SPIN.com’s college correspondents were heavy on the scene covering Bumbershoot, Seattle’s three-day music and arts fest. We recruited eight students — four writers, four photographers — to cover the even for SPIN.com, live, all weekend long. They scored the opportunity to interview and take photos of bands like Of Montreal, Mates of State, AFI, A Tribe Called Quest, among others. Now with the festival ended, our journos look back at the experience, and the photogs offer their best shots from the weekend.
I’ve consistently seen amazing artists each time I’ve managed to scrape up the cash to attend Bumbershoot — the Pixies, the Shins, Modest Mouse, Lou Reed, and so on. This year went beyond anything I’d ever anticipated. Working with SPIN.com gave me the amount of access self-respecting music fans would piss themselves over — and I’m so incredibly grateful for it. Here’re just some of the highlights: Meeting Spoon and getting my press badge signed (Britt Daniel is hawt); seeing Kanye muthaf—cking West!; interviewing Of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes — the sexiest man in a skirt; dancing my ass off at A Tribe Called Quest’s phenomenal yet criminally short set; and, inadvertently standing next to Mon Frere singer Nouela Johnston’s mom during their set. TIFFANY WAN
I am forever grateful to the people of SPIN.com for letting me have this once in a lifetime opportunity. While I enjoyed getting to skip hour-long lines and seeing endless amounts of shows, the moment I will never forget is, without question, the time I got to go backstage and interview A Tribe Called Quest. It still hasn’t fully sunk in yet. Years from now, no matter where I am or what I’m doing, I will always be able to say that I sat down and had a conversation with one of the greatest hip-hop acts of all time, at which point the person I am talking to will nod politely and remind me to finish pouring their coffee. This weekend with SPIN.com was more than I ever could have hoped for. ELI SCHWIMMER
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The idea of standing outside in the sweltering heat for 15 hours would usually make me cringe and head straight for refuge (read: the beer garden). But covering three days of Bumbershoot for SPIN.com was an opportunity that was worth giving up the comfort of sitting in the shade with a refreshing beverage. My favorite moment? It could be smoking cigarettes with Damon Gough from Badly Drawn Boy while we discussed his new album. It could be getting a chance to work with the SPIN.com staff — they made an experience that could’ve been intimidating as hell quite the adventure. Now I have to return to writing for my college newspaper, which, in comparison to this weekend, seems totally lame. ERIKA HOBART
