Seattle’s annual Labor Day weekend Bumbershoot music festival has been teasing fans over the last month, releasing the name of one band scheduled to perform at the festival each day throughout May. But now the waiting is over. Today Bumbershoot revealed the full musical lineup for the three-dam jam fest.

The festival’s top headliners this year are Ray LaMontagne & the Pariah Dogs (Saturday), Wiz Khalifa (Sunday), and, in true flashback fashion, Daryl Hall & John Oates (Monday). Other big names: Broken Social Scene (Sunday), Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (also Sunday), and Seattle’s own The Presidents of the United States of America (Monday).

Check out the full lineup by day here. Bumbershoot will be releasing the full comedy and arts lineup later this month. The full schedule (with time and stage information) will be released in mid-July.

The countdown to Bumbershoot, Seattle’s annual Labor Day music festival, has officially begun. In anticipation of festival weekend, organizers will be revealing one artist signed on to perform at Bumbershoot every day through May, culminating with the final lineup announcement on June 1.

Bumbershoot is unveiling a new artist every day on its Facebook page. The first two artists to be announced this month are Wiz Khalifa (No. 3 on Rolling Stone’s Hot List in January 2011), and Hall & Oates (No. 99 on VH1′s 100 Greatest Artists of All Time).

For more information on the Bumbershoot, or to follow updates on the festival as it nears, check out the Bumbershoot website.

Experience Music Project’s 10^th annual Sound Off! held the second round of its semifinals last Saturday, adding Fit for Hounds to the roster of finalists for the Pacific Northwest’s largest annual underage battle of the band, joining Renton bluegrass band Northern Departure, which got through the competition’s first round of semifinals last week.

The Seattle alternative band will advance to the finals to compete against the upcoming winner of round one and upcoming round three, EMP announced Tuesday. Second place went to Kirkland hip-hop duo Kung Foo Grip, who competes with the other two runner-ups for the wildcard spot in the finals by an EMP’s Youth Advisory Board vote.

The third round of the semifinals will be held this Saturday, February 26 at EMP’s Level 3. Performing will be:

Kids and Animals – Seattle (indie rock)

Land of Pines – Seattle (indie rock)

Micah B. – Federal Way (hip hop)

The Oh Wells – Surrey, BC (folk pop)

Tickets are $10 for the general public and $7 for students or EMP members.

The three winners of the semifinals and the selected wildcard band will advance to the finals at EMP’s Sky Church on March 5. The winner of the Sound Off! title will receive a performance slot at Bumbershoot 2011, a live on-air performance on 107.7, studio time and gear from KORG.

Twelve bands and one wildcard entry were selected out of 136 bands aged 21 and under to compete in the competition this year.

From the press release:

Sound Off! supports the local underage music scene by giving young artists from different backgrounds a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to come together and play their original music in a positive, all-ages atmosphere.

Experience Music Project’s 10^th annual Sound Off! held the first round of its semifinals last Saturday, bringing winner Northern Departure one step closer to the title for the Pacific Northwest’s largest annual underage battle of the bands.

The four-man bluegrass band from Renton will advance to the finals to compete against the upcoming winners of rounds two and three, EMP announced Tuesday. Second place went to Seattle band Tomten, who competes with the other two runner-ups for the wildcard spot in the finals by an EMP’s Youth Advisory Board vote.

The second round is being held this Saturday, February 19 at EMP’s Level 3. Performing will be:

Chinook Jargon – Seattle (indie rock)

Electricity and its Double – Seattle (indie rock)

Fit for Hounds – Seattle (alternative)

Kung Foo Grip – Kirkland (hip hop)

The third round of the semifinals will be held the following Saturday, February 26, also at EMP’s Level 3. Performing will be:

Kids and Animals – Seattle (indie rock)

Land of Pines – Seattle (indie rock)

Micah B. – Federal Way (hip hop)

The Oh Wells – Surrey, BC (folk pop)

Tickets are $10 for the general public and $7 for students or EMP members.

The three winners of the semifinals and the selected wildcard band will advance to the finals at EMP’s Sky Church on March 5. The winner of the Sound Off! title will receive a performance slot at Bumbershoot 2011, a live on-air performance on 107.7, studio time and gear from KORG.

12 bands and one wildcard entry were selected out of 136 bands aged 21 and under.

From the press release:

Sound Off! supports the local underage music scene by giving young artists from different backgrounds a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to come together and play their original music in a positive, all-ages atmosphere.

SDOT is warning to drivers to be prepared for heavy congestion around Seattle Center this weekend.  Up to 50,000 people are expected to attend this year’s Bumbershoot festival.  Plan on heavier traffic than usual between the I-5 Mercer Street ramps and Seattle Center.  There are no road closures.  Bumbershoot runs from 11am to 11pm on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

From the Bumbershoot archives

Our partners at the Seattle Times say Saturday “Standard” tickets to mainstage acts Bob Dylan and The Decemberists are sold out. Standard tickets for Sunday (Weezer, Hole, Rise Against) and Monday (Mary J. Blige, Drake and J. Cole) are going fast.  “Economy” tickets for all three days are still available.

If you like both Trophy Cupcakes and Bumbershoot, here’s a way to get your sugar fix and help kids go to the music and arts festival in September.

Stop in to any of Trophy’s three locations to pick up limited-edition cupcakes, featuring designs by some of the artists whose work adorned Bumbershoot posters and artwork over the past 40 years. The cupcakes will be available through September 6.

The Bumbershoot cupcakes sell for $3.50 each, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Send a Kid program, which partners with Art with Heart and Arts Corps to help send underserved youth to Bumbershoot with an accompanying adult.

Whether  you’re the kind of person who loves to see live music or prefers to listen to tunes in the comfort of your own home, no Seattleite can ignore the city’s biggest music festival, Bumbershoot, which brings thousands of people to Seattle Center every Labor Day weekend (this year September 4 to 6) for three straight days of jam-packed shows.

Yesterday the festival, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, announced the official lineup for the weekend, including headliners like Bob Dylan, Weezer and Mary J. Blige, and other mainstage names like Neko Case, The Decembrists, Hole, Rise Against, J. Cole and one more unannounced special guest. Take a look at the full lineup here, and keep checking back because more names will be released as the festival inches closer.

Tickets to Bumbershoot are now on sale, and are going for a whopping $40 a day (if you buy in advance, $50 if you buy at the gate), which begs the question, how much is seeing your favorite music live worth to you? (I remember way back when, when tickets to Bumbershoot were just $45 for the whole weekend–and as a high school kid, I thought that was expensive!)

But for those who don’t want to dole out 40 clams a pop, and given the current economic downturn, the festival will also be offering an aptly named “economy” package, which will get you into Bumbershoot for $22 a day ($30 at the gate) and gives you access to six musical stages, three comedy stages and a number of other venues but–and here’s the kicker–does not include any mainstage performances at Memorial Stadium (a fine option if you’re not in it for the headliners). Check out other packages here. But for the most frugal of music lovers, there’s always one more option for penny-pinching your way into Bumber fun: volunteering!

EMP|SFM’s 9th annual Sound Off!, the largest underage battle of the bands in the Pacific Northwest, if fast approaching, as is the deadline for musicians to enter the competition, which is this coming Monday, November 9. The contest gives music performers 21 and under a chance to win a performance slot at Bumbershoot 2010. Twelve semi-finalists will be chosen to perform live in February, with the finals taking place at EMP’s Sky Church on Saturday, March 6. Past up-and-coming bands include Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head, Schoolyard Heroes, and The Lonely H. Complete rules and the online application can be found here.

Keep an eye out for meter maids on the hill this weekend. I’ve seen three different ones prowling around Queen Anne Ave just this afternoon (the last one was heading down the hill toward Uptown, ticket book in hand). They’re probably on high patrol in anticipation of the holiday weekend, and with Bumbershoot starting tomorrow, parking on Queen Anne will be tight. Beware of the meter maid – nothing ruins a holiday weekend like a ticket!

If you love music, but can’t afford Bumbershoot, or are simply Bumbered out, walk a couple of blocks to Easy Street Records at 3 p.m. tomorrow and check out another live show for free!

Vince Mira is a 16-year-old singer-songwriter from Federal Way who has been known to channel the unique sound of Johnny Cash. He’s so Johnny-esque, in fact, that Cash offered to produce Mira’s debut EP The Cash Cabin Sessions, as well as his most recent album Vince Mira.

Growing up Mira drew his inspiration from Cash, and it shows! Check him out tomorrow!

(Photo by John Keatley, courtesy of Jesse and Easy Street Records)

It’s that time of year again. Bumbershoot, Seattle’s annual Labor Day weekend music festival at Seattle Center since 1971, starts tomorrow!

(Photo courtesy of Jesse and Easy Street Records)

Over the years the festival has seen some big acts: B.B. King, The Ramones, Ray Charles, REM, Kanye West, De La Soul, Jerry Seinfeld, the Black Eyed Peas, and let’s not forget our own semi-local Modest Mouse.

This year the big names include Sheryl Crow, Jason Mraz and Franz Ferdinand, along with tons of other stages and acts from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday through Monday.

If you don’t already have tickets, they’re $50 a pop each day. The Seattle Times put together a guide to navigating Bumbershoot this year. Check that out here.

And just a reminder, thousands flock to Seattle Center and Uptown for the weekend festivities, so if you live on Lower Queen Anne, park your car now and don’t move it all weekend. Traffic around Bumbershoot will, as always, be a bit of a mess.

With Labor Day weekend just five days away, many Seattleites have one thing on their minds: Bumbershoot! And if you haven’t picked up your tickets yet, you could always win them from Easy Street Records, who will be giving away a pair of tickets for each day of the three-day festival.

For information on how to enter, click here. You can buy tickets here, or at the stands (incentive to enter the contest: a one-day pass goes for $50!).

The festival is celebrating it’s 38th year in Seattle this year. It is put on by One Reel.

(As always, thanks to Jesse and Easy Street Records for the image!)

Bumbershoot announced their complete lineup this week, and it’s a good one.  As always, the 39th annual music and arts festival will take place over Labor Day weekend (September 5-7) at Seattle Center. 

Some of this year’s musical highlights include Black Eyed Peas (above), Katy Perry, Sheryl Crow, Jason Mraz, The Ting Tings, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Cold War Kids, Franz Ferdinand and Northwest favorites Modest Mouse.  Fans of the TV show-turned-cultural-phenomenon, LOST, can participate in a discussion with its writers, Carlton Cuse, Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz as part of the festival’s Literary Arts Lineup.  Enjoy some laughs with comedy from Nick Swarson, Maria Bamford and Wyatt Cenac. 

Special note: the Metro special event shuttle that originated from Northgate Park-and-Ride will not be in service for this year’s festival. Buy tickets before August 21 and get 30% off!  Click here for the schedule and ticket info.