Overview
Bumbershoot '23
In 2023, Bumbershoot began its next chapter. After several years of uncertainty following AEG Presents' departure, the festival was officially relaunched under a new partnership among Third Stone, New Rising Sun, and Seattle Center.
The announcement marked a significant reset for the historic festival. Rather than simply continuing the previous production model, the new partnership aimed to rethink Bumbershoot’s mission, structure, and creative direction for a new era.
The relaunch also coincided with a major milestone: Bumbershoot’s 50th anniversary. First held in 1971 as Festival ’71, the event had grown into one of the longest-running multidisciplinary arts festivals in the United States. The new producers emphasized returning to the festival’s original spirit, a broad cultural umbrella where music, visual art, film, performance, and community participation could coexist.
The 2023 relaunch represented more than the return of a festival. It was a deliberate effort to reconnect Bumbershoot with the civic and artistic ideals that shaped its earliest years, while building a framework capable of sustaining it into the future.
More than half a century after Festival ’71, the umbrella opened once again.
Bumbershoot 2023's lineup included: Sleater-Kinney / Zhu / AFI / Brittany Howard / Sunny Day Real Estate / Jawbreaker / The Revivalists / Fatboy Slim / Phantogram / Band of Horses / Descendents / Matt and Kim / Durand Jones / Ride / Jacob Banks / Warpaint / Maya Jane Coles / Major League DJz / DOMi & JD Beck / Benny the Butcher / Anabel Englund / Destroy Boys / Hunx and His Punx / Screaming Females / Thunderpussy / Reignwolf / Algernon Cadwallader / Gustaf / Puddles Pity Party / Chong the Nomad / Radioactivity / Dave B. / Wimps / Scarves / Morgan and the Organ Donors / Sweet Water
