Bumbershoot 2017, Day One: Filthy Friends

With so many indie rock legends on one stage, you wouldn't be faulted for being a little overwhelmed during Filthy Friends' set at the Mural Stage during Day One of the Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival. The band boasts -- deep breath -- Sleater-Kinney’s Corin Tucker, R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, The Fastbacks' Kurt Bloch, The Baseball Project's Linda Pitmon, and Young Fresh Fellows’ Scott McCaughey all in one group. The worry with supergroups like this is that they won't live up to the sum of its parts. How do you really get people over the fact that you were in fucking R.E.M.? But Filthy Friends works because it doesn't depend on their star power to sell the songs. They're just a great band, regardless of whatever they've done before. Tucker's vocals sound as triumphant as ever, belting out lines with ease while Bloch shreds like a maniac. Buck's never looked cooler standing on stage left, churning out riff after riff with his hair blowing in the wind, while Pitmon holds it all together with her ruthless drumming. It sounded vital, ready to take on the world and tear down the barriers keeping the audience from the stage. But they're also a band with a purpose, as Tucker pointed out that their song "No Forgotten Son" was written in remembrance of Trayvon Martin and took time to remind the audience of the vile results of racial injustice. This set would've been remarkable if it was a gang of nobody's, but it never hurts getting to see your heroes tear up the stage once again.