Overview
Bumbershoot '98
Official Poster designed by David Lemley Design.
By 1998, Bumbershoot had firmly entered its third decade as one of the country’s most distinctive arts festivals. What began in 1971 as a civic experiment had grown into a major Labor Day weekend destination, a place where music, film, theater, dance, literature, and visual art all shared space across Seattle Center.
Produced by One Reel, the festival continued refining the multidisciplinary model that had made it unique. Large music stages drew national touring artists and thousands of attendees, while smaller venues across the campus hosted contemporary dance performances, theatrical productions, film screenings, literary readings, and exhibitions from Northwest visual artists.
A key element of Bumbershoot’s identity remained its balance. Major performers helped bring national attention to the festival, but local artists, regional organizations, and experimental work continued to shape the event's character. This mix ensured that the festival still felt rooted in Seattle’s creative community even as its reputation spread beyond the Pacific Northwest.
By the late 1990s, Bumbershoot had also become a cultural meeting point for the city. Artists, audiences, volunteers, and community groups came together each year under the same umbrella, creating a festival environment that felt both large in scale and deeply local in spirit.
Nearly three decades after Festival ’71, Bumbershoot remained true to its original idea: a big cultural umbrella where audiences could encounter art, music, and creativity in all its forms.
Bumbershoot 1998's line up included: Live / Third Eye Blind / Eve 6 / Fuel / Beth Orton / Whiskeytown / Yo La Tengo / Morphine / They Might Be Giants / Cracker / Screaming Trees / Bonnie Raitt / Jethro Tull / Joan Baez / Keb’ Mo’ / Sunny Day Real Estate / David Cross & Friends / Dave Van Ronk / Modest Mouse / Morcheeba / Bruce Cockburn / Dar WIlliams / R.L. Burnside / Goodness / Squirrel Nut Zippers / Harvey Danger / Buck Owens / The Posies / Kelly Joe Phelps / Kim Richey / Michael Franti / Dr. Jane Goodall / Burning Spear / Eric Bogosian / Sean Lennon / God Lives Underwater / Critters Buggin / Gas Huffer / Ozomatli / Pink Martini / The Paperboys / Mary Lou Lord / Pete Droge / Mark Eitzel / Martin Sexton / John Wesley Harding / The Waco Brothers / T-Model Ford / Wanda Jackson / Calobo / ? and the Mysterians / Banton, Shaggy, Beres Hammond / Battlefield Band / Big Nazo / Bob Log III / Cadillac Angels / Catie Curtis / Circus Ethiopia / Crazy 8s / David Murray Fo Deuk Revue / Doug Elkins Dance Company / Global Communication / Hank Dogs / Karen Pernick / La Bottine Souriante / Laurie Lewis / Leon Parker / Leonard Eto / Lizards Project / Marcia Ball, Irma Thomas & Tracy Nelson / Mike Ireland & Holler / Mike Peters / New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars / Ntozake Shange & Rituals and Jimmy Bosch / Pete Lawrence / Robert Hass / Ronnie Dawson / Sally Nyolo / Sister Spit / Spirit of Unity Tour w/Steel Pulse, Buju Bio Ritmo / Splinter Group featuring Peter Green / Susana Baca / Sycophant / The Mayfield Four / The Paladins / Ursula K. LeGuin / Wayne “The Train” Hancock
