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I'm starting with my favourite of the day, West Indian Girl.Mariqueen Maandig
Robert James
West Indian Girl were my second favourite of the entire fest actually. This was my first show at the EMP Sky Church (um, second if you don't count the unmemorable Mono In VCF which is following) 
A Myspace discovery, I wasn't really expecting them to be as cool as they actually were. Mariqueen is actually my new girl crush!
One of my favourite songs of theirs is "To Die In LA" which was rewritten after recording This new version was slower and missing the cool vibe of the recorded version. Another favourite is Blue Wave which you should totally check out on their MySpace!
Francis Ten
Okay, now let's try for some order. We started the day seeing Neko Case. I hate the Main Stage, and think I'm vowing not to return unless some serious changes like video screens are added.Neko Case
Love her in the New Pornographers, but not such a fan of her country career.
Then it was off to the Rockstar stage for Seattle's own Barcelona.Brian Fennell 
After our first Happy Hour of the weekend and well fortified, we started our afternoon in earnest with the Walkmen. I've liked them for ages and have seen them before.
Hamilton Leithauser 
Our next choice was Mono In VCF as they'd had an okay vibe when we checked them out on myspace and we were going to EMP Sky Church anyway for West Indian Girl.Kim Miller
Hunter Lee
Skipping around now, as I've already written about West Indian Girl, are Nada Surf, one of my favourite bands of all times. This is despite the fact that I've never even contemplated suicide.Matthew Caw
Nada Surf were great despite the notable absence of bassist Daniel Lorca who was absent due to an inconvenient knee injury. Daniel had also written a hilarious Bumbershoot primer for The Seattle Weekly publication.
Ended the night with Beck. As you'll see again and again, I hate the Bumbershoot Main Stage and will be forever banning it.Beck
The sound was awful, and it didn't help hat I've never warmed to Beck's music.
Let's start with my favourite of Sunday, The Shackeltons.Mark Redding
They took to a stage that covered with branches, no, LIMBS of trees and a bounty of dahlia's. Dressed in old school military uniforms, they put on one of those shows where you like the band a whole lot more after you see them.
Lead singer Mark Redding is as much of a performance artist as he is a singer and has a particular affinity for falling, sometimes from a straight standing position.
Justin McDanel
Highlights of the stage banter included enticements to purchase CD's with the offer to pinch drummer Sean Hallock's baby fat or the chance to discuss being half black in America with bassist Justin McDaniel.Sean Hallock
But topping all the stories was the orgin of the stage forest. Apprently it's a $500 fine for, um, pruning trees in the city limits, so it was a good thing they'd liberated the trees at a location out of city limits.
Okay, now on to what else I saw. It was a busy day.Let's see. Biggest disappoint was Sons and Daughters from Glasglow. Loved them on myspace, hated them live. Adele Bethel
Loved them so much that we'd spontaneously break into the opening of the "The Gift" while walking around the Bumbershoot grounds. This was an example of where you like a band a whole lot less after you see them.Scott Paterson
Worst of all?? No it wasn't that the sound was awful. It was after all that spontaneous singing, we'd done, they didn't even play "The Gift"!
Also on the agenda and a band that didn't disappoint were Seattle's own The Blakes.Snow Keim
I'd totally go see them again. I think they are great!Garnet Keim
Hmm. I'm all over the map here as far as timeline goes. Let's see....we started the day with Lushy who are art of Shag in musical form.Annabella Kirby
Mostly percussion, Lushy have a mellow effervescent quality which was fun, especially for the hipster oldsters dancing away in the crowd.Andrew Sodt
I don't know what instrument is shown here in this photograph, but I do know that Glen wanted one.Also, highly anticipated but a bit of a let down, were The Whigs. I was probably a bit (a lot) drunk by this time (love the Seattle Happy Hours) so I should go a bit easier on them.
Parker Gispert
I especially like the song "Like A Vibration" from their Mission Control album.
Ben Deaux
Julian Dorio
Scott Weiland
Next up, in no particular order, is Stone Temple Pilots. Despite showing up a half an hour late and being escorted directly to the stage in the tour bus, Scott Weiland was in pretty good form.
Yeah, these photos suck, but I was pretty far away, and you get the picture.Hating the Main Stage (horrile sound, unmanagable size) we left STP for Tapes 'n Tapes who I'd seen once before at SXSW.
Rhett Miller of the Old 97's
I've loved the Old 97's for years. I must have had a period when I was really depressed that I don't remember anymore because the 97's and Nada Surf were my must see choices of the fest, and I have spent hours listening to their CD's.
The set was great, and was comprised of mostly new material that I didn't really know. I loved it though, and really loved guitarist Ken Bethea who showed you don't have to be a kid to rock..
Ken Bethea
Langhorne Slim
Strange Fruit Performance art from Australia
Monotonix
Ami Shalev
Last but not least, the highlight of the day for me which was Tel-Aviv rockers Monotonix's aborted 15 minute set at the Exhibition Hall.
When we arrived, we found their equipment set up on the floor instead of the stage, and when the band finally began their set I couldn't see a thing as I was pretty much in the back of the throng. Having no barrier between band and audience made for a crazy, anything can happen, energy, so I eventually made my way through he crowd as close as possible. At that point, Ami was pretty much performing atop the audience limbs. In that slim 15 minute set he managed to moon the crowd, play 3 or 4 songs, and ride atop the crowd in a garbage can. Reports are the the fire marshall shut down the show for the tossing of said garbage can.
Catch most of the show plus Avi's closing remarks at YouTube HERE
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