Overview
Bumbershoot '12
Official Poster Artwork by The Bungaloo!
By 2012, Bumbershoot had become something rare for a festival: a normalized civic institution.
More than four decades after Festival ’71, the event was no longer a cultural experiment or a disruptive artistic force. Instead, it had settled into the rhythm of the city itself. Each Labor Day weekend, Seattle Center filled once again with music, art, performance, and crowds, a familiar signal that summer in Seattle was coming to a close.
Produced by One Reel, Bumbershoot continued presenting its signature blend of programming across disciplines. Music remained the largest draw, but the broader festival still included film screenings, visual art exhibitions, literary events, comedy, and performance.
What had changed over time was the festival’s cultural position. In its early decades, Bumbershoot had felt experimental, an unpredictable civic happening that mixed high art, pop culture, and eccentric spectacle. By 2012, that energy had matured into something steadier: a long-running tradition embedded in Seattle’s civic life.
For many residents, Bumbershoot was simply part of the city’s calendar, an annual gathering at Seattle Center where generations of Seattleites returned to celebrate the end of summer.
The novelty had faded, but the meaning remained. Bumbershoot had become a ritual, a shared cultural marker that connected the city’s past to its present each Labor Day weekend.
Bumbershoot 2012's line up included: Jane’s Addiction / Tony Bennett / Skrillex / Gotye / Mac Miller / Big Sean / M83 / Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings / AWOLNATION / M. Ward / Passion Pit / Keane / Best Coast / The Jayhawks / Blitzen Trapper / The Helio Sequence / City and Colour / Missy Higgins / The Promise Ring / Yelawolf / Mudhoney / Low / The Heavy / Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit / Wanda Jackson & The Dusty 45’s / The Dirtbombs / The Pains of Being Pure at Heart / The Vaselines / King Khan & The Shrines / Fujiya & Miyagi / Heartless Bastards / Ian Hunter and The Rant Band / Fishbone / Kina Grannis / Lights / Civil Twilight / Oberhofer / Rebirth Brass Band / LP / Ty Segall / Fruit Bats / Hey Marseilles / THEESatisfaction / Damien Jurado / The Jezabels / The Wombats / WHY? / Ana Tijoux / Foxy Shazam / Barcelona / Lee Fields & The Expressions / JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound / EYEHATEGOD / Prong / Sera Cahoone / Bombino / Harmonica House Party with Lee Oskar & Magic Dick / Omar Souleyman / Katie Herzig / Niki & The Dove / Ayron Jones and The Way / Tyrone Wells / AM & Shawn Lee / thenewno2 / The Spittin’ Cobras / Tiger & Woods / el Vez / Debo Band / Don’t Talk To The Cops! / Skerik’s Bandalabra / Star Anna and The Laughing Dogs / Gold Leaves / Alela Diane / Seapony / The Barr Brothers / Two Fresh / Bryan John Appleby / Karen Lovely / Black Breath / Deep Sea Diver / Theoretics / Cosmetics / TacocaT / Eldridge Gravy & The Court Supreme / Unnatural Helpers / Reignwolf / Ty Curtis / The Young Evils / KnowMads / The Miracles Club / Katie Kate / Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra / Noah Gundersen / Super Geek League / The Pharmacy / Eighteen Individual / Eyes / Pezzner / Ghosts I’ve Met / Posse / Cascadia ’10 / Western Haunts / Polecat / Scotty Boy / DJ Scene / DJ Mia / Lights From Space / The Cellar Door / Guy / NUDE POP / Fred Armisen / Nick Swardson / brian posehn / Doug Benson’s Doug Loves Movies / Paul F. Tompkins / Kurt Braunohler / How Did This Get Made - Live! / Gabe and Jenny / Christian Finnegan / Damien Lemon / Dan Soder / James Adomian / Karen Kilgariff / Kumail Nanjiani / Ron Funches / Jackie Kashian / Too Beautiful To Live / Jay Hollingsworth’s True Story Comedy Show / Read It and Weep / The Comedy StandLaff Hole / Vancouver Comedyfest’s Illegal Aliens / John Waters / Symphony Untuxed / Galumpha / Velocity / The Atomic Bombshells Burlesque / The Cherdonna & Lou Show / Writers of Futurama / Ken Jennings / Charles Phoenix / Mad Magazine’s Joe Raiola / Letters to Kurt with Eric Erlandson / Go the F to Sleep with Adam Mansbach / Modernist Cuisine / Hedgebrook / Remix, Plagiarism or Theft? / Bushwick book club, Seattle / The Stranger’s Guide to America / Why Fairy Tales? Why War on Women? Why Now? / Why Hipsters? Why Slacktivism? Why Now? / Why Dubstep? Why Trap Music? Why Now? / Ramayana Youth Ensemble / B∃d Sn▲ke / Miss Fanny’s Fun Box / Sandbox Radio Live! / LG! Cabaret / Election Show / Nerdprov / Sketchfest Seattle / This Is Glass / Skyward! / Christopher Martin Hoff Remembered / NOW / Elvistravaganza / Record Store / 7 Minutes in Heaven / LoveBomb Go-Go Marching Band / 1 Reel Film Festival / Youngershoot Kids Zone
