Sayeth Ms. Sieglinde:
I talked with Adele, a week after the band’s performance at Bumbershoot in Seattle. She is a gorgeous Glaswegian with an earthmoving voice and an intimidating figure. She’s a demon onstage – and just as cool offstage.

You guys were amazing at Bumbershoot – it was really nice outside with the Space Needle.
Adele Bethel: Thank you. I think it was the coolest festival we’ve ever played.

I love those gold gloves you were wearing. Where did you get those?
A.B.: I bought them when we were at South by Southwest in Texas. They’re actually part of a cheerleading or ice-skating outfit with a tutu. It’s really ridiculous so I cut them off the outfit.

#1
^{by laviddichterman}

#10
^{Monotonix by BrittneyBush}

You can see all the finalists here. Thanks to everyone who shared their photos with us, and to the hundreds of you who voted!

Thanks to everyone who shared their photos with us!

#1
^{by laviddichterman}

#2
^{Saul Williams by kjten22}

#3
^{by joshc}

The rest of the photos and the poll is after the jump...

Stanier talked about that high cymbal and tried to come up with a description of the Battles sound. I have the deepest of drum love for the man, a respectful battleship drum love:

"That T.I. show made me horny. Should we just go?"

^{photo by Dagmar Sieglinde}

More after the jump. Please keep reading...

During his Bumbershoot performance, PWRFL Power instructed the crowd to get out their cell phones and text him the funniest comment they can think of. He gave out his number, and promised the best remark would get a knitted sponge made by his grandmother.

Here's a sample of what he received:

- You don't look a day over 15 to me
- I AM SATAN
- my girlfriend wants a threesome
- your boobs are not that gigantic but thats okay cause your small and japanese
- Min hummer har diabetes
- lets meet and swap skinny jeans
- aneta wa sioizodes sho!
- your sponge: I want it so i will write a haiku because im dirty
- chocolate cactus song guitar sound so nice to me i love grandma's sponge
- I farted and then poop came out
- i own all the pawn shop. So I'm rich.
- Does your G-ma wash you with that Spunge? Oooooooh
- your eyes were sparkling like champagne. My loins were rising just like Charlemagne.
- So there were 2 muffins in an oven. one muffin said,, is it hot in here or is it just me? and the other said, AH! A TALKING MUFFIN!
- I ran over your cat with the training wheels of my baby sister's bike. Sorry

He says he also got a few weird calls, but I'm guessing that since they didn't follow instructions, the callers won't be eligible for the sponge.

But the one Bumber-related thing I have worth mentioning is this: Jay Ryan continues to be one of the best poster artists in the world of poster art. Flatstock is always a highlight of Bumbershoot for me (despite my terrible habit of spending way too much money there). This year, though, with a drained bank account due to first and last month's rent, deposit, yadda yadda yadda, I was too broke to buy anything (including Strawberry Luna's adorable alphabet prints for a measly $15).

Nonetheless, I still loved a lot of what Flatstock had to offer, including everything at Jay Ryan's booth. Especially the adorable penguin poster he made for the Blue Planet Live concert series and the Tortoise poster of kitties in bowls.

Swoon. He's my favorite.

There were also some locals with impressive collections--Nat Damm, Andrew Crawshaw of Broken Press, Design Medicine... and then there was an art print of a little kid dressed as a cowboy riding a seahorse, and I have no idea who the artist is but I want one. So if you know, let me know. It'd look really cute in my new bedroom.

^{photo by Dagmar Sieglinde}

Next it was off to Arthur & Yu on the opposite side of the Center. A Mirror Pond ($7, plus a $1 tip) was much needed after bumping into approximately 37 people during the traverse. It was, of course, not nearly enough alcohol to curb such crowd-induced anxiety, but my financial situation rendered me incapable of purchasing more.

^{My $8 beer two minutes after its purchase.}

Arthur & Yu put on a fine set of subdued, relaxing numbers, including some new material that went well under the setting sun.

^{photo by Blush Photo}

After Arthur & Yu, Mr. Segal and I stopped at the Horn of Africa stand, where he purchased a delicious iced tea ($2), and I tried a lentil Sambusa ($2), both of which were excellent and bargain-priced relative to most things in the Center during the last three days.

We then foolishly attempted to "stop by and check out Del [the Funky Homosapien] real quick." Predictably, the Fisher Green Stage lawn was packed with droves of hip-hop fans and marijuana smoke, the combination of which rendered Del almost invisible. Our photographers clearly had a better view:

^{photo by Blush Photo}

Due to the aforementioned lack of view, and my attention span deficit, my focus fell on the statue guy to the right of the stage. He was dutifully shaking hands and doling out hugs when not being a statue, but some just weren't interested.

^{Kid won't make nice.}

Thankfully, Mr. Segal wisely pulled me out of my trance in time to make it to what was to be the apex of both our Monday Bumbershoot experience, Battles. I'd never seen Battles before, but I'd heard plenty of good things about their live show, and they did not dissapoint. Drummer John Stanier's sparse-but-thunderous drumming is the perfect backdrop for the band's minimalistic future-rock structures, and the sound at the Broad Street stage was true quality. With the air here containing equal parts marijuana smoke and patchouli, Battles' precise sound cut through the fog like razor wire.

^{Battles heal the masses, by Blush Photo}

End tally:

Total dollars spent: $13
Total acts seen: 4
Total number of people bumped into: 347
Winner: My new landlord.

Maybe someone else here on Line Out will be able to better do justice than I to Death Cab For Cutie's Bumbershoot-closing headlining set last night, but for me nothing was going to top Superchunk. Still, I figured I'd give the band a chance. There was a time when I was a huge DCFC fan, roughly through the first couple few records. (Also: Postal Service, yes!) But for the last couple records, the band has grown increasingly vanilla, bigger but not necessarily better. They're still totally proficient, and Ben Gibbard remains a fine singer and a sturdy songwriter; they just haven't landed a song that's wowed me for a while ("The New Year" was the last one to come close).

In any case, a half dozen songs in, and the band still wasn't wowing, although "The New Year" sounded fine in the big, starry stadium, flickering with those little neon flashing trinkets people were throwing around. I was hoping to hear a couple older numbers right up front to get me hooked, but it all seemed like newer stuff. And after those first six songs, when a friend offered a ride home, exhausted from three days of Bumbershoot, I decided to bail. On the walk out, "Company Calls" was echoing out of the stadium, and though I love that song (and most all of We Have the Facts), I wasn't bummed to be leaving. I've seen a lot of great Death Cab shows, last night's just didn't seem like it was going to be one of them. I do hope it was for everyone else, though.

Update: Turns out the mere six songs I caught was still more of Death Cab's set than any of my colleagues here on Line Out managed to take in of last night. So, in the interest of fairness and because no more detailed post is forthcoming, an attempt to further explain the vanilla turn-off that was the first half-dozen songs of Death Cab For Cute:

First, a point of clarification: I suppose “Why’d You Want to Live Here,” the third song they played, is more or less an older song, and one that should resonate mightily with anyone who’s spent, say, 12 hours or more in LA. And it’s a pretty fine Death Cab number—cutting sentiment, steadily driving verses, though with more of an extended sigh than a proper chorus. The sound was okay overall throughout their set, although Death Cab's lighter moments can just float right away in that giant open-air stadium, especially if you've left the front following Superchunk.

“Bixby Canyon Bridge” is a bit of a snooze—if you want Gibbard meditating on Keruoac, a better bet is Styrofoam’s “Couches in Alleys,” which features the DFCF singer. “Crooked Teeth” and “Long Division” provided some small shots of energy, Gibbard swinging his guitar in time while singing his verses, and while the former has a nice enough chorus, the latter’s one-word refrain, while melodically agile, wasn’t much to sing along to. “Grapevine Fires,” which Gibbard introduced by observing, “Sometimes beautiful things do happen,” has some nice turns of phrase—the alarm clock of impending doom, for instance, or the paper cups borrowed from Something About Airplanes—but it was, again, kind of a sleeper. I know Death Cab's always been more of a mellow band—I wasn't expecting them to come out and be Cheap Trick or whatever—but for whatever reason (their's was a fresher sound at the time? less pop-cultural saturation? I'm a bitter old gas-bag?), I just dig Death Cab's older songs more, and on this final night of the weekend my spent ass either needed more energy or more old gems right out the gate to keep me on my feet.

^{Black Eyes and Neckties by Chad Syme}

Black Eyes and Neckties absolutely killed their radio session for KEXP. Singer Brad Lockhart was sporting a wheelchair and a foot brace, still reeling from his Total Fest tumble. There was a bit of apprehension towards the end of the set as to whether guitarist Josh Holland was going to jump up on the broadcast table and do something stupid to all the KEXP laptops, but thankfully for everyone involved he limited himself to surfing the prop table the band brought along with them.

Battles were the best band of the weekend. They can’t help it; they’re just too good to be anything less. There are too many elements to nerd out on: the skills, the gear, the riffs, the grooves, the inhuman hi-hat/snare prowess of John Stanier. And after a Sunday plagued with terrible mixes thank god Battles were personally on stage a half an hour early tweaking every knob and amp until their sound was perfect. I keep coming back to see them every chance I get and I am never the slightest bit disappointed I did.

I’m sure it’s never fun for any band that has to follow them, but Minus the Bear gave it a good effort. Though I was mocked by some of the journalists leaving the backstage area to go see Death Cab, I actually like Minus the Bear. It took a few songs for them to get warmed up, but they always find ways to remind me why I’m still a fan: the tastefully dirty chorus of “This Ain’t a Surfin’ Movie,” the exploding start and stops of “Double Vision Quest" complete with u-ziq keyboard ending, the still-perfect-after-all-these-years futuristic power ballad “Absinthe Party.” The Ian Williams/Dave Knudsen DL-4 party was a nice way to finish out the long weekend, even if the bill probably should have been flipped. I'll take unsurprising, as long as it's unsurprisingly good.

Man, best laid plans. I had meant to get down to the third day of Bumbershoot in time to catch Paramore (really, I wanted to see this band one time) or at least Monotonix (who were sure to be a total fiasco), but it was just not to be. Instead, the first set I really made it in time for was Two Gallants. The choice between them and the simultaneously performing Dan Deacon was no choice at all. Deacon was doing his crazed camp counselor schtick (which I'm sure he does as sincerely as Two Gallants does theirs) inside the dank Exhibition Hall, while Two Gallants were playing out in the afternoon sun on the Broad Street Lawn. There was just no way I had the energy or inclination for Deacon at this point in the long weekend. Two Gallants, though, was just right. You could sit on the grass and still se them. Their ragged, road-worn acoustic folk sounded fine floating over an outdoor crowd, especially their anthemic jam "Nothing to You." Dude probably gets the Conor Oberst comparison a lot, but the band really do have a similar, shaky quaver to their singing voices. I remember when these guys just played house shows and teen centers when they toured through Seattle; it's nice to see them rocking such a big festival crowd.

^{Monotonix by Blush Photo}

Bumbershoot killed the show because of "crowd surfing" which included one large garbage can. Have other bands been booted? Is playing less than four songs a new Bumbershoot record?

^{Monotonix by Blush Photo}

Monotonix return to Seattle on September 27. The Comet Tavern won't mind a crowd-surfing garbage can. Also watch Lineout in the next day or so for my video interview. The band makes a plea to Mark Arm of Mudhoney. It may or may not involve crowd surfing.