Bumbershoot, Day Two - Eric Burden and the Animals

Here's where the day started to get a little dicey for me.  After the FIDLAR set, I had planned to see David Bazan, but by this time it was 3:45 in the afternoon, and first I had to get something to eat and some liquids into my system.  I found a nice little Thai kiosk that sold me a plate full of vegetarian pad thai, which I washed down with a cold Sprite.  But after that, I couldn't get anywhere near the stage where Bazan was playing - it seemed like about 100,000 had just parachuted into the festival while I was eating, and most of them were lounging around the perimeters of Bazan's stage making it difficult to get anywhere near where he was playing.  

So I wandered around a little, but even that was difficult due to the sheer number of people.  I eventually wound up at the Plaza Stage for what I thought was going to be the band River Giant, but after one or two songs the band announced that they weren't River Giant  but were, in fact, Seattle's Midday Veil.  I kind of liked them, psychedelic drone metal ala Om, but the stage was right out in the sun, which was getting quite warm, and I could feel my bald head starting to sunburn (I had been standing in the sun for the entirety of The Mowgli's and FIDLAR's sets as well).  

By this time, Bazan's set was over, so I wandered back over to the Fisher Pavilion stage where I had earlier seen FIDLAR to watch the next act there, Charlie XCX.  But once again, I couldn't find a place in the shade from which to watch, and once again someone else came on the stage, some white rapper chick from Seattle, and announced she would be playing in place of the scheduled act.  

So I left there, too, and wandered over to the Starbucks Stage to see British Invasion veterans Eric Burden & The Animals.  The Starbucks Stage is located in a small, natural amphitheater, and apparently the 100,000 people who had parachuted in had all left Bazan's stage and were now waiting to see Burden.  The place was ridiculously crowded and totally devoid of any shade except for a Starbucks pavilion (naturally) that only allowed in people who had some sort of Starbucks' pass.  I have no idea how or where you were supposed to get a Starbucks pass (Starbucks probably), so I squeezed into a spot out in the sun and wound up somehow inadvertently pissing off the person standing behind me ("I was sitting there"), and then not one but two women squeezed right in front of me, totally pissing me off.  But then Eric Burden took the stage.

For some reason, Burden decided to dress in a sweatshirt and full hoodie for his set (see above), despite the sun, despite the heat.  I don't know, maybe he was shy, maybe he wanted to be remembered as the young singer of the Animals and not as his 72-year-old self, maybe it was a tribute to Trayvon Martin.  Beats me. From where I was standing, though, I just had to trust that it really was Burden underneath that hood, although the voice sounded about right.  But the crowd and the sun (I now could feel my ears sunburning) really started annoying me, so I made a slow and difficult exit through the crowd, accidentally stepping on some people's lawn blankets and ticking them off (a lot of people there, including myself, seemed to be suffering from a low annoyance threshold) as I weaved my way around and out.  

I only got to hear about two or three Animals songs, and for the life of me, I can't remember which ones now.  But my priorities were to find someplace a little less crowded and a little more shady, and allow myself to recuperate until I was ready to enjoy some music once again.