The Reverend Horton Heat and Phantogram were two of the acts who performed at this year’s Bumbershoot. Each band helped close out the third, and final, day of 2011’s festival. If you missed the Reverend on Monday you can catch him when he plays El Corazon on December 30th. Thank you, Kirk Stauffer, for more ace shots:
The Reverend Horton Heat
Phantogram
The Fleet Foxes performed at The Paramount on Tuesday night with The Walkmen. The Fleet Foxes took to the stage of the historic Seattle theater with wonderful humor and a folksy vibe. The Foxes were a very tight, entertaining band with an ethereal sound. To me, the only let down was the stage lighting. The lighting was too dark – which is a shame because a band of this caliber deserves better.
Fleet Foxes
The Walkmen
Band: Fleet Foxes
Band: The Walkmen
Photographer: John Rudolph
You don’t know The Soft Bombs? Change that. The quartet from California performed at the Sunset on Saturday night with all the groovy mood lighting you’d hope for from a band with an amazing, bewitching, trippy ’60s sound. I enjoyed every bit of their set. I honestly wish this band lived in Seattle because they’d go over so well here (I felt the same with another California band – Olin and the Moon, with their country sound). But enough about relocating entire bands. The Soft Bombs might be placed in that dream rock genre, but I’m going to put them in a brainwave genre. Their songs move along in all those small and large synapses, pleasurably rearranging them all. “Late Love” completely hit the spot. Get their debut, The Soft Bombs, and prepare yourself for their second release, which they’re working on right now.
I always prefer a really excellent show with only two bands. It’s rare and just fun. On an August evening at the Crocodile this happened, with Tapes ‘n Tapes headlining and The Chain Gang of 1974 opening. This was my first time seeing Tapes ‘n Tapes live and it was a superb choice. They performed my favorite song of theirs at the moment, “Freak Out,” and withstood a sauna-like temperature in the club. Plus I saw The Chain Gang of 1974 for the fourth time since May. Another superb choice. I’ll have my interview on here with Kamtin Mohager of The Chain Gang of 1974 very soon, right ahead of the band’s return to Seattle in October with The Naked and Famous on October 12th (yes!!!).
Tapes ‘n Tapes
The Chain Gang of 1974
England’s The Jim Jones Revue played the Mural, while Seattle’s Kaylee Cole performed indoors for Bumbershoot’s second day. Photographer Kirk Stauffer grabbed photos of each act:
The Jim Jones Revue
Kaylee Cole
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