Overview
Bumbershoot '97
Official Poster Artwork by Julie Paschkis
By 1997, Bumbershoot had been part of Seattle’s cultural fabric for more than twenty-five years.
What began in 1971 as Festival ’71 had evolved into one of the country’s most expansive multidisciplinary arts festivals. Produced by One Reel, the event continued its annual transformation of Seattle Center into a lively campus of music, theater, dance, film, literary arts, and visual art each Labor Day weekend.
As the festival entered the late 1990s, its identity was firmly established. Bumbershoot remained known for presenting major national performers alongside regional artists and experimental work, maintaining the big-tent philosophy that had defined it since the early years.
Across Seattle Center, festivalgoers could move freely between experiences, from large outdoor concerts to intimate theater productions, from film screenings to author readings, from craft marketplaces to contemporary art installations. That sense of discovery remained one of Bumbershoot’s defining characteristics.
By this point, the festival was also deeply embedded in the city’s rhythm. For many Seattle residents, Labor Day weekend meant returning to Seattle Center to experience the familiar mix of music, creativity, and community that Bumbershoot had cultivated for decades.
More than just an event, Bumbershoot had become a shared cultural ritual, one that continued to evolve while staying rooted in the city that created it.
Bumbershoot 1997's line up included: Foo Fighters / Beck / David Byrne / Sheryl Crow / Blind Boys of Alabama / The Neville Brothers / Sonic Youth / Built to Spill / Tenacious D / Soul Coughing / Blues Traveler / Sleater-Kinney / Wilco / Sugar Ray / Joan Osborne / Margaret Cho / Los Lobos / Spearhead / Smash Mouth / Cornershop / Cake / Shawn Colvin / David Cross / Spiritualized / Patton Oswalt / Medeski Martin & Wood / Jim White / Super Deluxe / Galactic / Robyn Hitchcock / Kristin Hersh / L7 / Ben Lee / Reel Big Fish / Dog’s Eye View / Goodness / Michael Penn / Skatalites / Mary Lou Lord / MxPx / Sky Cries Mary / Sweet Water / The Picketts / Tuatara / Zap Mama / Geggy Tah / alurista / Amy Rigby / Art Ensemble of Chicago / Barbara Wilson / Bhundu Boys / Bill and Bonnie Hearne / Candye Kane & the Swingin’ Armadillos / Chris Smither / Cindy Lee Berryhill / Colleen McElroy / Compadres – James Keelaghan & Oscar Lopez / Critters Buggin / Curtis Hanson / Denis Mair / Dick Dale / Don Walser / Dorothy Allison / El Vez / Engine 54 / Ensemble Studio Theatre presents The L.A. Project / Friends of Dean Martinez / Gary Geddes / Guillermo Gomez-Pena / Intiman Theatre present Ambition Facing West / James Cotton / James Ellroy / Jane Siberry / Jerome Gold / Jerry Douglas & Russ Barenberg / Jimmy Thackery / Joanna Rose / John Haines / Juliette Torrez / Karen Pernick / Kathleen Alcala / King Chango / Laura Keightlinger / Layne Redmond / Let’s Go Bowling / Lisa Buscani / Los Excentricos / Marceline i Sylvestre / Los Galindos / Marilyn Stablien / Mark O’Connor / Marvin Bell / Meng Lang / Michael Ondaatje / Pa Jobarteh Kora Trio / Pacific Northwest Ballet / Pond / Robert Pinsky / Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women / Shirley Geok-Lin Lim / Shooglenifty / Steve Forbert / Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys / Subminute: radio / Tarnation / Ted Joans / Terrance Simien / The Justin Vali Group / The Sanuki Manno Taiko / The Toasters / Tom Robbins / UMO Ensemble / Wayne Horvitz and the Four Plus One Ensemble / William Dunlop / Zuba
