Back Beat Seattle | Bumbershoot – Day 1 w/ the Lonely Forest

Bumbershoot – Day 1 w/ the Lonely Forest
Show Review by Abby Williamson
Photos by Simon Krane, Kirk Stauffer & Abby Williamson

The Lonely Forest‘s John Van Deusen – photo by Abby Williamson

This whole story may sound like déjà vu, and that’s because it is.

I thought the last time I was going to see the Lonely Forest was at the Sasquatch Festival back in May, but then I was able to go to Bumbershoot too. So my cryfest at Sasquatch was a bit unfounded, but I’m glad I was there for the band’s last show.

The Lonely Forest have been a mainstay at Bumbershoot over the years, so it’s fitting that their last show was on the lawn in the Seattle Center, surrounded by their peers in the music scene, families, and fans – like me – that have been with them for a long time.

The Lonely Forest – photo by Simon Krane

Amidst the sincere and emotional banter that John, Tony, Eric, and Braydn shared, they went out with nothing less than a bang. Playing new hits, old favorites, and everything Seattle has grown to love over the last nine years. The crowd howled along to “Coyote,” wailed on “Two Pink Pills,” a song about Benadryl, and carried both Tony and John through some epic crowd surfing.

For being a 3 p.m. set, they made it seem to go all night, all while feeling painfully short. I – as well as the crying fans in the front row – didn’t want it to end. They closed the set with “We Sing In Time,” the song we all think of when we think of the Lonely Forest. I – for one – thank those guys for letting the photographers stay in the pit the whole time. So many of us shared the same feelings with the people in the front row that we didn’t want to miss any of it. I know for a fact that I wasn’t the only one crying. You know who you are. The Lonely Forest was the first show I photographed five years ago, and I was able to be there for their last show. Perfect, isn’t it?

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I’ve been listening through the Lonely Forest’s catalogue over the last few weeks and I noticed something so brilliantly poignant and coincidental that it gave me monster chills when I heard it. The last album, Adding Up The Wasted Hours is not only an amalgamation of the band’s last nine years, but it’s also a goodbye, even if they didn’t know it when they recorded it. So I hope that I can speak for everyone in the crowd that day, and the crowds over the years when I say: the Lonely Forest, oh what a beautiful way you wasted our time.