Concert review
When Bumbershoot debuted in 1971, the “Mayor’s Festival” was a delightfully weird amalgam of dance, theater, art, music and more. That spirit was still present on Saturday afternoon at Seattle Center.
The original festival organizers — and current organizers New Rising Sun, running the show for the third year — likely would’ve smiled as Say She She played a crisp soul set while pro wrestlers grappled and skateboarders flung themselves through the air on the Gravity Park half-pipe, kicking off the first half of the two-day Labor Day weekend festival.
Music has increasingly taken the Bumbershoot spotlight over the years, and the main-stage heavy hitters in this year’s lineup catered to the many millennials and Gen Xers roaming Seattle Center, but the future was on display on the Mural stage.
Hey, Nothing, an emo folk group from Atlanta, looked barely old enough to shave as they tore through a tight set, including the exuberant “Sick Dogs.” And Scowl, a hardcore band out of California, also impressed. Kat Moss growled and barked and paced around the stage, working the crowd into a lather. Hardcore punk isn’t the most accessible genre, but it’s having a moment, and it was impressive to see the band connect with a large festival crowd so quickly.
There are reasons to kvetch about AI and autotune in music these days, but Bumbershoot proved that the spirit of real, live music is alive and well in 2025, even if you have to look a bit harder to find it.
As the afternoon wore on, the crowd started to migrate more toward the main stage. By the time Connor Oberst’s indie/emo/folk band Bright Eyes hit the stage at 6:30 p.m., the lawn in front of the International Fountain was packed. Oberst came out with “UNMASK I.C.E.” written in red tape on his guitar and launched into “El Capitan,” a somber song that matched the message from Oberst.
Carseat Head Rest took over the main stage next. The Seattle-based band, which began life as Will Toledo’s solo project in Virginia, brought their rock opera to Seattle, playing just six long songs and a medley.
Opening with “CCF (I’m Gonna Stay with You),” off their 2025 album “The Scholars,” Carseat Head Rest provided the kind of cathartic rock-out the crowd was craving. Another new track, “Catastrophe,” exploded with raucous energy before giving way to deep cut “The Colossus,” which loomed heavy and sinister.
Few concerts allow for a quick visual-art break, but at Bumbershoot, it’s perfectly reasonable to dip into an art show in the middle of a performance. As Carseat Head Rest worked their way through their set, dozens of people shuffled through an art gallery near the fountain.
Weezer capped a gorgeous Day One for the festival, closing out with a blitz of feel-good nostalgia that had the crowd singing along and roaring for an encore.
The band delighted fans mostly with tracks from their 1994 self-titled debut, also known as the “Blue Album,” but they did not play the album front to back. Instead, Weezer got things started with “Hash Pipe,” the driving hit off their 2001 “Green Album.” The intoxicating pull of nostalgia was clear on “My Name Is Jonas,” led by a stellar 55-year-old Rivers Cuomo. The band played hits off their second album, “Pinkerton,” while the laid-back hit “Island in the Sun” off the “Green Album” had fans singing along the loudest.
After mowing through about 15 songs in an hour, Weezer used the smash single “Say It Ain’t So” to close their pre-encore set. Leaving the crowd chanting for one more song, Weezer came back out to send the people home happy. They capped off Bumbershoot by blasting through a spirited version of “Buddy Holly,” getting the crowd dancing and thinking about the good old days.
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