had a cough drop. Someone threw him a bag, and he made use of them throughout the rest of the show. Still, while his volume and delivery wasn't top notch, and some songs had to be avoided, the band put on a fun, nostalgic set of feel good dance tunes like "Italian Leather Sofa", "Love You Madly",  and "You're Never There".

McCrea was very funny on stage, and cajoled the audience to participate in sing alongs and not to take cell phone videos of the show. "This is not an acquisitional experience," he declared, "this is fleeting." His jokes and banter worked to good effect, warming up the crowd as the damp night got colder. Unfortunately, the set was cut short, as some time had been lost to the earlier storm. The band did a sort of soft encore with their hit "Going The Distance", and sent the happily dancing crowd off into the dark.

Meanwhile, experimental Los Angeles electronic and hip hop producer Flying Lotus was performing in Key Arena. In years past, this venue has served as the Bumbershoot main stage. This year, Memorial Stadium was the main stage while Key Arena also hosted big electronic artists. But it was eerily quiet outside the arena, so much so that it was hard to believe a show was going on inside. The unusual lack of lines might have been due to the storm chasing away some of the crowd, or perhaps Flying Lotus didn't quite have the draw to fill that giant space. In any case, the big bass heavy sounds and spacey, complex rhythms seemed fitting for a cool, rainy evening.

The floor was decently full, but the stands were largely empty. People were swaying along more than dancing with abandon. Flying Lotus wove in jazzy breaks and instrumentals with more danceable hip hop beats. Behind him, a screen showed wild animations and, at times, disturbingly gory images like weird toddler-like creatures disembowling each other. This producer has built his reputation on a more cerebral and challenging take on what would otherwise fall into hip hop or EDM genres. His set definitely tended towards his more danceable and approachable material, but it still had a syrupy and subdued quality. It was as much a trip into the cosmic rumblings of the universe as a DJ dance party.

Leaving Key Arena before the end of Flying Lotus, it became clear who this night of the festival was really geared towards. At about 10pm there were only three stages running. On one, the complex beats of Flying Lotus. On another, the dubstep and EDM violin stylings of Lindsay Stirling, and on the main stage, breakout modern R&B pop star The Weekend. While each of these acts is distinct, they all fall loosely into the dance music world, and appeal more to a younger crowd. On this day there seemed less to appeal to a diversity tastes and ages, especially as the day progressed. Perhaps this is a symptom of the new approach AEG is taking to booking Bumbershoot, trying to pull it out of financial dire straights. Perhaps the world music, jazz, and legacy acts that once filled out Bumbershoot's schedule just weren't selling enough tickets. But that diversity in the lineup (and crowd) is part of what made Bumbershoot great. Luckily, days two and three promised a wider range of acts to choose from.