Queensryche played the Puyallup Fair last night and we were lucky to get photographer Jeffrey Donavan in there to take some excellent photos. The band’s 20th anniversary remaster of Empire comes out on November 9th and will include a lot of extra tracks.
Queensryche
Two exceptionally talented local solo artists added in backing bands for their Bumbershoot appearances. David Bazan never fails to hush an audience with his beautiful voice and heartfelt words; his KEXP lounge show was just one more example. Fences played his set at the EMP skychurch stage. He had some major musician swap-outs in his band over the last while but you wouldn’t know it; his fans packed into the small room ooohing and ahhhing with gusto.
Two amazing shows we were able to catch at Bumbershoot: the Crash Kings in their 107.7 End Session and the Dandy Warhols on the Broad Street stage. It’s incredible to be part of an End Session, and expectations of the Crash Kings were way too low; they deserve a lot more credit and looking forward to getting to know them a lot better. The Dandy Warhols put on a fantastic show. While the stage remained dark, setting an odd mood for this typically very fun band… they did not disappoint. For more photos of this and other sets at Bumbershoot check out the Flickr collection.
Bloc Party singer/guitarist Kele performed a solo show at Chop Suey on Friday evening. I say solo – he’s got a whole band with him! Kele has released a new album under his first name, called the Boxer. It came out in June and it’s great to see him recording and doing live shows even though Bloc Party is on hiatus. James Bailey caught some beautiful snaps of the show, and I have tons of them on here because I love Kele:
Kele
The Crocodile had the Welsh singer Marina Lambrini Diamandis play their stage the other night. Actually she goes by Marina and the Diamonds – a name that includes herself and her band. She’s appropriately included jewels in the titles of 3 of her 4 releases, including the LP the Family Jewels. Photographer Alex Crick got some photographic gems of her:
Marina and the Diamonds