While the marquee outside Seattle Center proclaimed Kings of Leon and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club as the top two acts on Bumbershoot’s second day, it was the Billboard-ruling plastic queen, Fergie, who held down the final timeslot on the Samsung Mainstage, which is also adorned with the Spin logo, as you might recall from yesterday’s post. For a few moments, we considered hijacking a cherry picker to ascend alongside the stage and place a temporary patch over our logo, just for the duration of her set, but we instead decided to leave it be, exposed in the cool Seattle breeze like Fergie’s own bare midriff, and film some supremely worthy performances instead.
The day began awash in bright, enveloping sunlight, until BRMC deftly managed to to slice through the blissful day with deviant, dark cuts from their latest, Baby 81. Elsewhere, we visited with the Fucking Eagles, one of this week’s SPIN.com Artists of the Day, and Michael Ian Black, who made us cry, first with sadness because he performed without his Stella partners, David Wain and Michael Showalter, who couldn’t make the trip. But sad soon turned to glad, both during our backstage interview (more on that later) and his stand-up set, replete with an ode to the first girl he fingered. We also shot the wildly spastic newcomers Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head (yes, the name completely intrigued us and pulled us in), and interviewed our old friends in Art Brut and BRMC.
Here’s a bit of the live footage from yesterday, and check back for all the behind-the-scenes interviews.
