There's plenty to dig into at this year's Bumbershoot Music Festival outside of the big-draw acts (Gotye, anyone?) that make the daily ticket price well worth every hard-earned dollar you're going to spend. There's an impressive comedy lineup, KEXP's always-awesome "secret" Music Lounge, endless vendors, and the sunny goodness of the Seattle Center grounds -- and it all awaits us as another Labor Day weekend looms around the corner. You can head on over to the official Bumbershoot site to go over the schedule and fine-tune a personal lineup, of course -- but here's a few of our hot picks anyway, just in case you find yourself with a case of multi-stage overwhemsion.

SATURDAY

Bumbershoot kicks off strong this year with some feel-good bands breaking us in on our first day, like JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound (fingers crossed-times-infinity that they do their killer cover of "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart"), Sera Cahoone, and the Barr Brothers, still fresh in our mind from their performance at Pickathon. THEESatisfaction is sure to electro-groove our very souls before we get a good shredding from the Heartless Bastards, and later on we'll gladly close out day one with a bit of Jane's Addiction and M. Ward:

2:30p, Fisher Green Stage: JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound
3:30p, Sub Pop Stage (Fountain Lawn): Sera Cahoone
4:30p, The Promenade: Barr Brothers
5:15p, Sub Pop Stage: THEESatisfaction
5:45p, Starbucks Stage (Mural): Heartless Bastards
9:00p, The Promenade: Damien Jurado
9:30p, Mainstage (Key Arena): Jane's Addiction
9:45p, Fisher Green Stage: M. Ward

There's tons to do in that gap during the dinner hour, including the Stranger's Guide to America, grabbing actual dinner, checking out Flatstock, and seeking out one of a bazillion killer comedy acts before picking back up the tunes.

SUNDAY

Chugging along into day two, we'll gladly get take our wakeup call from Eighteen Individual Eyes (and a side of the-good-kind-of-bite from Katie Kate) before we ease into a mainstage set at Key Arena from Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings (hell yes!!). There's a run of favorites and Sub Pop all-stars through the afternoon, with blissy sets from the Young Evils, the Fruit Bats, and Mudhoney; and another day'll easily get knocked out of the park with a closing set from Wanda Jackson and those Dusty 45s:

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at Paramount Theater

I shouldn't have to tell any of you this, but if you missed M83's sold out performance at the Paramount Theater this past Thursday night, you missed one hell of a show. 

Backed by lighting effects that at times looked a lot like giant multi-colored neon glow sticks, M83 started their performance the same way they did at their Neumos show this past November -- with Hurry Up, We're Dreaming's opener "Intro" -- and they never looked back. Half of the balcony where I was at was standing from the very start, and midway through the set, the lead single from HU,WD (and probably their most popular song to date) "Midnight City" got pretty much everyone who was still sitting down up on their feet and dancing. One of my minor qualms with their Neumos show last November was the lack of any saxaphone solo during Midnight City, since it's such an energetic, climactic moment in the song, and as cheesy at it sounds, I just want to hear that saxaphone kick in at the right time. This time around, they brought in a live sax player to belt out the solo, and people seemed pretty excited about it. 

Considering that their Neumos show was just a little over five months ago, moving over to the Paramount Theater was a big step up for the band. Gonzalez seemed a little overjoyed and grateful to be playing a sold out show at such a massive venue. He even took a moment between songs to voice his amazement at it all saying "This is such a huge fucking venue for us, it's exciting!" Towards the end of the set, Gonzalez asked to have some of the lights brought up so he could take it all in, which he did briefly before emphatically collapsing to the floor, almost in disbelief.

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The past year has been a big year for Anthony Gonzalez, the mastermind behind M83: he relocated from his native France to Los Angeles, worked on and released the group's sixth studio effort, the fantastic double album Hurry Up, We're Dreaming {which ended up being my personal second favorite album of 2011, with only Toro Y Moi's Underneath the Pine narrowly beating it out} and began making soundtracks for films. The move seems to be paying off, as the HU,WD has been heralded with much critical acclaim, and M83 songs have been popping up in commercials for Victoria's Secret, Red Bull, and in various tv shows.

At the end of their amazing show at Neumo's last November, I remember thinking that the only thing that could have made it better was a larger venue. It felt like the grand, epic sound of M83 needed space to stretch out -- as much as I love Neumos, it seemed to be holding them back in that sense. Given their popularity following HU,WD, I had a feeling that the next time M83 came through Seattle, they would be at a venue bigger than Neumos. I remember thinking, "if only he could play the Paramount, with that size and those accoustics, it would be perfect!"

Well, as luck would have it, not long after that show, M83 announced a spring show at the Neptune Theater -- tickets didn't last long and it was quickly moved over to the Paramount Theater. If my initial intuitions are correct, it should turn out to be the perfect marriage between a band and a venue.

{Paramount Theater | 4/26 | Doors at 7:00, show at 8:00 | All Ages | $28 Advance, $32 Day of Show | I Break Horses opens.}

TIG photographer Kyle Johnson has been quite busy this year. Taking the impeccable press and editorial photos as well as covering shows and festivals for TIG, Kyle has amassed a great portfolio for 2008.

Here's a recap of his personal favs from the past year.

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Tonight at Neumos much-adored band M83 will be returning again for their many Seattle fans, but I am just as excited about opening band, Brooklyn's own School of Seven Bells.

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I have always thought of M83 as great background music (that is a compliment)

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For the week of April 15th, featuring the Heavy Hearts, the Gossip, the Kooks, M83, and more.

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All we need is a remix!

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