I went to the South Lake Union Block Party the previous day and had a great time, coming and going as I wished. But when I showed up at the KEXP BBQ and saw they were instigating a no re-entry policy, I couldn't stay; 8 hours locked in one field with no-where to go? No thanks. I just hung out outside, watched the Saturday Knights and when the rain dropped, I ran, ran, ran, ran... Saved $25. Then watched the rest of the gig from the comfort of my house on the live videocast.

I stayed as I was there mostly to see Jospeh Arthur and the Dandy Warhols. It actually turned out great as 200-300 people left and never came back. The lines for the bathrooms and beer garden had been creeping into backlogs so that rain really helped drive some people out of there.

Helio Sequence were a little dissapointing to me. I have seen them before and liked them but they just didn't do much for me on Saturday.

Joseph Arthur was fantastic. He had his band along and he just put out a lot of confidence in his performance. My favorite of the day.

Dandies were also very good but they went on much later (9:15?) than expected and got their set seriously cut down. Still, they got warmed up and were humming along. Ended with Boys Better.

Great set-up with the beer garden. You could actually leave the beer garden and move around. Very unusual in Seattle.
Curly fries seemed to be the hit of the food court.

That picture is so quintessentially Seattle -- drinking beer in the rain, sans umbrella, all in the name of rocking out.

I arrived during Common Market/the worst part of the downpour. It was not looking encouraging at that point. But soon the rain (and rap) subsided and things got a lot better.

Helio Sequence were fine, but I agree that they weren't especially memorable in that particular chaotic, wet, outdoor afternoon setting. Couldn't understand the vocals very well either, which didn't help. I like watching that drummer though. And the people behind me built a very impressive beer cup pyramid on their cocktail table. They took many camera-phone pictures of it.

Right before Joseph Arthur took the stage, a stunning rainbow emerged over the condoscape, and that really transformed the event into something that felt special.

Too bad Joseph Arthur opted to play all songs that nobody knows. He used to put on such cool shows back when he would do all this amazing delicate stuff with just his guitar and his loop pedals, but now watching him seems a bit too much like watching someone's exercise in vanity. I sat in the back and ate a Gyro, which was quite enjoyable. Why don't more things have cucumber sauce?

I kind of love the Dandy Warhols, even though I will acknowledge that a lot of their songs aren't very good. But the ones that are good are so much fun! That's what I came for, and thankfully they managed to fit a good-sized handful of them into their abridged set. Me and the screaming ladies around me jumped and danced and pumped our fists along with Zia, while Courtney prowled and pouted and murmured unintelligibly into the mike. It was good.

Until all the lights blacked out and a giant, heavy camera boom fell and hit me on the head. Seriously. It was heavy, and it hurt. A lot. And nobody even came over to see if I or any of the people around me that it fell on were okay. Did anyone else notice this unfortunate occurence? Booooo. Next year I will wear bring an umbrella AND a helmet.

"Why don't more things have cucumber sauce?"

Amen, Kirk!

(Sorry to hear about your bump on the noggin. One day you should ask igLiz about the head injury she sustained from a lobbed dinner roll at a Visqueen show. True story.)

Check out this video of KEXP DJ Sharlese interviewing bands and other peeps at the BBQ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0OaqvvRgWo

-JFM